Recently we have heard one tragic story after another: cloudbursts near Uttarkashi, flooding over the last couple of days in Mumbai, etc.
What do we do? We complain. We blame governments; we blame every Tom, Dick, and Harry. The more we get technologically advanced and so-called "civilised", the more we think we are in control of everything, including nature. We forget that we are actually products of nature. We don't control nature.
We can make some small manipulations, but in one blink of an eye in time, the whole planet called Earth can disappear. Keeping this in mind, our ancestors lived in harmony with nature. They didn't abuse nature; they didn't try to control it but lived in harmony with it.
Were there no floods or natural disasters at that time? Of course, there were. These are things that happen in nature. The natural shifting of continental shelves led to earthquakes, which resulted in the city of Dwaraka sinking under the sea. All these natural phenomena will keep happening.
What we need to do is not contribute to disasters through unplanned development, unsustainable lifestyles, and using our technology to abuse nature.
Cities like London lose a few days of work because of snow. One has to accept that Mumbai will get flooded three or four days in the year when heavy rain and high tides come together, for the simple reason that Mumbai was seven islands joined together by land reclamation. Wherever they reclaimed land to join the seven islands, that area is low-lying. There is no solution for it unless you are going to raise all those areas—which would mean destroying thousands of buildings. There is no guarantee it will succeed, because the sea may push in somewhere else. When Nariman Point was reclaimed, the sea pushed in at Versova. Nature has its own way of maintaining balance.
As a spiritual, religious person, nature is an extension, a manifestation of Ishvara, of God. We can only accept and do what we can to minimise the loss, damage and abuse, and live in greater harmony with nature.
The writer is the founder of Aarsha Vidya Foundation. You can write to him at aarshavidyaf@gmail.com
