In this Weekly Wisdom, Gurudev shares how ancient vedic traditions made animals sacred and raises awareness for the need for wildlife conservation.
Gurudev recently shared his views on renewing the sacredness of wildlife in modern society in keeping with ancient traditions:
Wildlife’s ancient sacredness
Animals are part of our social life. Animals are part of this planet, and this whole planet is one organism. Everything has its utility.
According to ancient Indian tradition, each animal carries specific vibrations and adds to the cosmic vibrations of the planet. They draw specific vibrations.
Similarly, everyone has biometrics and bioenergy. Every animal brings to the earth a specific cosmic energy, and in this sense, every animal is important, especially wild animals.
Honoring and protecting animals
They need protection because the human race has grown so big with so much technology. We’ve gone not just to the moon but also to Mars, and we’re even trying to go beyond that. We have proved that we're more powerful than animals.
Now, it's our responsibility to protect our own forests, species, and wildlife. Extinction of wildlife cannot be tolerated in this age of technology.
We must honor and take care of them. Otherwise, it will be a big, big loss for the whole planet as such.
Problems with pesticides
There was a time, 30, 40, or 50 years ago, when we used to spray pesticides and kill all the bugs and earthworms. Now, science has found out that earthworms, which we have destroyed, are so important for fixing the nitrogen in the soil. And each bacteria also has its role to play.
By spraying pesticides, chlorine, and DDT powder in our fields, we've harmed nature.
Thank God there's so much awareness now. We're coming back to the importance of organics. For organic food, you need organisms in the soil. We can't put any of those pesticides in anymore.
Chemical industries and businesses dump many pesticides, which are banned elsewhere, in third-world Asian countries. Poor, uneducated people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and some South American and African countries have no idea about these chemicals and pesticides.
Because they brought temporary relief from bugs coming into the crops, farmers started using them. Later on, 3, 4, or 10 years down the line, they realized something serious had gone wrong. The plants ceased to grow. Nutrition in the soil got depleted. Now our earth is suffering from anemia because of pesticides.
So we must take care of that and the wild animals as well. It’s necessary.
In ancient vedic times, they honored all wild animals. They said the lion is where the Mother Divine sits—the Mother Divine is connected with the lion. The elephant is connected with the Guru and Jupiter. Similarly, all different wild animals are important for our planet.
Problems with hunting
In the past, people used to hunt friendly and unfriendly animals. This was a sport. Can you imagine? People were using the forest for their recreation by shooting at animals.
In Africa, they used to shoot elephants. Still today, it’s very unfortunate that some criminals continue to poach elephants.
In the ocean, they shot whales. Fortunately, now there’s a lot of awareness. For instance, a gentleman from America went to Japan and fought with governments and big lobbies to save whales. I really appreciate his good service in supporting legislation to stop the killing of whales.
We honor all animals. Every animal is part of our family. We should honor them.
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Editor’s note:
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