COP26 & Hindu belief system

Sudheendra Kulkarni

Former close aide to Ex-PM Vajpayee and Founder, Forum for a New South Asia

The ongoing UN COP26 summit in Glasgow will end on November 12. All world leaders, in their speeches, highlighted the gravity of the climate crisis but failed to reach a consensus on a time-bound action plan.

The capitalist economic machine views nature as an entity that exists only to be exploited for man’s use.

Even though the crisis affects every human being, the conference has not created much excitement among the common people. Does it mean they are indifferent to environmental issues? No. The message of COP26 does not energise them because it is not conveyed in a language that moves their hearts and minds. That language has to be rooted in people’s religious beliefs. Religion, after all, exerts the strongest influence on their lives. Common people, irrespective of their caste or creed, have a highly reverential attitude towards nature, believing that God nurtures life through the bounties of nature. Indeed, this attitude, and the attendant environment-friendly customs and practices, are more alive among ordinary Indians — farmers, village artisans, cowherds, shepherds, fisherfolk, and so on — than among the westernised elite.

I learnt it through a personal experience. My daughter was born nearly three decades ago at Sangli in Maharashtra, on the banks of the Krishna. On my morning walks to the riverfront, my mind would be filled with the joy of welcoming a new life and with the mystery about the cycle of birth and death, and the purpose of existence in this infinite universe. I was convinced that there is a higher power, which we call God, governing the affairs of man, nature and the cosmos.

Hinduism sees God everywhere, and in everything — in inanimate as much as in animate beings, in immanent forms as well as in transcendent realities. I had a startling realisation of this when I saw a group of women stone-cutters engaged in road repair work. Before breaking the first stone of the day, they would worship it with a small ceremony — wash it with water, smear it with haldi and kumkum (yellow and red turmeric powder), light an incense stick and do a reverential namaskar, which, etymologically, means: ‘That which is divine in me bows to that which is divine in you.’

My conversation with these poor, and mostly unschooled women, belonging to the Waddar caste enlightened me about Hindu environmentalism. They said, ‘These are not mere stones. There is God in them. Our life and livelihood are a gift from this God. These stones make the road, which benefits all. Hence, God protects and takes care of all.’ These wise words shed light on the looming climate crisis the world is debating today. This crisis is on account of two serious follies. The first folly is that the concept of God is missing in the gigantic and insensitive capitalist machine the modern world has created. This economic machine views nature — forests, rivers, oceans, animals, etc, each of which is regarded as sacred in Hinduism — as an entity that exists only to be exploited for man’s use. The exploitation of nature is not for the benefit of all human beings. Rather, it is for the comfort, profit and greed of the national and global elite, which forms a small part of 7.8 billion people living on this planet.

The second folly — because capitalism has disowned God, it sees no obligation to take care of the needs of all human beings. Its motto is not ‘Sarvajan hitaya, sarvajan sukhaya’, which is a lofty egalitarian principle rooted in Hinduism, but ‘Alpajan hitaya, alpajan sukhaya’ (for the benefit and happiness of the privileged minority). This machine has destroyed traditional community and family relations, has atomised society and cultivated the virus of individualism. Promotion of materialism, consumerism and self-centredness — and making human beings forget the higher purpose of their existence — are the in-built requirements of capitalism, because that is the only way it can maximise private profit at the cost of public good. Which is why, it will continue to ignore Mahatma Gandhi’s warning — ‘Mother Earth has enough to satisfy everyone’s need, but not everyone’s greed.’ Which is why, it will reject the wisdom of Isha Upanishad, which teaches us to take only that limited portion from the gifts of God that we need, and to renounce the rest for the use of others.

It is a pity that Hindu scholars and religious leaders have not effectively intervened in the global discourse on climate change so far. In contrast, the Catholic Church, especially under the leadership of Pope Francis, has emerged as an influential voice. In June 2015, before the historic Paris agreement on climate action, the Pope issued a major document called Laudato si’ (Latin, meaning ‘on care for our common home’). This is what he said: ‘A true ecological approach must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.’ He also affirmed: ‘Not only has God given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given, but, man too is God’s gift to man. He must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed.’

Last month, I participated in a global inter-religious conference for world peace in Rome, which was addressed by Pope Francis. In my speech I said, ‘The climate crisis cannot be overcome only with new technologies and investments in green development. These are necessary. But far more necessary is a completely new paradigm on harmonising ecology and economy for a new direction to human evolution based on justice and equality. Hence, there should be an “All-Religion Document on Climate Change” on the lines of Laudato si’. We all should strive to make the religious and spiritual perspective on man-nature-God relationship the guiding perspective of climate action globally.’

For a part of this understanding, I remain grateful to the stone-cutter women at Sangli.

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