Me before Mother
As the world fights the corona virus pandemic, our global civilization turns into a closed shop. Our greed and unwarranted needs of the privileged has set us up for this unprecedented outbreak. Alongside it is fueled by our incessant cycle of world economy in which the material growth is the only cardinal rule. There is no global measure of world growth as strong as GDP. We do have Gross National Happiness Index which is reserved only for nations like Bhutan.
What about peace of mind? What about equity? We turn a blind side to the problems like climate change. We have a geological epoch named on us Anthropocene, which is becoming synonymous with the sixth mass extinction.
There is a constant tussle between Purushartha (human pursuit) and Prakriti (nature), Wilderness and Domestication, and Exploitation and Sustainable Use. It seems that we are embodied in this vicious cycle of material gain and recognition at the expense of our mother nature, leaving behind emotional and intellectual growth.
“This is what happens when human society becomes so focussed on itself that it loses touch with rest of the nature, when culture expands at the cost of everything else, when the need of culture override the needs of nature. Eventually something will snap, nature will strike back.” — 7 Secrets of Vishnu Chapter 2.2
There is a story in Bhagavata Purana about a king Vena and his son Prithu. King Vena who plundered the earth so much that the Earth in disgust ran away in the form of a cow. This led to hunger everywhere and widespread chaos. Sages killed Vena as it was because of his greed and cruelty that Earth ran away. Out of his remains, his son Prithu was born (Vishnu incarnate). Prithu brought back the Earth cow only on condition that she will not be exploited and human will use her resources sustainably. Prithu established rules that allowed culture to thrive without destroying nature. Prithu is described as first responsible king of Earth, that’s why Earth is also called Prithvi.
We need to act and conduct our societies like Prithu’s rule of law. We should not plunder our mother Earth by being blinded by greed and material growth. We are just one of the tenants of this planet like many other organisms. Otherwise there will come a time when our mother Earth will run away from us and there will be no Prithu to bring it back. We need to prioritize our mother Earth before ourselves.
Nature has amazing healing powers as is evident by reports around the globe these days how nature is claiming its spaces back. We are experiencing a unique moment in our lives, where we have opportunity to course correct ourselves or regret our actions in the future.
Following lines are inline with the mood above, how we have put ourselves (me) before nature (mother).
माँ से पहले मैं
ठहरी थमी जो साँसे हमारी
कुदरत ने एक हुंकार सी ली है |
उसकी सिसकियाँ जो सुनाई न देती थी
आज किलकारियाँ सी सुनाई तोह दी है |
ऐ बशर के निगहबाँ नज़र उठा तोह जरा
लालच के विसाएल से ऊपर कुदरत के तराने और भी है |
बन चले हम बुत के बन्दे
फितरत में खुदगर्ज़ी का फितूर सा है
पकड़ वो छुटी डगर, जहाँ ख़ुदा के बन्दों की होड़ सी है |
जानता हूँ ये सैलाब भी रुक जायेगा
इस मुश्किल का भी सूरज अस्त हो जायेगा
पर क्या तू मैं से पहले तू माँ को ला पायेगा ?
करेंगे बातें हम तुम और कुछ लोग ऐसी ही
फिर भी इस्तेहसाल का परचम ही कुदरत के गुलशन में लहराएगा
माँ का ओहदाह मैं से ना ऊंचा हो पायेगा |
For the uninitiated following are the meaning of the some of the words used in the poetry.
हुंकार: Roar/Grunt
बशर: Mankind
निगहबाँ: Guard/Caretaker
विसाएल: Methods
फितरत: Nature
खुदगर्ज़ी: Selfishness
फ़ितूर: Madness
बुत: Statue/Idol
इस्तेहसाल: Exploitation
परचम: Flag
गुलशन: Garden
