For about 150 to 200 years, European countries never thought about it and consequently every part of nature was destroyed here. Not only external nature, but even internal nature. I am not fanatic about ecology. First of all, I am an Indian from a country where seventy percent of the population is just existing, where nearly ninety percent of the country is heat and dust.
We believe in the Ganga. We believe in the Himalayas. We believe in ashrams. We believe in meditation. We believe in a systematic worship of the divine in many forms. Therefore, ecology is something which we do not really understand, but it is a part of our culture. It is important to understand that nature is as important as we think we are.
Modern man in general, and western man in particular, has become very arrogant. In his arrogance he has begun to think that he is the centre of the whole world. Whenever he likes he can shoot tigers, birds, leopards, crocodiles, or anybody. Whenever he likes he makes laws, uproots the trees and brings in other types of buildings and factories because he thinks that everything in this world exists for him. Is it not arrogance?
You think that trees exist for us? You think that these peacocks, birds, these creatures, these reptiles, snakes, flowers, exist for us? We come as a conqueror. We talk as a conqueror. We don’t talk as a member of the whole of nature. The whole of nature is one family, the whole world is one country. Some live in forests; they are called tigers, leopards, kangaroos, etc., and we live in caves, we homosapiens. Somehow we became conquerors and we have tried our level best to destroy the intrinsic beauty of nature.
Food is an odd word today. You know, I brought my own rations from India. Oh, you may not believe it, because here there are chemicals in everything. Here your thought is also chemicalized. The dress is awkward. Oh, don’t be offended. Everything is awkward, yet we are so proud of it. Therefore, scientists throughout the world are talking about a return to nature. There is a natural way of living. First, spend more of your time outside, because that will give you more energy and freshness in the brain, lungs, heart and blood, and make your food free of chemicals. Try to develop biological food as we do in India. In the same way, try to meditate every day for half an hour at least, because inner ecology and external ecology are both important.
Another mistake modern man in general and western man in particular makes: he thinks that he alone can think. He feels that he alone feels. He thinks that he alone knows. “Oh, birds, no, they cannot think.” Do you know that scientific experiments have proven that trees can also see things like you and me? A tree is as intelligent as a human being, if not more so. Of course a tree is not as crooked as we are. There are enough scientific documents which go to prove this fact. The same is true about the animal kingdom and the same is true about everything. Even a block of stone has intelligence.
A stone boulder has intelligence, but what is intelligence? Your philosophy in the West has not explained what intelligence is. Even Greek philosophy has only gone up to intellect and reasoning. Of course you call it philosophy, but it has to be knowledge of the Self and not the knowledge of the intellect and not the knowledge of the mind. Do you speak philosophy or do you talk theosophy? Knowledge of divinity is theosophy and knowledge of the Self is philosophy, but how far could that great philosopher Emmanuel Kant reach? Up to pure reasoning, that’s all. He spoke about pure reason.
That is exactly the basis of the mistake in modern science. The modern scientists thought matter was inert. Up to the time of the great scientist Isaac Newton, they thought that matter was matter, that’s all. Of course scientists do not think that way today. Matter is not the ultimate form of the universe, matter is a form of energy. Scientists today talk about matter and energy. You know the famous equation E=MC2? Even to this day the scientists are talking about matter, they are talking about energy, but what about intelligence? What about the spirit? What about the atma? What about the soul of a tree? What about the soul of matter? What about the soul of a bird, a buffalo, a cow, a donkey, a horse, or a pony?
Do you think that man alone has a soul? It’s ridiculous. Man alone has a soul? You think this idiot man alone has a soul? This man who destroys his own brother has a soul? This man who divorces his beautiful wife for another girl has a soul? This man who develops nuclear bombs and explodes star wars has a soul? This man who goes to America and kills millions of the Red Indians, finishes them off, has a soul? And these trees which give you beautiful mangoes and oranges and lemons and olives have no soul? This beautiful river which brings you so much water, upon which you live and without which you would die, has no soul? These horses which helped you conquer right up to the Punjab in India have no soul? These cows which give you milk, butter and cheese have no soul? You adorable and worshipful two-legged creatures, human beings, you alone monopolize that soul?
So, the central point of ecology is that you will have to accept intelligence, atma, soul, spirit, in each and everything in this universe. Don’t destroy nature. What is the definition of nature, do you know? Have you ever thought what the definition of nature is? That which comes up by itself, which develops by itself, which is created by itself, that is natural. What is created by you and me and them, is not natural; it is artificial.
There are two great problems before humanity today. You will remember them: one, elimination of nuclear energy; two, the establishment of ecological union. These two things are very important, other things are less so. They will solve most of the problems of humanity, but then it is only the yoga-minded people who will put it into practice. I told you I am not fanatic about ecology. It is my culture and my inheritance and heritage. We always believe that our ancestors were born and lived in deep, dark forests, mountains and rivers, and that my mother wore just one piece of cloth. ‘My mother’ means five thousand, ten thousand years ago.
30 June 1985, Satyanandashram Hellas, Paiania, Greece