Central Chronicle
Thursday July 10, 2008
As the pace of development increases, man's emotional imbalance too increases. Our conscious mind was never afflicted with economic offence so much as it is today.
We are of the opinion that in a state of unrestrained passions and unbalanced development the very conception of living in harmony with nature is distorted. What is needed to be done today is that we concentrate our energies on activating the powerful weapon of compassion, ahimsa and friendship to counter the lust of greed. Lord Mahaveer said: do not refuse to accept the existence of even the smallest living beings. He further said that we must not deny our own existence. He who does not accept the existence of other living beings, in truth, rejects his own existence. He who rejects his own existence in reality rejects the existence of other living beings. In essence we can say that only he who accepts the existence of other living beings can live in harmony with nature.
Some thinkers argue that intelligent persons tinker with nature and doing so is necessary for development. He also knows how to compensate the loss suffered by nature.
Therefore the process of development can neither be stopped nor limited. Such thinking is not meaningless. If a source of energy is exhausted, its alternative sources can be found out. If forests are cut down, the loss can be compensated by fresh forestation. Ways of making the environment pollution-free can also be found out. But is there any alternative to solving the problem of unbalanced emotions and degeneration of moral values? As the pace of development increases, man's emotional imbalance too increases.
Our conscious mind was never afflicted with economic offence so much as it is today. Terrorist mentality has also increased. Will industrial and economic development be able to stop these negative trends? Unless countermeasures are explored, man will not be able to live in harmony with nature, nor will he be able to cherish and sustain the dream of mental peace and world peace.
University education has opened new avenues of intellectual and scientific development.
Since we are satisfied with the thinking of the present age and with the availability of plenty of consumer articles, we are constantly occupied by the idea of advancing in that direction only. On the other hand, stress, fear, crime and the growing tendency towards the use of drugs is a clear sign of unspeakable inner dissatisfaction in man which is compelling him to be unjust towards nature. When both satisfaction and dissatisfaction are analyzed, our attention is attracted towards a new direction which we may call emotional experience. Is it not necessary to think in this direction?
Lifestyle in its entirely has to be analyzed if we want to live in harmony with nature. Lifestyle embedded entirely in materialistic consideration doesn't provide a basis for living in harmony with nature. And a lifestyle based exclusively on a spiritual foundation does not prove adequate for the journey of life. In order to make our lifestyle complete in every sense we need a new outlook on life. A harmonious method of material, economic and spiritual development can be devised on its basis. Such method can never ignore the balance between intellectual and emotional development.
As long as we follow a lifestyle based on sensual pleasures, harmony with nature will not be able to influence the basis of reality, even though it might be the subject matter of seminars and conferences. If we rise beyond our senses and think, it will mean a change in our conception of happiness.
Our spiritual baders have always maintained that sensual pleasure is not real happiness. Any pleasure the final outcome of which is not happy is in reality unhappiness. In this context it is noteworthy to quote what the eminent scientist David Bohm has said: "Indeed many scientists have noted that the validity of their sudden flashes or insight tends to be in inverse proportion to the amount of pleasure to which they give rise (and therefore to the intensity of the conviction that they are true)....so it may seem in this way that there is often a true perception at a deeper level that cannot be translated into thinking. So that what is perceived is distorted and lost."
There is no unanimity among thinkers and scientists as regards the treatment to be meted out to nature. Some thinkers are of the view that since we have the means of pacifying the fury of nature, menace of environmental pollution cannot hinder development.
Others are of the opinion that we do not have full knowledge of the laws of nature and therefore too much tinkering with it is dangerous for the very existence of man and other sentient beings. Yet other says that we should not think of a return to the primitive age, but should develop a balanced lifestyle by controlling economic development and consumption.
The last opinion represents the Middle Path and Anuvrat and Anuvrat Anushasta Shri Tulsi wedded to the same pattern of thinking.