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Ellavarkkum Namaskaram.
I consider this a great privilege because it was the very first Parliament
of the world’s religions that the great Indian spiritual leader His Holiness
Swami Vivekananda addressed in Chicago in the year 1893.
Today’s world is full of talk, talk, talk. Back home in India, I saw
a big advertisement of a telecom company that says, “Talk more!”
As it is we talk too much, and because we are always talking, we
never listen; What saddens me is that because we never listen, we
miss out a lot of things in our lives especially what Nature is saying
to us. This is another sad consequence of our modern lifestyle. In
ancient times the sages were fine- tuned to Nature- they heard and
listened. Their deep and quiet wisdom was a result of hearing and
listening and this was reflected in their hymns and worship. They
heard, they listened and they sang in glory:
“ Om bhadram karnebhih shrunuyaama devaah
Bhadram pashyemaakshabhiryajatraah
Sthirairangaistushtuvaamsastanoobhih
Vyashema devahitam yadaayuh
Swasti na indro vridhashravaah
Swasti nah pooshaa vishwavedaah
Swasti nastaarkshyo arishtanemih
Swasti no brihaspatir dadhaatu.
Om shantih, shantih, shantih!”
This shloka was recited by our rishis to nature through which they
appealed, “May our ears rejoice from hearing your voices”. “May
we see what is auspicious”.
To the Hindu sage ‘hearing each other’ means not just humans
hearing humans. It signifies hearing the whole universe with utmost
reverence, attention and concentration. When in meditation, one
can hear and see even the quiet blooming of a flower. Every bit
of Nature would have much to tell us – the seas, rivers, plants and
animals- even the tiny ant. And they would especially tell us how
much they suffer today and how this suffering would spell disaster
for the whole of mankind and the universe.
All the Indian scriptures took birth in the forests and among nature, in
the presence of plants, animals and all the forces of nature. Bhagavan
Sree Krishna says through the Bhagavad Gita,
“Earth, water, fire, air, space, mind, intellect and ego, these eight
together constitute my separate material energies…”.
The 5 basic elements of nature – Space, air, fire, water, and earth
– would have plenty to tell us if only we opened our sense organs.
This indeed, is what is meant by hearing each other. And I sincerely
believe that it is through such a hearing that we will be able to heal
Mother Earth.
Thus Krishna questions his people and sets them thinking. Krishna
teaches his people that worship of Nature is indeed worship of
the Divine. These are perhaps the earliest and finest examples of
Environmental awareness campaigns that took place in India several
thousand years ago.
Coming back to the present: How can this Parliament of the World’s
Religions help to create a new and different world? This is the most
important question. The only answer I can think of is to worship and
respect nature and listen to mother nature.
I would like to quote my guru, His Holiness Swami Chinmayananda,
who in his message to the World Parliament of religions in 1993 said,
From this moment onwards, let us take an oath, to preserve and worship
nature. In the coming years, let protection of nature be the true form of
worship to God. The religious ideals of the future must embrace all that
exists in the world and is good and great, and, at the same time, have
infinite scope for future development.
All that was good in the past must be preserved; and the doors must be
kept open for the future If the religious leaders of today could take up
this mission, I am sure that we can make a world of difference. And for
the creation of that New World, I pray that the bells toll right here in this
Parliament of the World’s Religions.
May God bless all of us and enable us for that sacred purpose.
Thank you!