Article 13: Living Vedanta is Environmentalism
by
Prthvi Sevasanga Team
Vedanta is the science of Oneness. All that exists is the one indivisible Unity that appears as names and forms (e.g., people, trees, animals, earth) when perceived through sense organs. Living Vedanta means dedicating oneself to rediscover this Unity or God. The path to this rediscovery necessarily involves expanding one’s limited identity from oneself to identification with all that is around oneself and ultimately to the entirety of creation and the Creator. Scriptural texts on Vedanta are woven with teachings about the sacredness of nature. The earth is worshipped as the Divine Mother; reverence for nature and Her laws is a fundamental responsibility. Thus, living in harmony with nature and caring for nature or environmentalism is most natural for those who practice Vedanta.
However, as the clarity of our true Nature is lost, we forget that the source of our body and mind are the elements. We forget that we owe every bit of our existence to nature and its forces. As a result of this forgetfulness, our desire to procure to feel complete becomes a habit and eventually, becomes our lifestyle. We procure from nature without being sensitive to the external and internal impact of our desires. Externally, there are negative impacts on the environment and internally, there is an accumulation of vices and agitation. The word environment literally means living and non-living elements that encircle us. Our interdependence is undeniable; yet, the relationship between us and the environment has devolved. Clearly, consumerist lifestyle choices make it increasingly difficult to practice simple living and high thinking.
Living Vedanta involves the study of scriptures, self-reflection, and discipline to convert vices into virtues. When a seeker of Vedanta lives the six fundamental virtues of quietude, calmness, understanding, endurance, faith and focus, their lifestyle is one that naturally gives back more to the environment than it takes. Given the current environmental crisis we live in, every interaction we have with the external world can be looked upon as an opportunity to practice virtue development.
Some ways we can practice:
- quietude of mind – direct the mind towards the long-term rather than short-term
- Practice: Before making any purchase of more than $50, take 5 minutes to reflect on whether this action is a short-term or a long-term gain.
- calmness of body – use the body as an equipment for a nobler purpose rather than a means for pleasure
- Practice: Replace your most environmentally unfriendly meal with an earth-friendly meal. Start with twice a month and then increase.
- understanding – expression of a cool mind and a calm body merging
- Practice: Research how you can serve the environment. Implement and then share with 3 others.
- endurance – not to be rattled by the constant noise around oneself
- Practice: Reduce the temperature and length of your showers.
- faith – growing from feeling Divinity in icons to seeing Divinity in creation
- Practice: Go for nature walks. Feel the trees and animals as Mother Earth’s divine manifestations
- focus – concentrating on an entity entirely where one becomes one with the entity
- Practice: Do 10 mins of contemplation daily to help you feel your responsibility to serve Mother Earth
As we commit ourselves to virtue development, we will steadily live in a way that expresses our reverence for our Divine Mother.
Action to Implement
Post your reflections & observations in the comments section below ⬇️
🌱 January 2023: 🌍 Create your personal practices for the 6 fundamental virtues
Past Months Action to Implement
🌱 December 2022: ✅Do the following:
- Simplify one closet or one drawer in your home every week. Remove items that have not been used in the last 1 year.
- Dispose of unneeded items in a responsible way.
🌱 November 2022: ✅Make a list of the gifts you usually give during the holidays.
🌱 October 2022: This month, add 1 or 2 regional plants from the Xerces Pollinator Conservation website to your landscape!
🌱 September 2022: This month, review the Green Building list & commit to 1 simple and 1 challenging item to implement in your community/center.
🌱 August 2022: This month, read the Prthvi Seva Guide & commit to at least one practice to make your center/community more sustainable.
🌱 July 2022: This month, take a closer look at your travel impacts:
🔢 Estimate the carbon emissions of your mode of travel, lodging, food, and purchases
🙋🏻♀️ Commit to making one change to reduce your carbon footprint
🌱 June 2022: This month, take a closer look and identify your food waste as:
🍌 food prep scraps
🍽️ plate waste (unfinished food)
🤦🏻♀️spoiled or unwanted foo
🌱 May 2022: Implement the following actions.
- Reduce food Packaging.
- Learn about local and seasonal foods.
- Support a local grower & shop at Farmer’s Markets.
🌱 April 2022: Sahasra Vrksha Sankalpa – As a CommUnity, bring your heart and hands to the ground to plant 1000 trees together. Track and share here.
🌱 March 2022: Contribute to the health of our planet and the health of beings by doing the following:
Each day take inventory of what goes in the trash.
Identify the most common item.
Find an alternative that eliminates this waste.
🌱 February 2022: Implement the following and encourage others to follow:
- Unplug chargers when not in use
- Use the ‘Energy Saver’ mode on phones & laptops
- Use cold water for laundry & line dry
🌱 January 2022: Identify 3 actions you do that help the environment and 3 actions that harm it
