Gaia- The Earth mother!
Hello all,
Namaste! I want to let my blog readers know about my new website-swaroopa.net. Very simple id, not the complicated blog id address. Now to the post.
Last week, we were discussing how belief and faith are two very different concepts. Many times we as humans end up thinking it denotes the same thing. For belief the guidance comes from outside and for faith the guidance comes from within. But does that mean we should only listen to our within and ignore every thing that is happening outside? When a tornado is coming to hit us, should we take shelter or not? So, the outer reality also is very important.
This is where the concept of Gaia comes. The Earth mother! In many cultures and religions, the Earth is treated as a mother, Goddess or an entity. As I know Hinduism more, let us look at Hinduism. In the current Hinduism, Earth is depicted as Bhoomi or Bhauma devi. She is thought to be kind, compassionate and all loving.
She is considered the consort of Vishnu, the preserver God. As Vishnu saved her during a Pralaya (deluge of unseen proportions) in Varaha avatar (the boar form of Vishnu), she is considered the second consort of Vishnu. The first one is Lakshmi. As Bhoomi devi nurtures all, living as well as non-living things, whether animals, birds, humans, trees or even rocks, she is considered as all nurturing, ever patient and very compassionate.
But this is the popular personification of the Earth mother. But many times she can be ferocious, violent and all consuming conflagration. Here are some examples- Tsunami, hurricane, flood and wild fires. Earth can be very violent as well. She can be as soft as the Bhoomi devi, or as violent as the dark Goddess, Kali who can decimate everything by her wrath.
Respect: What does it teach us? Every single thing in this Universe needs to be treated with respect it deserves, whether it is a human, a tree, an animal or the Earth. For example, let us take a dog is very good-natured and loyal. It becomes the ultimate true friend to someone who loves it. But if the same dog is bothered by someone with pokes, pulling the tail and beaten with a stick, it would growl and bare its teeth. So everything deserves the respect.
But, nowadays are we treating our home planet, Earth with respect? Who said while living on this Earth, we can abuse her resources? Yes, the Earth nowadays from a climate stand point is very peaceful and apt for humanity compared to her violent past. But Earth has gone through deluge, ice age and formation of volcanoes and fire. The evolution of Earth was not simple, straightforward and nice. It was violent with Earth shattering collision from a huge body, that later formed the Moon.
So, we should be happy and grateful, the Earth is not as violent as before, now for some millennia we as humans are able to form societies and maintain a normal every day life. But if we are aware, we would not become a complacent, infighting bunch who doesn't give a thought to our outer reality. The Earth can any day go back to its violent past. At that time the humanity may not be able to survive with its own selfish survival nature.
It is the Earth, which has provided everything that was needed by the humanity. Has humanity even used something from the outer space? To get a Moon rock we have to do a space flight, space suits and portable breathable air, even to go to the nearest satellite. Above the space to live, Earth offers air to breathe, water to drink and all the resources the humanity needs.
Natural resources: Now, think from this perspective. All of us love our physical mother, who gave us life. But what about the other greater mother who helped our mother to get her nourishment, so that she could take care of us when we were young? Gaia, or Bhauma devi. Nowadays, the humanity has evolved into the nature of abuse of resources. The human mentality- "How can I use the resources? Is there any way I alone can take advantage of the natural resources, whether water, land or such as crude oil, minerals and other commodities."
Yes, we as humanity can use the resources. But using the resources to the level of abuse is never okay. Think about it in this way. We have a home we live in. Is it good to destroy its walls, flood its floors and break open its roofs? Then our own home would get destroyed. We would have no place to live. As a humanity are we not doing the same thing? How much can we be in the ignorance lane?
This is the difference of living from the mind and the heart. When we allow to be led ourselves from the heart, the inner speck of divinity, the Universal love for everything wakes up. We understand as we have a right to live and thrive in this Earth, so does every other living thing, even the survival of the Earth or Gaia itself. So, from that perspective while we use the resources for our own survival, we also conserve and preserve so that the future generations also have a beautiful, verdant and vibrant Earth to live.
But, in case we just live from our mind, the mind due to rationalization of everything, only sees the survival and the short term life of the person. The mentality becomes-How can I live nicely, now? Who cares about the next 500 years? I won't be there. Why even bother? Me, myself and I. This type of stance is very selfish. It was due to this very selfish attitude humanity nowadays finds itself in the clutches of environmental destruction, ozone layer depletion, water shortage and air pollution.
It doesn't matter huge industrialization and construction are happening in China, India or even another country. The pollution and the air quality is going to reduce all through the world. The atmosphere is one. There is not one atmosphere for China, another for India and a third one for the USA. It is the same with the water pollution as well. If we cut the trees, there would be less rain clouds, as the trees are needed to transpire and make the air humid. Now, we are flattening and mining the mountains. What happens? The mountains are not high enough to stop the humid air. So, finally no rains.
If there are no rains, what happens? All the river water flows to the oceans. The ocean evaporates. But there is the beating Sun due to fewer trees. The water molecules never become rain. All the water gets entrapped in the oceans or in the atmosphere, which is useless to the humans. Without fresh water, how is the humanity going to survive? Now, in case if there is no atmosphere or ozone layer, this water particles escape to the space outside of Earth, never to come back again. As of now the gravity is keeping the atmosphere and water here on Earth. But our own negligence about the delicate balance of Earth can topple things to the other side.
Environmental pollution and climate change: It is the shenanigans of the humans that have brought such dire changes to the Earth. Scientists argue the Earth is changing at much faster pace compared to previous geological epochs. It may not be just the humans alone. But humans can also be very much contributing towards that. It is a definite fact that the environment is getting more and more polluted, people are having breathing problems and chronic and long-standing illnesses have become a way of life.
Let us look at another point. The trees have a lot of Carbon locked in them. Burning huge amount of trees to clear area for housing is going to unlock that Carbon as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Our body removes Carbon dioxide by breathing. Carbon monoxide is extremely deadly. It has a death like binding with Hemoglobin , the molecule that helps the body to carry Oxygen. Once carbon monoxide binds to the blood, it is never going to unbind Hemoglobin, so that Hemoglobin can carry Oxygen. Death trap. Both these gases bring death by lack of Oxygen or asphyxiation to the human.
Another detail. The huge industrial construction we do bring minute dust particles that lodge into our lungs. Our lungs have a very fine feathery structure for exchange of gases. The lungs need to be clean and healthy to function. If the fine dust/silica particles get lodged in our lungs, it brings a condition called Silicosis We would have difficulty to breathe and asthma like conditions can happen. It can cause a constant cough as if the body is trying to clear something that is not going to be cleared.
Delicate balance: Many times as humans we don't realize. Underneath, everything is extremely interconnected. A coal mine dug in the USA can indeed affect the minute weather of China or Japan. The same way a wild fire in California can affect the climate of the Amazon. This is because it is just one Earth with interconnected core as well as one atmosphere. The oceans of the world is a giant massive water body. For the applicability of knowing, we divide it as Indian, Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
It seems once upon a time some 160,000 years ago Arabia or the Middle East was a lush grass land. So, the climate of the Earth and the landscapes have changed before. But the rate at which that change is happening nowadays is astounding. In my home state of Kerala in India, when I was growing up the temperatures were a tropical 30-32C. But two years back the temperature rose up to 40-43C.
The weather, climate, atmosphere and the water resources of the Earth are staying in a very delicate balance. It is the rainforests of the Amazon that keeps the temperature of Earth at a level that is very conditioned for the survival of the human race. If Earth warms, then it can slowly start to lead to many disasters. We have already discussed in another blog post, scientists show that Venus has been an example of a hot and arid planet. If we are not careful, we can lose all the resources and Earth can also progress towards the same outcome. Use Earth to the total limit has become the mantra of the modern age.
Gaia- Earth mother: But many of the yesteryear cultures used to treat the Earth with respect. In Greek mythology, Earth was Gaia, a living breathing entity. Many of the ancient cultures treat her as a living entity who has a Soul of her own. Even in Hinduism, she is considered as the nurturing, patient mother who gives food, water and land. But the way nowadays we treat Earth simply as land and soil is indeed deplorable. Can we see how Gaia has started responding?
We can see the increase in floods, wild fires and natural disasters. In Hindu mythology there are a few stories where Vishnu or another God has come to save the Earth. Many times we feel all these Gods have to be phyical entities. No. As per my understanding nowadays, whether it is Vishnu or Rudra, they are archetypal energies. They can ofcourse take the violent form of natural disasters.
Remember in Mahabharatha, Krishna was the good mentor to Arjuna. The same Krishna took the form of a warrior God and killed many Asuras. He also took the form of God of Govardhana mountain, took the mountain in his hand and decimated the ego of Indra, who was the king of the Devas. Even in mythology, ego and arrogance are dealt with a very firm hand by the divine. So, if the Divine, Vishnu can take to task, the king of Devas, think about us humans?
We feel that all the Gods are just stories or deities who have to be prayed and bowed upon. But how about another interpretation. It is according to the intentions and actions we humans take, we rise to the level of divinity (Krishna/ Vishnu) or lower to the devilish nature. We don't have to go to heaven to see the Divine or hell to see the demon. Both the seeds of divine and devil are within us, humans.
To see the divinity we just have to look at the social worker who is taking care of ten kids placed in an orpahanage or foster homes. We just have to look at the single parent who is doing three jobs to take care of their three kids. Divinity also shows up in Padma Sri award winner Saalumarada Thimmakka who planted around 8000 trees in India. The same way the devil can be seen in the rapists who killed a helpless lady in India. The satan can be seen in the act of chemical murder on children, women and kids in Syria. The same dark energy can be seen in the way kids were torn from the hands of their mothers and put in iron cages in the southern border of the USA.
So, finally everything whether it is environmentalism, climate change advocacy, conservation, preservation of Earth or incessant mining, exploitation of natural resources, land mafia or setting fire to Amazon forests, the potential of the divine or the devil exists within the human. It would be the mind, intellect, intelligence, intention and the actions of every individual human that decides whether the Earth is treated as Gaia, the mother Goddess or as a resource that needs to be exploited.
But whether we like it or not, the law of karma always has a say in our life. "If we are part of the cause, be sure, we would be part of the effect as well". The very straight forward law of cause and effect-Karma. It is always our free will and choice how to intend and act. So, choose wisely!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: The spirit of the Christmas!
Credits: Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.com
Namaste! I want to let my blog readers know about my new website-swaroopa.net. Very simple id, not the complicated blog id address. Now to the post.
Last week, we were discussing how belief and faith are two very different concepts. Many times we as humans end up thinking it denotes the same thing. For belief the guidance comes from outside and for faith the guidance comes from within. But does that mean we should only listen to our within and ignore every thing that is happening outside? When a tornado is coming to hit us, should we take shelter or not? So, the outer reality also is very important.
This is where the concept of Gaia comes. The Earth mother! In many cultures and religions, the Earth is treated as a mother, Goddess or an entity. As I know Hinduism more, let us look at Hinduism. In the current Hinduism, Earth is depicted as Bhoomi or Bhauma devi. She is thought to be kind, compassionate and all loving.
She is considered the consort of Vishnu, the preserver God. As Vishnu saved her during a Pralaya (deluge of unseen proportions) in Varaha avatar (the boar form of Vishnu), she is considered the second consort of Vishnu. The first one is Lakshmi. As Bhoomi devi nurtures all, living as well as non-living things, whether animals, birds, humans, trees or even rocks, she is considered as all nurturing, ever patient and very compassionate.
 |
| Gaia- The Earth mother of Greek mythology with her babies and animals! Image credits -Roscher W. H. [CC0] |
Respect: What does it teach us? Every single thing in this Universe needs to be treated with respect it deserves, whether it is a human, a tree, an animal or the Earth. For example, let us take a dog is very good-natured and loyal. It becomes the ultimate true friend to someone who loves it. But if the same dog is bothered by someone with pokes, pulling the tail and beaten with a stick, it would growl and bare its teeth. So everything deserves the respect.
But, nowadays are we treating our home planet, Earth with respect? Who said while living on this Earth, we can abuse her resources? Yes, the Earth nowadays from a climate stand point is very peaceful and apt for humanity compared to her violent past. But Earth has gone through deluge, ice age and formation of volcanoes and fire. The evolution of Earth was not simple, straightforward and nice. It was violent with Earth shattering collision from a huge body, that later formed the Moon.
So, we should be happy and grateful, the Earth is not as violent as before, now for some millennia we as humans are able to form societies and maintain a normal every day life. But if we are aware, we would not become a complacent, infighting bunch who doesn't give a thought to our outer reality. The Earth can any day go back to its violent past. At that time the humanity may not be able to survive with its own selfish survival nature.
It is the Earth, which has provided everything that was needed by the humanity. Has humanity even used something from the outer space? To get a Moon rock we have to do a space flight, space suits and portable breathable air, even to go to the nearest satellite. Above the space to live, Earth offers air to breathe, water to drink and all the resources the humanity needs.
Natural resources: Now, think from this perspective. All of us love our physical mother, who gave us life. But what about the other greater mother who helped our mother to get her nourishment, so that she could take care of us when we were young? Gaia, or Bhauma devi. Nowadays, the humanity has evolved into the nature of abuse of resources. The human mentality- "How can I use the resources? Is there any way I alone can take advantage of the natural resources, whether water, land or such as crude oil, minerals and other commodities."
Yes, we as humanity can use the resources. But using the resources to the level of abuse is never okay. Think about it in this way. We have a home we live in. Is it good to destroy its walls, flood its floors and break open its roofs? Then our own home would get destroyed. We would have no place to live. As a humanity are we not doing the same thing? How much can we be in the ignorance lane?
 |
| The verdant beauty of the Earth! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
This is the difference of living from the mind and the heart. When we allow to be led ourselves from the heart, the inner speck of divinity, the Universal love for everything wakes up. We understand as we have a right to live and thrive in this Earth, so does every other living thing, even the survival of the Earth or Gaia itself. So, from that perspective while we use the resources for our own survival, we also conserve and preserve so that the future generations also have a beautiful, verdant and vibrant Earth to live.
But, in case we just live from our mind, the mind due to rationalization of everything, only sees the survival and the short term life of the person. The mentality becomes-How can I live nicely, now? Who cares about the next 500 years? I won't be there. Why even bother? Me, myself and I. This type of stance is very selfish. It was due to this very selfish attitude humanity nowadays finds itself in the clutches of environmental destruction, ozone layer depletion, water shortage and air pollution.
It doesn't matter huge industrialization and construction are happening in China, India or even another country. The pollution and the air quality is going to reduce all through the world. The atmosphere is one. There is not one atmosphere for China, another for India and a third one for the USA. It is the same with the water pollution as well. If we cut the trees, there would be less rain clouds, as the trees are needed to transpire and make the air humid. Now, we are flattening and mining the mountains. What happens? The mountains are not high enough to stop the humid air. So, finally no rains.
If there are no rains, what happens? All the river water flows to the oceans. The ocean evaporates. But there is the beating Sun due to fewer trees. The water molecules never become rain. All the water gets entrapped in the oceans or in the atmosphere, which is useless to the humans. Without fresh water, how is the humanity going to survive? Now, in case if there is no atmosphere or ozone layer, this water particles escape to the space outside of Earth, never to come back again. As of now the gravity is keeping the atmosphere and water here on Earth. But our own negligence about the delicate balance of Earth can topple things to the other side.
Environmental pollution and climate change: It is the shenanigans of the humans that have brought such dire changes to the Earth. Scientists argue the Earth is changing at much faster pace compared to previous geological epochs. It may not be just the humans alone. But humans can also be very much contributing towards that. It is a definite fact that the environment is getting more and more polluted, people are having breathing problems and chronic and long-standing illnesses have become a way of life.
 |
| Carboxyhemoglobin Image credits - Rifleman 82 [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)] |
Another detail. The huge industrial construction we do bring minute dust particles that lodge into our lungs. Our lungs have a very fine feathery structure for exchange of gases. The lungs need to be clean and healthy to function. If the fine dust/silica particles get lodged in our lungs, it brings a condition called Silicosis We would have difficulty to breathe and asthma like conditions can happen. It can cause a constant cough as if the body is trying to clear something that is not going to be cleared.
Delicate balance: Many times as humans we don't realize. Underneath, everything is extremely interconnected. A coal mine dug in the USA can indeed affect the minute weather of China or Japan. The same way a wild fire in California can affect the climate of the Amazon. This is because it is just one Earth with interconnected core as well as one atmosphere. The oceans of the world is a giant massive water body. For the applicability of knowing, we divide it as Indian, Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.
 |
| Forest wild fire can take a toll on the environment! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
It seems once upon a time some 160,000 years ago Arabia or the Middle East was a lush grass land. So, the climate of the Earth and the landscapes have changed before. But the rate at which that change is happening nowadays is astounding. In my home state of Kerala in India, when I was growing up the temperatures were a tropical 30-32C. But two years back the temperature rose up to 40-43C.
The weather, climate, atmosphere and the water resources of the Earth are staying in a very delicate balance. It is the rainforests of the Amazon that keeps the temperature of Earth at a level that is very conditioned for the survival of the human race. If Earth warms, then it can slowly start to lead to many disasters. We have already discussed in another blog post, scientists show that Venus has been an example of a hot and arid planet. If we are not careful, we can lose all the resources and Earth can also progress towards the same outcome. Use Earth to the total limit has become the mantra of the modern age.
Gaia- Earth mother: But many of the yesteryear cultures used to treat the Earth with respect. In Greek mythology, Earth was Gaia, a living breathing entity. Many of the ancient cultures treat her as a living entity who has a Soul of her own. Even in Hinduism, she is considered as the nurturing, patient mother who gives food, water and land. But the way nowadays we treat Earth simply as land and soil is indeed deplorable. Can we see how Gaia has started responding?
We can see the increase in floods, wild fires and natural disasters. In Hindu mythology there are a few stories where Vishnu or another God has come to save the Earth. Many times we feel all these Gods have to be phyical entities. No. As per my understanding nowadays, whether it is Vishnu or Rudra, they are archetypal energies. They can ofcourse take the violent form of natural disasters.
Remember in Mahabharatha, Krishna was the good mentor to Arjuna. The same Krishna took the form of a warrior God and killed many Asuras. He also took the form of God of Govardhana mountain, took the mountain in his hand and decimated the ego of Indra, who was the king of the Devas. Even in mythology, ego and arrogance are dealt with a very firm hand by the divine. So, if the Divine, Vishnu can take to task, the king of Devas, think about us humans?
We feel that all the Gods are just stories or deities who have to be prayed and bowed upon. But how about another interpretation. It is according to the intentions and actions we humans take, we rise to the level of divinity (Krishna/ Vishnu) or lower to the devilish nature. We don't have to go to heaven to see the Divine or hell to see the demon. Both the seeds of divine and devil are within us, humans.
 |
| Gaia - The nurturing Earth mother! Image credits - Pixabay.com |
To see the divinity we just have to look at the social worker who is taking care of ten kids placed in an orpahanage or foster homes. We just have to look at the single parent who is doing three jobs to take care of their three kids. Divinity also shows up in Padma Sri award winner Saalumarada Thimmakka who planted around 8000 trees in India. The same way the devil can be seen in the rapists who killed a helpless lady in India. The satan can be seen in the act of chemical murder on children, women and kids in Syria. The same dark energy can be seen in the way kids were torn from the hands of their mothers and put in iron cages in the southern border of the USA.
So, finally everything whether it is environmentalism, climate change advocacy, conservation, preservation of Earth or incessant mining, exploitation of natural resources, land mafia or setting fire to Amazon forests, the potential of the divine or the devil exists within the human. It would be the mind, intellect, intelligence, intention and the actions of every individual human that decides whether the Earth is treated as Gaia, the mother Goddess or as a resource that needs to be exploited.
But whether we like it or not, the law of karma always has a say in our life. "If we are part of the cause, be sure, we would be part of the effect as well". The very straight forward law of cause and effect-Karma. It is always our free will and choice how to intend and act. So, choose wisely!
I wish you a good weekend and I'll see you next Friday! 😉
Next week: The spirit of the Christmas!
Credits: Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay.com
![Roscher W. H. [CC0]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gaia_Kourotrophos_Roscher.jpg){kind=link}
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