The Natural Answer...naturally
A current article on MSNBC.com reports there is worry in India amongst the Hindus that the sacred Ganges (Ganga Ma) is drying up.These are indeed strange times. Despite the fervor of religious followers to defend their belief systems, nature seems not to care. Nature does what is only natural. In this case climate change may inevitably radically change the ancient religion of Hinduism."...a somber group of men carried a body to the banks of the river, a common ritual before the dead are cremated on wooden funeral pyres. To be cremated beside the Ganges, most here believe, brings salvation from the cycle of rebirth.
'Ganga Ma is everything to Hindus. It's our chance to attain nirvana,'" Ramedi said, emerging from the river, her peach-colored sari dripping along the shoreline.
"But the prayer rituals carried out on the water's edge may not last forever -- or even another generation, according to scientists and meteorologists. The Himalayan source of Hinduism's holiest river, they say, is drying up."
The article continues -
[complete article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19268167/ ]"In this 3,000-year-old city known as the Jerusalem of India for its intense religious devotion, climate change could throw into turmoil something many devout Hindus thought was immutable: their most intimate religious traditions. The Gangotri glacier, which provides up to 70 percent of the water of the Ganges during the dry summer months, is shrinking at a rate of 40 yards a year, nearly twice as fast as two decades ago, scientists say."
What will millions of Hindus do if the sacred Ganges only trickles past Varnasi, the "Jerusalem of India"? (the writer's attempt to define the importance of this city but incorrect as Varnasi was around as a holy city far before Jerusalem). Is the belief system so completely connected to this river that if it dried up tomorrow so would Hinduism? What If Mecca were to be destroyed by a natural disaster... what would Muslims do? How about Jerusalem? The Jewish Wailing Wall?
So many religious symbols throughout the world for so many belief systems, so many cultures, that are so dependent upon these things so support them, the first commandment comes to mind when it says, in part, to have no other gods before me. Sure, this first commandment is for the Judeo/Christian believer, but even those two religions do not completely adhere to not having 'gods' before them.
Any thing, person, statue, symbols of any kind that become objects of worship is not a good thing. The key word is 'worship' here... to worship a person(s) or any thing relieves the person doing the worshiping of their own responsibility to find their inner being... that one spark or blazing light within. There should be no problem with symbols as reminders, symbols that strike the heart and bring a sense of goodness or well-being, but to step over the line and worship these things is to falsify one's own knowing of Self. What is within is far more majestic than what is without.
But we are evolutionary beings. We hu'mans are learning machines. From our first cognizance of something around us: our eyes seeing things and stuff, our hands grasping for them, touching, feeling, tasting, hearing, our sensory lives depend upon our learning. From these senses of ours we evolve and hopefully share that learning with each successive generation. This is natural... from and of nature.
Nature is and always has been the teacher. From nature we learn. We learn from all that nature is. This is why we refer to Nature in the feminine, 'she' or 'her'... nature gives life. No need to worship 'her'. Nature doesn't need our worship. Nature does not ask for any worshiping... 'she' simply gives as does light gives.
Within us all, all life, there is this one Light, the source of all Life. The one source of all Life is Nature... the two are one, complete and forever, yin/yang in perfect harmony, complete balance. It is only we that have problems with balancing ourselves.
When our belief systems refuse to change from what once was, we fear losing what we felt was our balance. If we were to stop and observe Nature all around us, see it's actions and reactions, it's seasons, the droughts and famines, floods and feasts, we should realize that no matter what we humans go through, change is inevitable. Some times we we may believe in one thing until another comes along that changes that belief into another. We may be saddened at the loss, but life continues regardless of our feelings.
We, the evolutionary creatures that we are, learn and change. If our Ganges dries up, if our idols fall, if our learning reveals weaknesses in our treasured beliefs, we can either deny the knowledge and remain stagnant (and troublesome) or accept it and progress. It is our choice. We cannot attain balance perpetually without attaining the extremes of either side. This evolves into fewer steps in either direction in order to keep balance close to us - a slight tilt of one direction will take only an equally slight tilt to regain the balance. Extremes become less and less powerful in our lives. Balance becomes the most powerful as it does within yin and yang. Balance in mind and body will open the doors of our perception in knowing our true Self... Self Realization. It's our Nature. It's only natural...
cecil
17 june 2007
reflections
