Nature has always been very kind to us. We live on nature, or rather we are a part of nature. I would like to say, “We are nature!” Ever since human civilisation began, we have been relying entirely on mother nature for our survival and our wellbeing.
Our ego tells us, “I am above nature. I am above everything. I am biggest. I am in control. I have every right to use all the natural resources.” I remember a long time ago, even in India, we didn’t have to buy water, we didn’t have to buy fertiliser, we were quite happy then. In fact, I would say we were happier then than now.
Recently, I was reading some articles about “genetic engineering” of our agricultural products. It was quite shocking to me. I must be quite late to know that even our food has been fabricated and is no longer natural. Maybe very soon in the future, we will also become unnatural, strange and abnormal. Everything we used to eat and enjoy was organic, as far as I can remember, and now, we have to pay a lot more to get organic products. What does this mean? I was laughing to myself, we have been spending decades to invent formula after formula, recipe after recipe, so that our food is better, our life is more convenient, our job is easier. After billions of dollars being spent on research, we found out that we are better off without these new inventions or fabrications. I am not saying that all inventions are bad, but honestly, some of the inventions are quite strange.
Because of the strange and egoistic way that we have been leading our life, we have different sorts of diseases coming up every day, every minute. This is our karma. This is the effect of our actions. Pessimistically speaking, we ask for it.
We have been taking advantage of mother nature for such a long time, lives after lives. We can’t help it, because our ego is so strong, beyond control. Our ego tells us we want this, we want that, we have to have more, we have to have better. By abusing the environment, we now have so many disasters. It’s unfair to call it “natural” disasters, because we have been making the nature quite sick, so when the nature gets sick, like the way we have a cold, it becomes disastrous. This is the way nature expresses its sorrow.
Giving back to nature is something that has always been in my mind and the most important of all my priorities. As I am not scientifically well educated, so my primitive way of giving back to nature is to plant trees and to go on Pad Yatra. For many people, these two seem to be very silly idea, because it’s not complicated and it’s very basic. As I said, we made our life complicated because we thought we will be achieving a lot. Instead of achieving a lot in the positive sense, we end up contracting strange incurable diseases and living in a world full of disasters.
I am inviting you, my friends and students, to join me in a very challenging effort to help the Himalayan environment. The eco system in the Himalayas affects the entire global eco system. It is the water source that feeds almost half of the world’s population. On 29th October, we will try to break the Guinness World Records for tree planting in Ladakh, as our small contribution to nature. I want to take the liberty to thank Zangmola for helping Young Drukpa Association (YDA) to lay the ground work for the plantation drive and for the monks in Hemis as well as the entire YDA Ladakh for being actively involved on the ground. My appreciation also goes to all the Live to Love chapters globally, working on the fundraising drive. Thank you all so much for your loving support!
Let me invite you to visit Live to Love website for more details, because I am not very good at explaining the technical aspect of this wonderful project. Lastly, I look forward to all of you joining us, either by participating personally or by sponsoring the tree planting. This has to be a joint effort by everyone, because we all share one home, one earth.