Atul Sathe
(Originally published on the author’s personal blog on April 2, 2020, on occasion of Ram Navami)
Today is Ram Navami. Greetings to everybody on the occasion. श्री राम जय राम जय जय राम! Bhagwan Ram was rightly called as Maryada Purushottam (the best one who always abides by the dharmic principles or the eternal laws of nature and the laws of the land). As per the estimate by historian Shri Nilesh Oak, the time of Ramayan is estimated to be about 12,000 BC. Obviously, the natural habitats during that time across India and the world must have been almost undisturbed in comparison to today. But, even during those times there were people who cared for nature and who did not. This is beautifully elaborated in one issue of the Marathi magazine Gatiman Santulan (which means progress with balance), edited by Shri Dilip Kulkarni.
Places such as Ram’s Ayodhya and Ravan’s capital in Lanka were urban centres, while the capital place of Sugriv (the king of forest dwelling people) located in Kishkindha (modern day Karnataka) was naturally completely in sync with nature. Even among the urban centres, the kind of lifestyles and policies followed, greatly depended upon the value systems of the ruler. Ram’s Ayodhya, although urban in nature, was very sustainable in its growth endeavours, while Lanka is said to be following a wasteful consumption model. The following table elaborates the similarities and differences in the growth models followed by these three prominent capitals of the time.
Thus, just as Bhagwan Ram’s life is full of inspiration for everybody, both in personal as well as social life, even the concept of nature conservation was deep rooted in those earliest times, despite natural resources still being abundant everywhere. It is obvious that our ancestors were visionaries and knew well that if allowed to be robbed indiscriminately, the abundance of the resources would dwindle in no time. So, let’s learn from our forefathers to achieve progress in tune with mother nature.
(The author works as Content Developer – Curriculum & PR, MIT Group. He can be contacted at atul.sathe@mitpune.edu.in)
