EcoBliss: Hinduism & the Environment

Ganesh

Listening to: This great voice.

Today's Bliss Formula: Not going anywhere. Yesterday, I took the bus to the bookstore to try to brainstorm some writing ideas. Sitting on a warm rock, waiting for the bus, I did just that. The bookstore was ... distracting. A warm rock seems to be all I really need.

Last week, I wrote about the Catholic church's recent addition of environmental pollution to a list of social sins and how this was really just a clarification, that being good stewards of the environment has always been a part of this theology if you take into consideration the concepts of greed and gluttony, both listed as "deadly" sins, meaning actions that prevent spiritual growth and maturation.

I had intended to write about many religions at once, but that was a silly idea! There's too much to say.

So, onto Hinduism and yoga...

Nonviolence is the supreme law of life.
--Indian proverb

At some point during a yoga class, most of us have heard about ahimsa or nonviolence. We have read lists of questions about what this concept might look like in our own lives, how there is nonviolence toward others and internal nonviolence.

And maybe this has led many of us to vegetarianism.

But it's so much more complex than that.

As thoughtful humans trying to wrap our brains around this concept, one of the first things we have to come to terms with is that the very act of our being alive results in destruction.

But this is not bad. This is the way of life. There is no light without dark; there is no life without death.

Being a vegetarian does not somehow exonerate you from this cycle. To grow enough vegetable for an entire planet of omnivores to be vegetarians would create mass destruction in terms of water and land usage. It takes so much more vegetable based food to consume enough daily calories to live.

I think, in terms of food choices, the larger issues have to do with where you are getting your food from. Are you eating bananas from Central America or are you trying to eat whatever fruit is in season within a reasonable radius from your home?

Do you care how your food is produced? I eat meat (gasp) but it comes from local farmers who raise those animals humanely and do not use hormones and chemicals to make then unnaturally large.

Also, without meat in my diet, I am exhausted. I was a vegetarian for ten years and I was a "good" vegetarian (meaning that I ate well). But bodies change and I could not sustain that lifestyle any more if I wanted to be a productive and happy human.

In this case, what is violence? Forcing myself to do something out of a sense of "rules and regulations" or being good to myself, taking care of myself, providing what I needed to be a contributing member of my community?

I spend this amount of time on vegetarianism, because I fear it is where a lot of people's thinking stops when pondering nonviolence.

I wonder about people driving to yoga class, rather than walking or taking the bus or riding their bikes or practicing at home.

I wonder about people flying many weekends a year to go to large yoga conferences and retreat centers rather than working within themselves.

I wonder about all the materialism that accompanies so much yoga these days -- the clothes and the special bags -- the accoutrements that show the world you are a yogi.

Isn't it our way of being that shows the world we are yogis?

We cannot walk lightly enough on this planet. No matter what choices we make, there are consequences. We are not all meant to sit and breathe through masks so as not to kill bugs.

But there are really large choices that we can make that would result in really large differences. Choices that go beyond "to meat or not to meat."

Don't drive so much. Try not to fly. Don't buy so much but... Buy local. Buy organic. Buy handmade.

And then sit back and practice the ultimate nonviolence: love yourself, love everyone, and stop worrying so much.