Healing Ourselves, Healing Our Planet
by Yogi Amrit Desai • Salt Springs, Fl

We are not separate from the problem. We are the problem. We live divided lives. On the one hand we ask industries to support our greed for more and more conveniences, comfort and possessions.
We have become addicted consumers, which causes industrial waste. At the same time, we ignore our connection between our demands and the exploitation of Mother Earth that goes with it. When we are greedy for more than what we need for our sustenance and well being, we invariably abuse the resources of our body and the earth.

Mother Earth is the womb of the sustaining power of humanity. We are nurtured by the healthy condition of Mother Earth. In humans, if the mother is ailing, the child suffers. In the womb, the child is helpless. But in our case, it is the mother who is helpless. We are the cause of the ailing planet and we are the victims.

As Carl Jung wrote, “If things go wrong in the world, something is wrong with me. Therefore, if I am sensible, I shall put myself right first.” Our relationship to the earth invariably is the reflection of our relationship with ourselves. Our ailing planetary consciousness is a reflection of our ailing humanity and self-concepts.

Just as the forest is green only when the trees in the forest are green, the global healing can occur only when individuals are awakened to their higher integrative consciousness. We heal the planet as we heal ourselves. As each of us experiences the integrative power of awareness within—healing our internal conflicts of body, mind, and spirit-we feel love for all expressions of God, for all of life and for the entire world.

Once a great yogi who lived to be 125 was asked, “What is your secret of long life?” He said, “I live on interest.” What he meant was that he wasn’t using up his principal. Right now, we have not only exhausted our principal, we are living off our credit card. We have gone so far that the collection agency is knocking at our door. Destructive patterns that are developing in weather conditions, toxic environment and water pollution are the collection agencies demanding payment of our debt. The knocking is actually healthy. It is a wake-up call that gives us an opportunity to alter our awareness, to transform not only the earth, but also the consciousness of every human being in a profound and far-reaching way.

Our current individual, social and cultural conditionings have created disruption in our lives that is being mirrored on a global scale. Many of us who were raised in a materialistic society, adopted a belief in our childhood that “more is better.” As the age of science, industrialization and technology created the power to produce more and more, the greed for more grew along with it. As consumers, many of us have developed an insatiable hunger for more. As a result, we have not only abused our bodies, we have indirectly promoted industries that are destroying the ecological balance of the planet.
As each one of us becomes more aware and realizes that we are the source of the problem we complain about, we learn to become the stewards of our resources rather than the exploiters.

Responsibility for our environment is an age-old theism. The words of the ancient Vedas say, “Pinde tat Brahmade,” which means literally, “What is in the microcosm is in the macrocosm.” The individual body and the body of the cosmos are alike. The intelligence of prana, the universal primal life force that sustains, protects and evolves the life of our individual body is the same as that which sustains, protects and evolves the life of the body of the universe. Just as the primal wisdom inherent and inborn within the individual body maintains its own internal ecological balance, the same all-pervading intelligence of pram sustains the balance of the universe. We have no power to protect or use the energy resources of our planet any differently than the way we use, abuse, misuse, or exploit our own body-mind energy system. It is the conscious use of energy resources that maintains the homeostatic processes in the body. It is conscious living that uses the energy resources of this planet in a way that protects the ecological balance of the earth.

Cleaning up the earth must be viewed as part of the evolution of human consciousness. This is not an isolated event. Only 200 years ago, the earth was pollution-free, but every increasing technological advance since the Industrial Revolution has rapidly put our planet on a collision course with destruction. Even if we wake up and pay attention to the condition of the planet, we must be clear in our
consciousness. If not, history will repeat itself. If we make external changes, but continue to live in the same unconsciousness, the problem will have a temporary solution and in time, the next generation will face the same all over again. Ongoing awareness is the only permanent solution.

The founder of Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, author of many books, originator of Amrit Yoga, Kripalu Yoga and Yoga Nidra techniques, Yogi Desai continues to teach through seminars & programs at the Amrit Yoga Institute, in Salt Springs, Florida. www.amrityoga.org or call 352-685-3001 for program schedule & yoga training info.