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Swami Vivekananda said, “We are the Children of God, the sharers of immortal, bliss, holy and perfect beings. We are divinities on earth. Come up, O Lions and Lioness and shake off the delusion. You are the soul’s immortal, spirits free, blessed and eternal. We are not matter; we are not bodies; matter is our servant not we the servant of the matter. Work hard till the goal is not reached. Fear not. Wheel is on your shoulder, stop not to look back for name or fame.

Throw self-overboard and work. Have faith in self, in all and in God. Have muscles of iron and nerves of steel. Work for the welfare of living beings and nature. Bear no hatred to anyone. God dwells in every heart.” This resonates even more so today. With the world locked in battle against deadly diseases, environmental destruction, and civil and social unrest, it is extremely important that we remind ourselves of the true purpose of being born and living on this Earth.

As every year, this year too, World Values Day resounds the call to deepen and strengthen our commitment to the practice of values across the globe. Values are essential to our survival; but we do not always understand why? World Values Day presents us with an opportunity to reflect on the values we hold and how it impacts us and those around us. The theme for this year is Reconnecting with Nature.

Reconnecting with nature: During this time, even with restrictions, many of us began to experience nature in different ways, paying attention in ways to the nature around us in ways we hadn’t before. Just two weeks into the lockdown, the air became fresher, the mountains came into view, wildlife came back, rivers and ponds began to clear up...it seemed that the lockdowns — partial or complete  — gave the earth some breathing room. Rivers, lakes, mountains, the air, wildlife, all got a new lease of life. 

So what happened was that we realized that we learned to value nature again, we bowed to her majesty. At the same time, the big climate change events — floods, storms, and wildfires that raged across the world- reminded us that nature is all powerful. We must keep her needs in mind as we progress as individuals and societies. For centuries now, we had been decimating nature, we had shown acute careless disregard and disrespect to her needs, pillaging and plundering her bounty with our greed. But what did she do? She showed us our true place on this earth and in the cosmos. Perhaps she took the form of the virus to make us stop in our tracks and pay attention? 

In fact I would say that we should go so far as to unitedly propose International Earth Relief Days in a year  -  days or short periods of planned lockdowns when we collectively choose not to emit carbon use, any petrochemicals, to halt all activity, except the very essential. Let the earth breathe. Give her some rest. 

In times of crisis, we are given a chance to shed the trivial, and discover what truly matters. What a matter is the bond that we share as human beings; the special relationship of humanity. It is this bond that carries us through troubled times and helps us survive and come out stronger. Across the world, people and communities have rallied together to beat the odds and the results have been

more than inspiring. It is our deeply held values that give us the strength and determination to protect others and ourselves, and fight the hard fights. Environment and pandemic: In the Bible, God is pictured as creating plants and trees on the third day. God is depicted as a gardener. In Hinduism, green is the sign of Wednesday, the day of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles and benefactor of wisdom and prosperity. ‘Anahat’ (heart centre), the chakra in the human body is symbolised by the green colour. It helps the heart, lungs, liver, circulatory system, skin and pancreas stay healthy.

So, it is recommended to have green vegetables a lot. The national flag of India bears the green colour at the bottom. Islam has green flag. The Quran says, “Greenness as paradise where righteousness prevails.” Due to the deterioration in the environment the world is facing deadly diseases like Covid- 19, floods, storms and others. Rivers need to be protected; throwing of garbage in the river needs to be stopped. Fruits bearing plants having foliage throughout the year need to be planted even in waste lands. This will also mitigate hunger in many countries. Let us have and make a firm commitment on this World Values Day to have the value as enshrined by the Supreme Lord. We have to ignite, inspire and aspire the values amongst the youth and all. We have to save Mother Earth for all inanimate and animate. We are aware of global warming, glaciers melting, ocean levels rising high and others. I thank you all for the gracious presence. Let us march onwards together with the banner of values and protection of Mother Earth.