Page 29 - NAMAH-Oct-2023

Namah Cultivating an Ecological Consciousness

and have become community pets. She could join one of the many groups or
form her own chapter. She could contact
Flowers from the many gardens are brought her local newspaper or the government
to the ashram where a team of ladies make representative. Another may want to become
garlands for floral decorations. In India a professor of eco-psychology, or an eco-
jasmine garlands are worn by ladies as hair therapist. Someone may want to organise
ornaments and hung in cars as protective nature camps for children, or work as a
talismans. Flowers are offered to deities in volunteer to clean up the roads, the beach,
temples and homes; and the flower market or hiking spots.
is as busy as a vegetable market.
When I started learning about eco-therapy,
Another community that emphasises nature- I found a shift in my consciousness towards
based education is Shantiniketan in West nature. There is now a heightened awareness
Bengal. This was started by Rabindranath of nature’s beauty and her intelligence. I can
Tagore, one of the most famous poets of connect with friends who have green thumbs
modern India. Here students sit under trees and find their plant-love to be fulfilling. I
for classes. Art students have ample scope appreciate my parents better since they have
to draw village life as the university is in a been growing plants all their life on land
rural setting. In the annual spring festival, that was bigger than the plot on which they
women dye their sarees orange by soaking built our house. As they grow old and find it
them in a solution of night jasmine flowers. hard to work on the land, they tend to potted
They make ear-rings, necklaces and crowns plants and spend a lot of time nurturing
of flowers. A song and dance performance them. Our house has vases of flowers all over.
follows that invokes Spring, personified My parents brought flowers from the market
and deified. that we did not grow at home, such as lotuses
and lilies. As these bloomed, they created an
Conclusion atmosphere of charm at home.

Once we start loving our Mother Earth, we
begin to reclaim her and at the same time
a neglected part in ourselves too. We then
connect to this Being and listen to her deeply,
we ask her how we can become instruments
in her healing. She may answer us differently
depending on where we live, what power
we command and our inner capacities. She
may ask one to concentrate on planting trees,
collecting seeds, distributing to different
communities. To another she may ask to
write stories to spread the message of the
R’s — recycle, reduce, re-use, repair, refuse. The Ashram in Pondicherry is one of the most
Another may hear that activism is her calling. decorated places on earth and every piece of

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