Man and his mission in his world.
Whichever way you would like to define a man, it would come down to one thing-his mission in this world. Unless man learns to understand his mission in this world, which is basic to all of us- “a selfless contribution to this world”; he will never be happy.
Some great masters never cared about money or survival, even though they had many opportunities to amass wealth all their lives; they shunned luxury and died a poor or reasonably poor people. Take for example Lord Gautama Buddha and Lord Mahavira; they were both prince(s) coming from royal back grounds. They shunned wealth and taught people the reality of life, themselves living on charity. Mother Teresa put in all the money she would receive as donations into her projects for children, women and lepers. Abraham Lincoln the Ex-president of US abolished slavery; he was a simple man who was assassinated in his country. In your day-to-day life you may have come across many such people who care little for wealth but craves just enough for the survival of himself and his family.
Man himself has contributed to this world all those modern lifestyle, not for free but against monetary considerations only. Donald Triumph would not gift you a part of his tower, nor would Apple contribute their latest PC tablets to everyone for free. Mercedes would not part with their saloons without money or Ferrari offer their speedsters to you for free. They pay their engineers for all the research they do, the engineers do the research against money and not for free. This cycle is based upon materialism. The contribution to mankind is against self-interest. Only when, therefore, man learns to contribute selflessly, would he break himself free from misery, stress, and malady.
What could be this selfless contribution to his world? Like you have your own home and each day you take care to keep it clean and maintain all the gadgets and light bulbs against faults, in the same way this planet, you live in, needs to be taken care of by each and every one of us. How would we take care of our planet? This planet is one large home consisting of all the homes of mankind and other beings. Within this planet are different members of her family; mankind, sentient beings and birds, plants, water bodies, sky, earth, air and similar naturally available gifts of nature. Man being so far the established “superior being” need to contribute selflessly towards one or more of its member in his world. The selections and opportunities are endless and each one of us can select what we can do for the other members of this planet without seeking any consideration in return. Some guidelines are given below:
1. FELLOW MANKIND: Teach children and unlettered adults; contribute towards making schools, hospitals. Make community centers to teach hygiene, small trades, grooming and such other self-help knowledge. Counseling of children and adults are another necessity in any community. Looking after older and invalid people is also very satisfying for anyone.
2. FELLOW SENTIENT BEINGS: Animals and birds are the most abused life forms in the world. It is compulsory; a large part of our population focuses and concentrates in the welfare of these living beings. Unfortunately, a large part of our population world over, are very fond of eating flesh; they are pet lovers and not animal lovers. The difference between an animal lover and a pet lover is , an animal lover loves all animals irrespective of its kind, be a vegetarian and contribute towards animal welfare, while a pet lover will love his pet and encourage the slaughter of other animals to feed its pets and remain an unfortunate non-vegetarian, a carnivore. Most of us should compulsorily feed animals and birds every day at least once. Animals and birds are unfortunate beings. With man cutting down and burning their habitats, animals and birds are confused and find their habitats shrinking by the day. This is why, sometimes, they encroach upon the so-called civilised habitat of mankind, ironically built upon the land which was once the habitat of these animals and birds. It is time we repay them by looking after their welfare. These co owners of this earth have been ignored and badly treated by mankind. If you give your love to the cubs of lions and tigers, they will grow up amongst you and get domesticated and will never turn a man-eater. Perhaps, snakes would also stop turning hostile if man fed them each day. Animals are hostile towards mankind because man has not interacted with the animals since they were small. They are therefore, frightened of mankind. In my experience a bird and a lion can live in harmony if they grow up together. A child and a lion can live in harmony if they grow up together. Why this little principle fails to get into the mind of mankind is amazing. Man is the most selfish of all species. They have no time to think about these little things in life. They are self-centered and abuse their superiority over other living beings. This has contributed to the serious conditions that man is in today. Unless we mend our ways we shall never be able to break away from the chain of misery, stress and suffering. It is time we respect these life forms, contribute towards its welfare and get closer to them by loving them and feeding them.
3. PLANTS: We need to respect a plant which not only feeds us but also provides oxygen. Without plants, we would have been deprived of the best source of minerals, vitamins, carbohydrates and clean proteins. We need not cut down trees and sell its wood. We should water plants and trees in our neighborhood and teach our children to do so. Plants may not have consciousness like us, and our other sentient beings, but they definitely have life and life anyway needs to be respected. Unless we humble ourselves and give due respect to plants and water and nurture them, we will fail in our endeavor to achieving happiness. We will forever remain chained to misery, stress, and suffering in our lives. Suffering and misery does not relate to poverty only it also relates to other maladies in our lives, such as diseases, war, conflicts, and sick souls which thrives upon cruelty to all living beings.
4. WATER BODIES: In time you will learn that water has life. Polluting and disrespecting water will only add to your misery. With 75% water and at least another 5% water within all living beings and the earth, water forms a considerable proportion of this earth, our planet. We should, in all respect, ensure that water remain clean and unpolluted. Large factories spill chemicals, acids and ashes into water, while ships spill crude oil disturbing the habitat of the sea life, mystery of which is still to be explored by mankind. We have much to learn from beneath the oceans and the seas. We are aware of radioactive rains, polluted sea life, polluted river water draining into agricultural fields. All these needs to be corrected and discouraged. Those living near water bodies need to be aware and conscious of these facts and contribute their time in maintaining discipline and being vigilant to ensure water bodies, nearby they live, are not polluted by others.
5. SKY: Sky is above all of us. We should not release gases and encourage activities that may contribute to global warming. It is becoming a dangerous trend in the modern times to pollute even the sky. The government of each country, through TV, radio and other Medias should inform their public about the do’s and don’ts on global warming and depleting ozone layer and activities that may pollute the atmosphere and bring its citizens to the risk of bronchi diseases. We largely depend upon water in our daily life and in so many commercial activities, that harming water may one day paralyze many of our activities and put us into the misery of diseases.
6. EARTH: One of the most abused of all the gifts of nature to us is the earth itself. Man has left no avenue unexploited when it comes to our earth. From cutting down trees and plants and hushing away the animals and birds from their habitat to building cities for themselves down to digging deep some few kilometers into the earth to build an atomic research Centre. Man is greedy for every inch of the land they can occupy. Even agriculture and vegetation are being produced using extremely unfriendly chemicals and fertilizers. This gives higher yield alright but at the cost of depleting the land of its nutrients, as well as polluting the human body with such chemicals. Since we eat of this land and we are born through our mothers who ate of those from this polluted land, we are entering into a vicious cycle of polluting the mother and child in a continuous process. After a few generations of handing down children whose forefather lived on polluted vegetation and agriculture, nothing much will be left in them from the point of view of immunity. It is therefore, imperative we consider revising our agricultural and vegetation producing strategies. There is still sufficient land left for intelligent and natural farming. It is not too late yet! Man should arise and awake to the need of this alarming phenomenon immediately.
7. AIR: Air too has life. We all know that we cannot live without air. Why do we pollute air? Perhaps it is human nature to cut down the branch on which he sits! Our children and their children are breathing polluted air just because someone is manufacturing lead storage batteries or melting steel and other metal ores. City air is polluted because some cars belch too much soot and lead from their exhaust. Some people burn old tyres, leaves, wood and wires all around some corners in their world which we all have to breathe. This is not fair and ethical. Just because of some ignorant people who are not booked for such crimes, we and our children have to inhale fumes and suffer from bronchi diseases. Government of each and every country should pass stringent laws making it mandatory to keep away from making smoke and polluting the air we breathe. Unless this happens man will continue to ignore the air they breathe and let everyone suffer in the process. Law today is too lenient in this respect, which should not be, in view of the alarming rise in the atmospheric pollution worldwide.
We should generally contribute little of our time each day away from making money and fortune, for the benefit of the others as listed above from 1 to 7. This way we will maintain our habitat and our planet. All that touches our lives will remain healthy and pollution free, in return offering us all what is healthy and happy. Perhaps each and everyone in this world would agree to what I have said but not all of them may extend their hands in the contribution I am talking about, some may even be busy manufacturing products releasing unfriendly smoke into the air, no matter if their children and their children’s children are breathing the same air.