According to the Hindu Culture, everything in the Universe is made up of Five Elements; जल, आकाश, वायु, अग्नि तथा पृथ्वी i.e. Water, Space, Air, Fire and Earth; known as “The Pancha Mahabhoota”. In Ancient India, our Ancestors used to Worship these Five Elements of Nature, they regarded them as “God”. But with the change of time and growing period; humans i.e., we have neglected the World around us. We got so busy in our lives that we forgot “The God”, whom our Ancestors used to worship; how it is getting affected due to our Negligent Acts.
In this article, I will discuss one of the Five Elements i.e., Water (जल); which is getting polluted due to irresponsible acts of humankind. There is a saying in our Hindu Culture; “जल ही जीवन है” i.e., without water there is no Life! Everyone knows this; how the water bodies are getting affected in our Holy Country India, one of the causes of water pollution is our Religious Practices..!
Through Ancient times, it is considered as a sacred practice; to dispose of Used Religious Materials in the river but the practice was carried on; keeping in mind the well-being of the environment without harming it. In earlier times i.e., in ancient India, the objects were made up of natural components i.e., Carved in Stone or made up of Sand and the religious practice was conducted with Flowers.
But now the Idols and the religious materials are made up of plastic, cement and other non-ecofriendly chemicals and we can see that the statues of deities are decorated and are painted in colours; It’s a modern trend….! The availability of modern chemicals and colours made this possible. The paint and decorations on the statues are not environmentally friendly; so when we dispose of the religious materials in today’s time, keeping in mind and following our Ancient religious observance, We are polluting our holy rivers…..!
Yamuna..! the river which is worshipped in the Hindu religion and is idolized as Goddess Yamuna; is getting polluted. In the current scenario of New Delhi, even after so many restrictions near the Banks of the river Yamuna; Warning Boards are even there regarding “Save River Yamuna..!”; in spite of that; how people throw religious Materials in the name of Religion; seeing this is very disheartening. On my way to the office daily, on DND I see on daily basis; how people throw religious things in the Holy River Yamuna; thinking that they did that; in the name of God. The sad part is, we know how we are affecting our environment; we say,” Save Water…!” but the Question is ” Are we really Following it..?”
The only way, we can prevent this is by taking our own steps and actions and by using things which are Eco-friendly and rather than throwing the religious things in the Holy Rivers, there is a process which is very famous nowadays that, we can give the discarded Religious things to the recycling companies; who are taking initiatives by recycling religious materials from temples and households; for safeguarding our Environment. We should Stop, before it’s too late…
Remember, only we can make the world a better place by working together to Save our Environment..!
– Adv. Gargi Sharma