Spiritual leaders bond in spirit to bless TOI Green Drive

NEW DELHI: The final day of TOI's Green Drive at Tilpat Valley on the capital's border with Faridabad district of Haryana saw the congregation of spiritual gurus of various faiths who had mobilized their followers for the campaign. The crowd began trickling in from early in the morning and the numbers soared even though the day became hotter by the hour.
The gurus spoke to the big crowd at Tilpat Valley, of whom around 31,500 were members of spiritual organisations, about the scientific and spiritual elements attached to trees. They also stressed that all religions gave high importance to trees.
Swami Chidanand Saraswati, President and head of the Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, talked about how tree plantation should be carried out with passion since it gives back something to nature that replenishes human life.
"Air and water can be purified because of trees. A tree gives us so much in the course of its lifetime. From day one till we breathe our last, we need trees. It is good to plant trees that give shade, but there is also a need to plant fruit-bearing trees. It can be a good way of tackling malnutrition that prevails in our country," he said.
Saying that each sector of society should shoulder a responsibility towards the environment, Swami Chidanand said, "There is something called corporate social responsibility, but TOI's Green Drive is a step towards 'media social responsibility'. We should also think of human social responsibility. And inter-faith interactions like we had today can pave the way for religious social responsibility."
Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of the All India Imam Organization, applauded the Green Drive and all the participants. He appreciated the confluence of different religious faiths for a common cause and said, "We should use religious meetings as a platform to spread the message of a clean environment. We should not only plant trees but also nurture them as our children. All religions have come together to plant trees, these trees will grow and benefit humanity."
Acharya Dr. Lokesh Muni , founder and leader of Ahimsa Vishwa Bharti, talked about the serious threat to the environment today with the ozone layer getting affected and glaciers melting because of pollution-led global warming. He pointed out that the solution to keeping the environment clean has been mentioned in ancient religious texts of different faiths.
"The religious texts tell us not to exploit air, water, soil, fire and trees unnecessarily. Propagators of different religious faiths have gathered here today because we feel that religion should be linked with social service. This drive is an answer to the issue of creating a healthy environment for our future generations. We have to plant trees for a healthy society and a healthy country," said the Acharya.
If the dusty landscape of Tilpat valley was dotted with a large number of people wearing blue caps, it was because followers of the Sant Nirankari Mission were out in massive numbers to carry out the tree plantation. Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh himself expressed surprise at the unusually high turnout of his followers and congratulated them for their effort and the initiative.
Explaining that the Sant Nirankari Mission always made an effort to promote a green environment, he said even in constructions, the mission gave importance to environmental friendliness.
Other spiritual leaders spoke about tree plantation as a significant practice in their faiths. "In Judaism when a girl attains puberty she plants a sapling," informed Rabbi Ezekiel Isaac Malekar. "So, 10-15 years down the line when she gets married, the flowers and leaves of that tree are used to decorate the wedding canopy." He also said that Judaism celebrated a special new year festival related to trees.
"Nature is greatly priced in the Baha'i writings," said Dr AK Merchant, national trustee, Baha'I Foundation of India. "The ecological crisis is described as a sign of irresponsibility on the part of human beings." He added, "This Green Drive demonstrates that simply by planting one lakh trees, we can create a cascading effect that will lead to a great awakening."