Where Does God Dwell?

The virtues of reverence and respect have always been fundamental to Indian culture. Irrespective of religion, caste, class, status or location every Indian accords great honour and veneration to divinity. We go to great lengths to ensure that nothing defiles the sanctity of a holy place. With actions like removing our shoes or covering our heads before we enter a place of worship we show respect to our deity.

And yet in a nation so full of love for God, we seem to detach the Creator from creation, giving reverence to the former and completely neglecting the latter.  Scriptures of various religions around the world stress the fact that the earth is God’s abode and the Creator is manifest in all of creation. If we really believe this, then every time we harm the environment we harm God’s creation and dwelling place. Shouldn’t we extend the same honour and respect that we give to a place of worship, to the earth and our environment?

Why do we fail to comprehend the connection between the Creator that we worship and his creation, our earth? How has a nation with such a tradition of appreciation of beauty, art and architecture failed to see how it has disregarded, neglected and even abused the environment? Are we so selfish as to believe that preserving and protecting the environment is someone else’s responsibility, not our own?

The earth has provided for us from the beginning of time; let’s pledge to protect the Creator’s creation! We are God’s instruments upon this earth and we have the responsibility and the ability to make the right choices. Let’s create a clean, beautiful and environmentally responsible nation. If we love our country and take pride in our heritage each one of us must strive to make India’s tomorrow better than today.

My country’s pride in my hands resides,
the home of God, the land on which I thrive,

I’ll bless her with my zeal

and work to make her glorious still.

And in her streets will dance trees and wind

and sing the sun in perfect sync

No not today! No not today!

No sewage dumps, no heap of waste

Nor stink of awful negligence

His home and house on this planet placed

Nature here will sway and twirl

and extend to kiss the brow of men;

Who for love of God served and toiled

and brought to blossom sun-scorched lands

-  Carissa Paul