Maha Mantra For Sustainable Development

Dear friends,

Let us critically/rationally reflect on the following Maha Mantra for our Environmental Rejuvenation and Preservation, and its importance in the context of our present, very grave global environmental crises.

Reuse and Recycle eco-friendly our waste, Rejuvenate and preserve our great river mothers and their sources our great mountains and forests which are in the process of slow death, promoting reforestation wherever possible with zero deforestation as far as possible, Reduce our population growth ethically, and Reduce our desires for luxuries, regulating our way of life ethically through critical character-building ethics education based on the fundamental ethics of our great living ancient civilization as well as of various great religions, which are essentially the same (5Rs).

It is important to note that the IPCC scientists of the UN are warning that their claim about the impending catastrophic consequences of global warming and climate change for the masses, future generations, and the dumb and deaf life-world is essentially valid. The scientists are claiming that if global warming continues to increase in the present rate, then we are bound to face its irreversible catastrophic consequences such as deadly heat waves, wildfires, storms, erratic rains, floods, droughts, reduced agriculture yields, etc., burying of costal villages, towns and cities due to the rise of sea level caused by the melting of Antarctica and Arctic ice sheets and physical expansion of the ocean water, the Himalayan rivers turning seasonal rivers leading to substantial reduction of food yields, etc., vanishing of a great many living species of land, water and sky, etc. It is worth noting that only 30 percent of Earth's surface is land, out of which only 1/3 of is agricultural land. Still, due to anthropogenic soil-hostile activities / soil-depleting farming practices, only 5 percent of Earth's surface is now productive, and only 1 percent will be productive by 2050, creating a very grave global food crisis as the world population is expected to reach 9 billion. 97 percentage of Earth's water is oceans and out of the remaining three percentage of fresh water about two percentage of fresh water is in glaciers and ice caps, mountain snows, and only one percentage of fresh water is available for the use of humans and animals on land, which we are polluting more and more to satisfy our desires based on mainly our base passions lust for pleasures and greed for wealth. A WHO report released in October 2021 says air pollution due to fossil fuels causes the global death of more than 18 thousand 5 Hundred people every day. According to a UNO report released on 9th December 2025, 9 million deaths occur annually due to air pollution, meaning about 24,600 deaths occur every day. According to the Living Planet Report 2022 of WWF, about 69 percent of monitored wildlife species have declined since 1970, and many more will disappear from our planet, Mother Earth, in the near future if global warming continues at the current rate. According to the WWF Living Planet Report 2024, about 73 percent of monitored wildlife species have declined since 1970, with a 4 percent increase over 2 years between 2022 and 2024. According to the latest report from Copernicus Climate Change Services, January 2024 was the hottest month on record, with temperatures soaring 1.6 °C above the average pre-industrial level, for the first time crossing 1.5 °C above that level (1850-1900). Unfortunately, under the spell of the glamour of the present culture of development of modern civilization, which Mahatma Gandhi rightly considers to be fundamentally unethical, Satanic, and a nine-day wonder only, leaders worldwide are showing great apathy to take any substantial step in the right direction to avoid the impending catastrophic consequences of global warming and climate change. However, the scientists of IPCC of the UN are unanimously claiming that their warning about the impending devastating impacts of global warming and climate change is essentially valid. Stephen Hawking rightly claims that modern civilisation doesn't know how to avoid the unethical use of science and technology driven by human selfishness or stupidity, fuelled by base passions like lust for pleasure, greed for wealth, etc.

We must know that:

(1) Pure air, pure water, and pure food are necessary for good health. The culture of creating ever more concrete forests to satisfy our greed for wealth and lust for luxuries is bound to generate fewer and fewer natural forests, which in turn will make less and less pure air, water, and food for the masses, all of which are essential to our health. Health is necessary for the pursuit of all four purusharthas, i.e., Dharma, Aartha, Kama, and Moksha.

(2)The present culture of development of modern civilization is not sustainable. It produces wealth in some ways, causing greater and greater harm to our invaluable life-and-health-sustaining natural ecosystems of Mother Earth, and consumes her limited natural resources substantially more than Mother Earth can regenerate. It is important to note that its population has increased fourfold from about 35 crore in 1947 to about 144 crore at present, even as our limited natural resources are decreasing continuously.

(3) Mahatma Gandhi rightly considers Modern Civilization's present culture of having unlimited desires mainly based on our lust for pleasure and greed for wealth and going to the ends of Earth with the help of science and technology to satisfy them knowingly causing greater and greater harm to the life and health sustaining natural ecosystems of mother Earth to be fundamentally unethical, Satanic, suicidal and nine days wonder only. We, humans, have become the most dangerous species on our planet, Mother Earth, due to the unscrupulous use of the immense power of science and technology of our age, mainly to satisfy our lust for pleasure and greed for wealth. However, every human being has the potential to become a divine person by exercising free will and reason throughout one's journey from birth to death. Any person of any social class and gender serving society ethically in the best possible way according to one's abilities, without any desire for the fruits of one's actions and making constant efforts to grow spiritually ethically higher and higher towards perfection, as described in the Mother Bhagavad Gita, can realise spiritual ethical perfection / Truth / Moksha / Nirvana.

(4) The fundamentally spiritually as well as non-spiritually ethically enlightened/rational and ethics-based, Eco-friendly, village-and- agro friendly-&-centric, sustainable, equitable /, decentralised industrialisation and urbanization of the Gandhian loving and caring non-violent culture of development, which is based on the fundamental ethical values of various great religions in the context of our present technological age, is the only surest lasting rational solution available to us for avoiding the impending catastrophic consequences of the present very grave global environmental crises in general and the crisis of global warming and climate change in particular, along with the present all-pervasive deep-rooted global spiritual as well as non-spiritual ethical crises.

Let us sincerely try to rejuvenate and preserve our great living ancient civilization of Truth and non-violence and establish a spiritually as well as non-spiritually ethically enlightened/rational secular kingdom ethical righteousness/goodness / of justice, liberty and love (Rama Rajya / Kingdom of God), and save India and through it the world at large from the impending catastrophic consequences of the present very grave global ecological crises in general and the crisis of global warming and climate change in particular, along with the present all pervasive deep rooted global spiritual as well as non-spiritual ethical crises. Introduction of critical/rational character-building ethics education with spiritual ethics, i.e the ethics of selfless/desireless / renounced ethical love, as its core and the problem of the ultimate meaning/goal of life as its central problem, based on the fundamental ethics of various great religions, from the beginning of our education system/systems and giving it the due importance it deserves in the education system/systems, will undoubtedly be a significant step in the right direction for the creation of a kingdom of God / Rama Rajya. We must know that without providing such character-building ethical education, it is not possible to avoid the unethical use of science and technology driven by selfishness or base passions such as lust for pleasure, greed for wealth, etc., which are internal enemies and more dangerous and stronger than external enemies. To begin with, let us transform some of our major educational institutes into centres of critical/rational spiritual as well as non-spiritual ethical teaching and research for the world, which show spiritual as well as non-spiritual ethical lights/knowledge / rational thoughts for this great noble cause for our country as well as for the world at large. Our traditional Indian civilization has the necessary spiritual and non-spiritual ethical resources for this profoundly noble cause.

Let us remember always the invaluable message of the Bhagavad Gita, the supreme scripture of Yoga: "Lust for pleasures, anger, and greed are the triple gates of hell and bring the downfall of one's soul. Hence one must abandon these three." (The Bhagavad Gita,16.21) Let us also always remember the following profoundly valuable environmental messages of the two great noble scientists of the world: Albert Einstein - "If the bee disappears from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than four years to live." "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."

Stephen Hawking - "Life on planet Earth is at risk from a sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, global warming and climate change, or some other reasons humans have not thought of yet."

With Goodwill, love, and prayers, 💕 🙏

Smt. Rama Rauta

President: National Women's Organization, Pune

Founder: Save Ganga Movement

Websites: savegangamovement.org

4gashram.org