Siddhachalam NJ 1993 06 Acharya Sushil Kumarji

SR No.: 528592
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Siddhachalam NJ
Publisher: USA International Mahavir Jain Mission Siddhachalam
Publication Year: 1993
Total Pages: 104
Language: English
Classification: Magazine, USA_Souvenir Jain Center NJ Siddhachalam, & USA
File Size: 6 MB

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CARE AND SHARE
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding
--- Albert Einstein
GURUJI'S ADDRESS AT THE EARTH SUMMIT
JUNE 12, 1992
It is a unique occasion when the Sacred Earth Gathering's representative group comes to the UN Earth Summit to present its declaration. Spiritual leaders, thinkers and philosophers have come to the forum of statesmen to expose them to the spiritual perspective of the ecological issue. The other day, Mr. Maurice Strong came to the Monastery to formally receive the declaration. That was a memorable occasion when around a green plant, we made an Earth circle and sang in praise of the oneness of Earth, oneness of all life and oneness with nature. The chiefs of the indigenous people of the United States and Brazil gave us a beautiful glimpse of their traditional beliefs and faith which is so firmly rooted in sacred communion with nature. Internationally renowned Kenyan leader Ms. Wangari Mathai spoke with much feeling and eloquence in support of my proposal to launch a World Movement of Non-Violence for Peace and Environment. We had leaders of many faiths - from Christianity, Judaism, Islam to Buddhism and Jainism - expressing all that unites us despite our different religions when it comes to a spiritual approach to our natural surroundings and a deep humanitarian and compassionate attitude towards all living creatures.
Today we are speaking to the world's top statesmen on the need to think not merely in economic, technical or scientific terms in regard to the environment and its link with sustainable development: That perspective would be too narrow and limited, rooted in an unsympathetic, exploit- ative and violent attitude that the materialistic world would
have developed towards the bounties of Nature. The exploitative way may have brought us immediate positive results, but it has taken us so long to realize that we did not care enough to replenish nature with all that we were drawing upon continuously to make our lives ever more comfortable. Conservation of nature, protection of world life, continuation of a rich and varied flora and fauna, have suddenly become issues of very critical importance. This has been due to the violent and intemperate behavior of us humans towards nature and other fellow creatures. We have committed grave sins towards Mother Earth: Fertile lands have become barren, deserts have expanded in areas, forests have now disappeared, wild life is extinct, lakes have also dried up, rivers and oceans are heavily polluted. We do not even have fresh air to breathe in most human settlements, particularly in the urban areas and industrial belts.
It is tragic that approximately 10% of the Earth's potentially fertile lands have already been turned into desert or wasteland through reckless human exploitation and indifference to replenishing their fertility. Another 25% awaits a similar fate if this violent behavior is not changed. Every year the world is losing 8.5 million hectares through erosion and silting which are by-products of the indiscriminate and violent cutting down of trees. Over 20 million hectares of our tropical forests are being cut down each year- and look at what is currently happening right here in the Amazon forests of Brazil.
The Declaration of the Sacred Earth Gathering is a
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His Holiness Acharya Sushil Kumar Ji Maharaj
Jain Education Intemational