When Krishna played his flute to call the cows, the river stopped flowing, her waters stunned with ecstasy. Instead of swimming or flying, the cranes, swans, ducks and other birds closed their eyes and entered a trance. The cows and deer stopped chewing, their ears raised. They became motionless like painted animals.
-Srimad Bhagavatam 10. 35

From Friends of Vrindavan website

Srivatsa Goswami, a Vaishnava scholar and devotee who has established his own study institute in the pilgrimage town of Vrindavan, India, has a fascinating explanation of the role of Krishna, the forest deity of Vrindavan, whose life Srivatsa considers to be “the greatest chapter in environmental history”.

Unlike Vishnu, who is God in the city of opulence, adored and served with reverence and awe by thousands of servants, Krishna dances with the peacocks, splashes in the river, plays the bamboo flute and spends his time with his friends in the forest herding cows.

At the very beginning of his life on earth, Krishna left the city of Mathura in order to live in the forest with the cowherds. Krishna is God living in simplicity in the forest. There are no stories of Krishna creating. In order to create, Krishna becomes Vishnu. They are both the same God, but Krishna does not personally involve himself in controlling the affairs of the universe – he prefers to stay in the forest as a cowherd boy. For this reason Srivatsa maintains that one who is devoted to Krishna could never be callous towards the environment, because Krishna himself loves nature. What Krishna loves his devotee also loves.

Srivatsa says that there were only two recorded occasions when Krishna performed formal religious worship. The first occasion was when he worshipped Govardhan Hill in Vrindavan. Srivatsa takes up the story:

“In the Srimad Bhagavatam the description given of this event is the essence of Hindu philosophy. Krishna and Balarama were coming home with the cows at dusk. They saw all the elders gathered on the doorstep of their house arranging for a festival to worship Indra. They asked their father what was going on, but he replied, ‘This is not your business – you go inside and eat.’

“So Krishna went inside and told his mother that he would not eat anything. Eventually his father relented and called him back to explain what they were all doing. He said, ‘We are people whose livelihood is based on agriculture. We trade in the produce of the land and the cows, both of which depend on rainwater. Indra is the lord of water. The rain clouds are his agents, so we have to pay him tax. Every year we arrange this festival’.

“Then Krishna replied in a very unexpected way. He denounced the cowherdmen’s act of religious worship. He said, ‘All creatures are born by force of karma. By force of karma alone they die. By force of karma they experience pleasure and pain. If there is any God who dispenses the fruit of other actions, he only rewards or punishes us according to our actions. Therefore don’t make a show of worshipping Indra, because by the law of karma you are in control of your own destiny.’”

Krishna spoke like this to shock his father and the cowherdmen. He wanted to teach them that they were all responsible for their own actions. The law of karma is that by our practical actions we create our future, good or bad. It was therefore more important to care for the hills and cows, and Krishna, than to worship Indra.

Srivatsa explains:

“This is the key to the environmental problem today. We depend on others – government agencies, the UN Environmental Fund, or some local civil government – to do something; we shift the responsibility to somebody else when all the time it is us who are responsible for our own predicament. Krishna spoke like this to destroy the ignorance of his own people, saying, `Your environment is your concern, it is your duty.’ In the words of the Srimad Bhagavatam:

“‘My dear father, our home is not in the cities or towns or villages. Being forest dwellers, we always live in the forest and among the hills. Therefore begin a festival in honour of the cows, the brahmanas, and Govardhan Hill.’

“Then Krishna went with them and worshipped the hill. In order to convince them, he assumed a gigantic mystical form and merged himself with the hill, demanding, ‘Feed me more!’ He asked for the worship to be given equally to the mountain, the cows and the brahmanas as well as himself.”

By this incident Krishna taught that it was better to worship the hills, forest and cows than to perform a ritual for the demigods. But he also showed that he was present in the hill, and that by worshipping Govardhan Hill they were worshipping him. Since that time Govardhan Hill has been worshipped by the local people as a form of Krishna.

According to Srivatsa, the second time Krishna performed organised worship was when he worshipped the sun god:

“Krishna’s son Sambha once got leprosy. Krishna advised that, rather than try to treat his disease themselves, they should get it treated by the sun-god. This is the history of the famous sun temple at Konarak in Orissa – where his son was treated. These are the two occasions when Krishna worshipped: one was mountain, the other was sun!”

Srivatsa goes on:

“Elsewhere Krishna cleaned the river. He defeated the serpent Kaliya and purified the Yamuna river. He swallowed the forest fire to protect the forest. He looked after the cows. He spoke to the birds in their own language. Krishna was always protecting nature.”

Krishna lived as a child among the twelve forests of Vrindavan. The trees were His friends. Whenever the sun was too hot he would lie beneath a tree with a root for a pillow, shaded by its outstretched branches. The branches of the trees would bend down low, offering their fruits to Krishna, and trying to touch the ground at His feet. In their previous lives, the trees had been great philosophers. They had now taken birth as trees in the forest of Vrindavana to become purified and have their chance to serve Krishna.

Today in the heart of Vrindavana, the forest area where Krishna played, stands a small grove of trees called Seva-Kunja. Some of the trees here are said to have witnessed the dancing of Krishna five thousand years ago. They are revered as great souls, devotees of Krishna.

It is sad that the great forests, such holy places for the Hindu, have now all but disappeared. No longer do the hillsides of Vrindavana resound with the cries of the peacocks perched in the branches, no longer can one sit beneath the cool shade of the groves of bael, mango and tamal trees and watch the parrots and forest animals dart from tree to tree as Krishna once did. The lush undergrowth of tulasi and forest flowers which provided Krishna’s garlands, once sheltered by the trees, is now unable to survive the hot rays of the sun. Without the trees, the land of Vrindavana has become parched and dusty, unable to hold the moisture from the rare rainfall or the morning dew.

When Krishna grew up and left Vrindavana, His childhood girlfriends, the gopis, were beside themselves with grief. In their madness of love they used to mistake the tamal trees, which had the same dark colour as Krishna, for their own beloved and embrace the trunks of the trees exactly as if they were Krishna. Now the trees themselves are disappearing. Wherever the trees have gone the damage to the natural environment is almost irreversible. An arid, stony landscape remains which cannot hold water or nourish plants. This scene is becoming widespread throughout India. Yet the Vedic scriptures teach that trees must be protected, as must all species that live on the land.

Human society has the responsibility to see to the welfare of all. Srivatsa’s explanation of Vaishnava teachings contradicts the traditional Western perception of Hinduism as a religion of fatalism. According to him Krishna, by his own example, rejected the ritualistic worship of a ‘God in the clouds’ in favour of an earth-based religion which recognised the sacred in the everyday relationships between human beings and their environment. To live in harmony with nature, to show love to all creatures, never to harm any living being, to rejoice in the beauty of a natural life of simplicity: this was Krishna’s practice of religion.

Srivatsa concludes: “The best way to teach environmental concern is through Krishna’s life. We must have films, dramas, folk plays, all based on this lila. Krishna is the only saviour of the environment – that is the sum total.

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The Economic Times

LONDON: Going the vegetarian way can help to tackle the problem of global warming apart from its known health benefits to human, according to a climate expert.

“Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better,” Lord Stern of Brentford said.

“Direct emissions of methane from cows and pigs is a significant source of greenhouse gases. Methane is 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a global warming gas,” he said.

Lord Stern, author of the 2006 Stern Review on the cost of tackling global warming, said that a successful deal at the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen would lead to soaring costs for meat and other foods that generate large quantities of greenhouse gases.

“I think it’s important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating,” he said.

A former chief economist at the World Bank, Stern warned that British taxpayers would need to contribute about £ 3 billion a year by 2015 to help poor countries to cope with the impact of climate change.

Speaking on the eve of an all-parliamentary debate on climate change, Lord Stern admitted that he himself is not a strict vegetarian.

Video found at CNN.com

According to the U.N., going vegetarian would have a positive impact on climate change.  Watch the video here.

The Economic Times

CAIRNS: Observing that its greenhouse gas emissions are amongst the lowest in per capita terms, India expressed its wish to engage “constructively and productively” with the global community to combat climate change and contribute its bit to protect the environment.

External affairs minister S. M. Krishna also said India is of the view that the international community should undertake special efforts to help Small Island Developing States deal with climate change and the process of adaptation.

“We share the disappointment of SIDS that not enough has been done by the international community to help developing countries, particularly those that are most vulnerable to climate change like the SIDS to deal with the issue of adaptation,” he said, addressing the Post-Forum Dialogue of Pacific Island Forum here.

India’s greenhouse gas emissions are amongst the lowest in per capita terms. “We recongise our responsibility as a developing country and wish to engage constructively and productively with the international community and to add weight to global efforts to protect the environment,” Krishna said.

Adaptation remains the key for developing countries and it needs to be adequately resourced without detracting funds for development which in any case, is the best form of adaptation, he said.

Krishna said India is committed to providing assistance by way of capacity building as well as project assistance to help Pacific Island Countries in the process of adaptation to climate change and to promote the objectives of sustainable development.

He also recalled that the Delhi Declaration issued at the 8th Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in New Delhi in 2002, specifically expressed deep concern at the increasing risk of the negative impact of climate change to SIDS.

“The New Delhi Conference of Parties also recognized for the first time the importance of adaptation needs of SIDS,” he said.

The Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are experiencing major adverse effects of climate change and adaptation to adverse impacts of climate change and sea-level rise remains a major priority for them, he said.

Krishna announced that India would conduct another Workshop in Suva very soon for nominees from the 14 Pacific Island countries on Climate Change.

From FoxNews.com

Officials in the northern Indian state of Punjab, tired of dealing with the annoying and sometimes dangerous rhesus macaques that invade villages and towns, have decide to build a “rehabilitation center” to tame the pesky primates.

“In addition to veterinary doctors, the center will have experts and it would be a sort of good manners school for the monkeys,” a Punjab Wildlife Department official told The Hindu newspaper.

In recent years, thousands of macaques have moved into urban areas in northern India as humans move into the monkeys’ traditional jungle home. They often steal food and clothing and sometimes attack and bite humans if they don’t get what they want.

The rehab center, to be located in the city of Patiala, will be for the worst behaving monkeys.

“Once the center is functional, forest officials in Punjab will be able to catch monkeys from residential areas and send them across so that they can be taught to be decent and live socially with other monkeys,” state wildlife official Jasmer Singh told the Hindu.

For further news, see article.

By David Adam, Guardian News

The world’s largest oil company is continuing to fund lobby groups that question the reality of global warming, despite a public pledge to cut support for such climate change denial, a new analysis shows. Company records show that ExxonMobil handed over hundreds of thousands of pounds to such lobby groups in 2008. These include the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) in Dallas, Texas, which received $75,000 (£45,500), and the Heritage Foundation in Washington DC, which received $50,000.

According to Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, at the London School of Economics, both the NCPA and the Heritage Foundation have published “misleading and inaccurate information about climate change.”

On its website, the NCPA says: “NCPA scholars believe that while the causes and consequences of the earth’s current warming trend is [sic] still unknown, the cost of actions to substantially reduce CO2 emissions would be quite high and result in economic decline, accelerated environmental destruction, and do little or nothing to prevent global warming regardless of its cause.”

The Heritage Foundation published a “web memo” in December that said: “Growing scientific evidence casts doubt on whether global warming constitutes a threat, including the fact that 2008 is about to go into the books as a cooler year than 2007″. Scientists, including those at the UK Met Office say that the apparent cooling is down to natural changes and does not alter the long-term warming trend.

In its 2008 corporate citizenship report, published last year, ExxonMobil said it would cut funds to several groups that “divert attention” from the need to find new sources of clean energy. The NCPA and Heritage Foundation are included among groups funded by ExxonMobil, according to details of its “2008 Worldwide Contributions and Community Investments” published recently.

Ward said: “ExxonMobil has been briefing journalists for three years that they were going to stop funding these groups. The reality is that they are still doing it. If the world’s largest oil company wants to fund climate change denial then it should be upfront about it, and not tell people it has stopped.”

In 2006, Ward, then at the Royal Society, wrote to ExxonMobil to challenge the company’s funding of such lobby groups. The move, revealed in the Guardian, prompted accusations of censorship and debate about whether experts should “police” the distribution of scientific information.

In an article on the Guardian website, Ward writes: “I have now written again to ExxonMobil to point out that these organisations publish misleading information about climate change on their websites, and to seek guidance on how to reconcile this fact with the pledge made by the company. I believe that the company should keep its promise by ending its financial support for lobby groups that mislead the public about climate change.”

ExxonMobil said it annually reviews and adjusts its contributions to policy research groups. A spokesman said: “Only ExxonMobil speaks for ExxonMobil and our position on climate change is clear. We have the same concerns as people everywhere, and that is how to provide the world with the energy it needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We take the issue of climate change seriously and the risks warrant action.”

by Robin Winter, Archaeology Online

The world over, the term “sacred cow” has come to mean any stubborn loyalty to a long-standing institution which impedes natural progress. The term originates in India, where the cow is said to be literally worshiped, while thousands of humans suffer from undernourishment. The common, popular view of India in the West is that of an underdeveloped nation steeped in superstition. Overpopulated, overcrowded, undereducated, and bereft of most modern amenities, India is seen to be a backward nation in many respects by “progressive” Western civilization. “If only India would abandon her religious superstitions and kill and eat the cow!” Over several decades many attempts have been made by the “compassionate” West to alleviate unfortunate India’s burden of poor logic, and to replace her superstitions with rational thinking.

Much of the religious West finds common ground with the rationalists, with whom they otherwise are usually at odds, on the issue of India’s “sacred cow.” Indeed, worshiping God is one thing, but to worship the cow while at the same time dying of starvation is a theological outlook much in need of reevaluation. Man is said to have dominion over the animals, but it would appear that the Indians have it backwards.

Popular opinion is not always the most informed opinion; in fact, this is usually the case. The many attempts to wean India from the nipple of her outdated pastoral culture have all failed. After 200 years of foreign occupation by the British, and after many subsequent but less overt imperialistic attempts, we find that although India has changed, the sacred cow remains as sacred as ever. In all but two Indian states, cow slaughter is strictly prohibited. If legislation were passed today to change that ruling, there would be rioting all over India. In spite of considerable exposure to Western ideas, one late Indian statesman said, when asked what he thought of Western civilization, “I think it is a good idea. When will they begin?”

An unbiased look at perhaps the longest-standing culture of the world, its roots and philosophy, may help us to see things a little more as they are — even about our own way of life. Sometimes we have to stand back to get the full picture. It is a natural tendency to consider one’s own way the best, but such bull-headedness may cause us to miss seeing our own shortcomings. An honest look at the headlines of our home town newspaper may inspire us to question exactly what it is we are so eager to propound.

Perhaps the most appalling aspect of the Western technological influence on India is found in the country’s few “modern” cities. Bombay, Calcutta, Delhi, and other cities can be most frustrating to the average Westerner. Crude attempts at modernization can be worse than none at all. Although India’s technology lacks the polish and sophistication of the West, its employment in crude fashion nonetheless brings all of the adverse effects of a sophisticated form of the same amenities.

Real India is rural India. Village life accounts for the bulk of India’s population of 700 million, and best illustrates the nation’s ancient culture. The simplicity of India is often mistaken for ignorance, and her peacefulness mistaken for complacency. The serenity of Indian village life is overlooked or mislabeled by those who in the name of progress may really only be operating under the axiom of “misery loves company.” Perhaps the people of India live as they do for a good reason: much of what goes along with Western “progress”—the mental anguish which causes us to do the most bizarre things that make many cities living hells—is relatively absent in India’s rural lifestyle.

It is particularly difficult for Westerners to appreciate India’s worship of the cow. After all, we live in the land of the hamburger. The “American” restaurant abroad is McDonald’s. “Ole McDonald had a farm /Did it ever grow!” Western economists often contend that beef alone can solve India’s food problems and lay a foundation for a lucrative export trade. This has caused cow worship and cow protection to come under attack for centuries. Cow protection has been called a “lunatic obstacle” to sensible farm management.

India’s cow is called the zebu, and an investigation of the controversy surrounding her brings us to the heart of village life in India. The average landholder in India farms approximately one acre. This is nowhere near enough land to warrant the purchase of a tractor. Even if the size of the land plots were increased to make the purchase of machinery cost-effective, the unique weather, a five-season year including the monsoon, would quickly render the tractor useless. After the monsoons, the soil is too soft for planting and must be quickly and efficiently prepared before the soon-to-follow intense heat brings an end to the very short growing season. The loss of even one day will considerably affect the overall yield. The zebu bullocks are ideal in this connection for they can easily plow the soft earth without overly compacting the soil as would heavy machinery.

Farming in India is a family affair, and the labor-intensive approach to cultivation involves everyone. This helps to sustain the family unit, which is sometimes considered to be the wealth of a nation. The staples of the diet are grains: wheat and rice. Most of India is vegetarian. While the bull plows the field, helping to provide the grains, the cow supplies milk from which many dairy products are produced. Day to day, year after year, the cow and bull are the center of rural Indian life.

According to Frances Moore Lappe in her best-seller, Diet for a Small Planet, “For every sixteen pounds of grain and soy fed to beef cattle in the United States, we only get one pound back in meat on our plates. The other fifteen pounds are inaccessible to us, either used by the animal to produce energy or to make some part of its own body that we do not eat (like hair or bones), or excreted. Milk production is more efficient, with less than one pound of grain fed for every pint of milk produced. (This is partly because we don’t have to grow a new cow every time we milk one.)” If India, with its already strained resources, were to allocate so much more acreage for the production of beef, it would be disastrous. Advocates of modernization maintain that with the application of the latest farming techniques, the yield per acre would gradually increase, thus making it possible for beef to be introduced over a period of time. Such advocates contend that with the introduction of beef into the Indian diet, the population’s health would increase, thus furthering productivity. However, it is interesting to note that although India is far from being free of disease, its principal health problems are a result of urban overcrowding and inadequate sanitation and medical facilities. Whereas high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer constitute the greatest health threats in the West, the Indian people are practically free from these afflictions. So the “fact” that India’s health would increase with the introduction of beef into the diet is not likely to overcome the “superstition” of the people’s religious beliefs which prohibit them from eating meat.

The religious “superstitions” of India are based on the Vedas, which constitute the most voluminous body of literature in the world. The Vedas and their corollaries deal elaborately with theism, describing many gradations of the theistic idea. The idea that one should not eat meat, although central to Hindu philosophy, is only a secondary theme. To a large extent it amounts only to common sense and sensitivity. It is from this basis of sensitivity, an indicator of healthy consciousness, that higher spiritual principles can be appreciated. Actually, the Vedas agree with the West’s contention that man has dominion over the animals; however, the West’s way of dealing with its dependents is revolting to Indians. After all, we have dominion over our children and ofttimes elders as well, but would we be justified in slaughtering them for food? We become incensed if someone even abuses our dog!

The Vedas do not teach that the cow is superior to the human form of life and therefore worshipable. Rather, the she gives so much practical help to human society that she should be protected. Her assistance frees mankind from much of the struggle of life, thereby providing us with more time for spiritual pursuits. Although modern technology may be said to do the same, the fact is that it actually complicates man’s life more and more and distracts him from more simple living and high spiritual thinking. We may become so mechanistic that we can fool ourselves into believing that cows or pets have no feelings.

For India, the cow represents the sacred principle of motherhood. She symbolizes charity and generosity because of the way she distributes her milk, which is essential for the nourishment of the young.

India’s critics have pointed out that although Indian village life may be simple, it is a marginal existence; it is a life of little surplus. If a farmer’s cow turns barren, he has lost his only chance of replacing the work team. And if she goes dry, the family loses its milk and butter. However the situation is not as bad as the technologically advanced may think. In village life, people are more interdependent. Helping one’s neighbor is also considered sacred. Sharing is commonplace. All of the father’s male friends are affectionately referred to by the sons and daughters as “uncle”, while all of the village women are seen as mother. Often the responsibility of caring for and nursing the young is shared by several mothers.

Perhaps the heaviest criticism of the pastoral culture of India is directed at the insistence of the farmers on protecting even sick and aged cows. Westerners find this to be the height of absurdity. At least they could be killed and eaten or sold. But no. Animal hospitals or nursing homes called goshallas, provided by government agencies or wealthy individuals in search of piety, offer shelter for old and infirm cows. This is thought to be a luxury that India cannot really afford, as these “useless” cows are seen to be but competitors for the already limited croplands and precious foodstuffs. The fact is, however, that India actually spends a great deal less on their aging cattle than Americans spend on their cats and dogs. And India’s cattle population is six times that of the American pet population.

The Indian farmer sees his cattle like members of the family. Since the farmers depend on the cattle for their own livelihood, it makes perfect sense both economically and emotionally to see to their well-being. In between harvests, the cattle are bathed and spruced up much like the average American polishes his automobile. Twice during the year, special festivals are held in honor of the cows. These rituals are similar to the American idea of Thanksgiving. Although in principle the same, there is a basic difference in the details of how we treat the turkey and how the more “primitive” Indians treat their cows.

India cares for over 200 million zebus. This accounts for one-fifth of the world’s cattle population. Critics say that if India does not eat her cows, the cows will eat India. Exasperated critics feel that even the cow is underfed. However, in more recent years, India’s critics have come to agree that she is essential to India’s economy. Cattle are India’s greatest natural resource. They eat only grass –which grows everywhere–and generates more power than all of India’s generating plants. They also produce fuel, fertilizer, and nutrition in abundance. India runs on bullock power. Some 15 million bullock carts move approximately 15 billion tons of goods across the nation. Newer studies in energetics have shown that bullocks do two-thirds of the work on the average farm. Electricity and fossil fuels account for only 10%.. Bullocks not only pull heavy loads, but also grind the sugarcane and turn the linseed oil presses. Converting from bullocks to machinery would cost an estimated $30 billion plus maintenance and replacement costs.

The biggest energy contribution from cows and bulls is their dung. India’s cattle produce 800 million tons of manure every year. The Vedas explain that dung from cows is different from all other forms of excrement. Indian culture insists that if one comes in contact with the stool of any other animal, they must immediately take a bath. Even after passing stool oneself, bathing is necessary. But the cow’s dung, far from being contaminating, instead possesses antiseptic qualities. This has been verified by modern science. Not only is it free from bacteria, but it also does a good job of killing them. Believe it or not, it is every bit as good an antiseptic as Lysol or Mr. Clean.

Most of the dung is used for fertilizer at no cost to the farmer or to the world’s fossil fuel reserves. The remainder is used for fuel. It is odorless and burns without scorching, giving a slow, even heat. A housewife can count on leaving her pots unattended all day or return any time to a preheated griddle for short-order cooking. To replace dung with coal would cost India $1.5 billion per year.

Dung is also used for both heating and cooling. Packed on the outside walls of a house, in winter it keeps in the heat, and in summer produces a cooling effect. Also, unlike the stool of humans, it keeps flies away , and when burned, its smoke acts as a repellent for mosquitoes.

When technocrats were unable to come up with a workable alternative, they came up with a new argument for modernization. They suggested that the cattle culture be maintained, but that it should be done in a more efficient manner. Several ambitious programs were initiated using pedigree bulls and artificial insemination. But the new hybrids were not cheap nor were they able to keep up the pace with the zebus. The intense heat of India retired many of them well before old age. Although they produced more milk, this also created more problems, because there was no efficient system for distributing the surplus of milk throughout India’s widespread population.

India’s system of distribution is highly decentralized. Although the solution seemed simple, modernization again met its shortcomings. With bottling plants, pasteurization, and other sophisticated Western methods of distribution, it was thought that all of India could have fresh, pure milk. Behind the automats set up for the distribution of powdered milk, milk, and cream was the expectation that in time, people would begin to appreciate the abundant rewards bestowed by these new modern deities of technology, and worship of cows would gradually disappear. But in the end it was modernization that failed to prove its value.

Pasteurization proved to be a waste of time and money for Indians, who generally drink their milk hot, and thus boil it before drinking. With the absence of modern highways and the cost of milking machines and other necessities of factory dairy farming, it was seen to be impractical to impose the Western dairy system on India; the cost of refrigeration alone would make the price of milk too expensive for 95% of India’s population.

Eventually, after repeated attempts to modernize India’s approach to farming—and in particular its attitude toward its beloved zebus—it became clear that these technological upgrades were not very well thought out.. They were not to replace a system that had endured for thousands of years; a system not only economically wise, but one that was part of a spiritually rich heritage. On the contrary, it may well be time to export the spiritual heritage of India to the West, where technology continues to threaten the tangible progress of humanity in its search for the deeper meaning of life.