Have you ever wondered that we humans are an extension of the Planet? We eat a part of the planet daily as our food. We are what we eat. This part of the planet that we eat as food becomes a part of our physical body in no time. Our physical body evolves from the planet and finally merges in it. We are born, we live and grow in the lap of mother earth, which nourishes us like a mother takes care of her child in her womb.
According to the ancient Indian knowledge, our existence and well-being is inseparably related to the well-being of the planet. Like the mother’s bond with her child, this relationship is intertwined, interdependent and mutually co-existent. It is an inseparable bond.
Nothing can better explain the relationship of the planet with the human being than the oft-quoted ancient Indian aphorism which says, “Yatha Pinde Tatha Brahmande, Yatha Brahmande Tatha Pinde”, which means the outside exists what is exactly inside us and vice versa. It simply means as is the human body so is the planet, as is the planet, so is the human body. As is the individual so is the universe, as is the universe so is the individual. Man is a microcosm or a mini-planet of the macrocosm, that is, the planet. So, the existence of a human being cannot be thought of without the existence and well-being of the planet. If the outer world (the planet) is healthy, we humans can be healthy. The inner and outer-world are alike.
Is it not interesting to know that the total percentage of water on earth is 71% which is almost the same percentage of water in the human body (70%)? What we inhale is exhaled by the planet and what we exhale is inhaled by the planet. These similarities don’t stop there, though. Have you learned about veins and arteries in school? They are like rivers and streams of our planet which circulate the blood throughout your body to help keep you alive. Surprisingly, we share 97% our atoms in common with the rest of the galaxy! Earth is home to at least 8.7 million species. On a smaller scale, the human body hosts about 10,000 species.
It’s no coincidence that humans are made up of the elements most commonly found on Earth. Oxygen accounts for more weight than any other element in both Earth and the human body. We always make a mistake by thinking Earth as our resource but, according to Indian environmental ethos, the planet is a living organism exactly like us. Earth and its bounties are not our resources but are the basic elements, which make us humans live on this planet.
Man is a miniature universe. Human body is a mini universe and whatever elements or entities exist in the universe they exist in the human body, that is, ‘Panch-Tatva’ (ether, air, fire, water and earth) of the universe. The moving energy of the planet is the solar and the lunar energy. The Ira and Pingla pulse represent solar and lunar energy respectively. There is Purusha and Prakriti representing the male and female energy of the universe and which is the basic cause of the existence of the universe. In the same way, the creation of the world cannot be possible without the male and the female energies. So, we are one and the same unit of the planet, one of the sub organs. Neither the sub-organ can exist without the main body nor can the body exist without the sub-organ. They are one and the same existing part of a larger whole.
It goes without logic that as humans we want to live happy and healthy, so the planet must also be healthy. Is it possible that if there is excess Co2 in the planet, humans can live a healthy life? It is true for all the five basic elements. Air pollution, global warming, floods, water scarcity, soil pollution, forest extinction all are affecting the planet in the same way as they are disturbing the human existence. Our future cannot be separated from the future of the planet.
To live a good life, we need to make the planet healthy. To have an inner health, the health of the planet should be revived. By healing the planet, we can heal ourselves. There is no other way out.
Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of healing, says the entire cosmos (or universe) is part of one singular absolute. Therefore, everything that exists in the external universe (macrocosm) also appears in the internal cosmos of the human body (microcosm). Human-body is the exact replica of the planet. The human body has the capacity of self-healing. Similarly, the planet has the bio-capacity to heal itself. Mankind viewed as the epitome of whole universe and macrocosm is the cosmos, which is the whole complex structure of the universe.
The great Indian sage Charaka, says “Purushyoyam loka sannidah” (Human is a small-universe). It also postulates that the governing eternal laws are the cause of internal codes, evolutionary processes, motions, and all natural phenomena, which create the harmony relation and coexistence between microcosms to macrocosm. Sankhya Darshana describes the human body as a mini universe and whatever elements or entities exist in the universe they exist in the human body also the five fundamental elements of the universe.
The human body cannot exist or cannot be properly identified without appropriate combination of the above. Every entity is constituted and coexists in harmonious relationship of all the fundamental elements, which create the bodies with eternal order (plants, animal/bio-bodies, human bodies). Even in the natural process, these bodies and its components exist in the harmonious relationship with each other.
By sustaining and healing the planet, we can sustain and heal ourselves.
Geetanjali Mehra is an interior designer by profession. She has co-authored the book, ‘Gift Lungs to Future Generations’. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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