A Life of Balance Graced By Nature

three years ago

destiny brought together a small group

of folks with a common seeking

they have been dismayed and

disillusioned by the consumptive and

wasteful modern lifestyles

and the alienation from nature and we’re

seeking an alternative life

to explore the possibilities about 100

acres of completely barren and degraded

land was acquired the land was then

allowed to heal it was fenced off with a

few small earthquakes

and then it was allowed to rest and

revive what happened

however was beyond anyone’s expectation

or imagination

slowly a forest planted itself back its

scrub jungle emerged in 10 years

and over the next couple of decades a

vibrant forest established itself

with the seeds brought in by the birds

and the animals and perhaps the wind

today it is home to over 200 species of

birds a host of wild animals

including the deer wild boar and then

wandering elephants and bison

with the miraculous transformation of

the land as an inspiration

an overarching vision statement was

formulated this was going to be the

place

to explore how to live in ecological

balance and spiritual harmony

a place where we tread more gently on

the planet while yet leading fulfilling

lives

the foundation was to be what we call

inner work a set of practices that would

give us a sense of centeredness

and then put us closer to our true and

essential nature

while ensuring that our actions emerge

from the sense of centeredness

externally we set out to explore

experiment

learn and share our learnings in the

areas of alternatives

in energy buildings water waste

farming and food and health now each

decade had its own unique struggles and

challenges

it was by no means easy or

straightforward bit by bit the

infrastructure was built up

the campus has been off the grid the key

point here though

is this was not an attempt to copy paste

an urban lifestyle onto an off-the-grid

rural setup

instead this was to reduce that this is

an attempt to reduce our needs

and then meet those reduced needs with

predominantly local sources

of renewable resources we support our

limited needs with rooftop solar pv

systems we have solar hot water heaters

we try to use

biogas firewood and solar cookers

predominantly for cooking we have a

shared community

kitchen and we have extensive rainwater

harvesting grey water systems black

water crossing

we try to grow a lot of the food that we

consume in the community

and our farming practices employ

sustainable agricultural practices

and finally as part of our social

outreach we’ve established a local

organic food cooperative

which is owned and operated by the local

village community but

it is guided and supported by the values

and the volunteer energy of naval

nursing

the initiative provides sustained

livelihood to the local village

community

and among other things helps directly

connect farmers

with urban consumers of organic produce

now there’s nothing unique about all of

this there’s lots of little

communities all over the world that are

exploring

wonderful ideas the key point is the

transformation that occurs

when we do this sort of the thing and

there’s two things that are worth noting

one is the sense of liberation that

starts to build up

as we shed our dependence on what is

otherwise supported

by vast infrastructures whether it is

energy or sewage or water or food

we just unburden ourselves and the

system of all of that

and the second is the idea of

localization

taking care of your own stuff where it

is a manageable problem

and perhaps with appropriate technology

it ends up

being the most efficient way of handling

the needs

the structures are built using local

material mostly

we use local sources of energy we have

local source for water and your food is

very close to the source

now overall we end up leading lives

that keeps us in touch with the

ecosystem

that supports our lives and to that

extent we begin to value it

and to that extent we begin to act more

responsibly

as well as derive pleasure from the

process

we’re a small group doing small things

we’ve blended along made some mistakes

and

made some course corrections along the

way but for us

it has always been about trying to

create a space

which reminds us of the

interconnectedness of all things

a space where we can recapture our sense

of intuition

about what is good for us what is good

for the planet

and eventually get to the source of

sustainable happiness

now this is in contrast with modern

lifestyles

where things are so far removed from our

true and essential nature

that we’re beginning to lose this

connection with nature

when most things we touch are

non-natural materials when most things

we smell or artificial smells when most

things we

see are non-natural things most sounds

we hear

artificial sounds and most of the food

that we eat and this sense of taste that

we have

is derived from artificial flavors and

synthetic foods and highly processed

foods

then we slowly start to develop this

discord with nature which over time

were likely to descend into something

that can best be described

as nature deficit disorder in fact

sometimes it feels like it is a form of

human derangement now perhaps this is at

the heart

of why we approach things in the way we

do completely against nature now let’s

look at a few examples

if you look at agriculture now we all

know that agrochemicals

are one of the main contributors to

environmental degradation

and climate change if you look at

farming models

typically the the way that farming

occurs is we use

vast amounts of toxic chemicals that get

into the soil get into the water

and then we plant seeds that somehow

resist this toxicity

and then we harvest the grains and the

crops that come out of this toxic soil

and we consume them now the science

can clearly establish the bad things

going on in the cycle of cropping

but forgetting the science for a moment

what about our own

sense of intuition if we reflect on this

why on earth would we consume the food

that comes out of

such toxicity but isn’t it sad that

somewhere

we have bright minds in great

universities

work and labs coming up with these sorts

of solutions

to perceive problems of yield and pests

and then

bright minds marketed in bright minds

and governments that are

being tasked to regulate and protect us

from these toxicities

in fact promoting these sorts of

practices

and then we have bright farmers using

these methods to grow the food

and then finally we have uh bright minds

that

are consuming this food and

participating in this whole chain now

why on earth

would every participant in the chain

play their role

rather than such large scale monocrop

industrial farming

we all know that on a smaller scale

multi-crop

farming using principles of permaculture

and natural farming

can tap into the wonderful arrangements

of nature

the natural cycles that restore the

carbon the nitrogen the phosphorus and

the potassium

mediated by symbiotic and asymbiotic

relationships with

microbes in the soil that have been

going on for a billion years on the

planet

of course the usual follow-up question

is

can we scale this up and can we meet the

needs of feeding the entire planet and

the answer is yes we can meet the needs

of the planet

but not by scaling up it is by using

these core ideas and applying it locally

in wherever it makes sense

now let’s take the example let’s take

another example let’s take the example

of animal farming

which globally is perhaps the second

biggest contributor

to climate change and loss of

biodiversity increase in carbon dioxide

and reduction in oxygen

what we have happening in front of us is

large acreage of forest being cleared at

an extraordinary rate

for livestock pastures causing huge

pollution and large-scale destruction

of habitat for animals and plants while

at the same time now

we have on the planet over a billion

cattle

a billion sheep billion pigs a billion

goats

and 20 billion chicken

now while there’s supposedly been a 60

drop in wildlife

during the same time we have humans and

their livestock have simply exploded on

the planet

now it’s paramount that each and every

one of us reflect on that

no matter what nation what tribe

what religion we belong to it is

paramount that we move to a plant-based

diet if we want to sustain life on this

planet

examples are endless they’re staring us

in the face

and yet we seem to be insulating

ourselves from these

and wishing them away now it is time to

pause and internalize these issues

so that we can recapture our intuition

of what is right living

there is no question that from the

perspective of our current lifestyles

we’re heading into times of great

hardship

we’ve all developed the highly wasteful

habits

of consumerism and it’s almost an

addiction that deep down

we knew that we could not sustain our

very idea of economic growth

and prosperity is founded on the idea of

rapidly expanding

non-renewable natural capital now the

bad news is

we’ve reached the end of the line our

survival

as humans as a species still connected

to the natural world is in great peril

and it calls upon us

to urgently make strategic shifts

grave sacrifices and exert extraordinary

restraint

in the way we utilize resources if we

are to continue to inhabit this planet

indefinitely

then we need to use the remaining

resources on the planet judiciously

to transition to a sustainable lifestyle

it’s like we’re on this island and we’ve

been wasting away all the resources on

the island

until we realize that the island is

growing underwater

and it is going to take every last

remaining resource

including the people to work together to

build a bridge

to the mainland and save ourselves

now there are many staggering changes

that we need to

bring about at the planetary level redo

our entire energy infrastructure our

entire transportation infrastructure

or food growing systems with renewables

and perhaps deconstruct

the cities as they exist exist today and

so on

but two key notions to keep in mind as

we work towards

sustainable human habitation one is the

idea

of regenerative ecosystems an ecosystem

that is in dynamic stability

and our actions don’t disturb the

balance of resources

and second is the idea of localization

whereby localizing we automatically

bring more awareness

more accountability traceability to the

resources being consumed

and also to use appropriate technology

for the solutions that we do come up

with

now all that stuff the dramatic shifts

and sacrifices

from the perspective of our current

lives that we were talking about

is the bad news now the good news is

that these are ultimately just mental

switches our lifestyles

tastes and habits are ultimately

fashioned by the values that we embrace

and so if we really

internalize the issues in clean air and

clean water

non-toxic food frugality wilderness and

forest

conservation and compassion towards all

beings become

the core values then they trump the old

ideas

of wealth and prosperity as well as any

other emergent desires

that we may have and we automatically

start to derive pleasure

from the values from the activities that

fulfill these core values

now while we need to think at the

planetary level our ideas and actions

and solutions

need to be at the local level so things

that become important

are localizing a resource base or food

or energy or water cooperative learning

becomes important

community level initiatives become

important and local support structures

become important

to make it easier perhaps we can

surround ourselves

with like-minded family and friends and

acquaintances

that life has given us along the way as

we embark upon this tough phase of our

lives

now everything that we have talked about

until now

is in the physical realm and there is

another realm

that’s vastly more important and

transcends

all of this i started off by talking

about

the inner work that we all regard as

very important here

at nava darshan our deep inner

reflections

that make the ultimate connection with

our true and essential nature

now to me this is the most important of

all as we navigate the planetary crisis

developing the inner strength in

resilience

by discovering the living presence

within us that is timeless

beyond change and beyond death

it is eternal and remains untouched

by this crisis let us make that

connection

and let us be the instruments of actions

that emanate from within

and be at peace thank you