This year the theme for World Water day is ‘Water For Peace.’ Water is deeply related to life. The Sanskrit word for water is apah also meaning love or a dear one. All the major ancient civilizations have thrived on banks or rivers- Ganga or Yamuna in India, Nile in Egypt or Amazon in South America.
India’s cultural connection with rivers runs deep. Lord Rama spent his life along the Sarayu river. Ganga is depicted as emerging from Lord Shiva and yogis have been meditating at her banks for millennia. Ganga represents knowledge and Yamuna denotes devotion. The love and devotion of the gopis towards Lord Krishna blossomed on the banks of Yamuna.
We need to do everything we can to bring our rivers back to life. Here faith can play an important role. Faith can motivate people to act righteously and to care for the environment- the rivers, mountains, forests and other sources of water. We can have the best policies in place but to implement those policies you need the people at the grassroots to be more aware and here faith-based organizations can make a big difference.
Making India water positive: Working with the grassroots
The availability of water is very important for peace and stability in this world. That's what we worked towards in India. Taking along the people at the grassroots, we rejuvenated 70-odd rivers that existed only on revenue records. The dry river beds here were being exploited and encroached upon; there was either excess water lost to flooding or complete drought for months, crops wouldn’t grow and farmers suffered immensely. The number of farmers taking their own lives rose every day.
Long before we see a change outside, the change has to come within oneself. When your heart has opened you cannot but serve. This is how our network of volunteers has grown over the years. Inspired by the joy they experienced within, they decided to serve others and bring the same joy to others. Our volunteers went to the villages at the grassroots. They inspired them and taught them meditation, breathing, yoga and other practices to be happy and strong from within. They worked with them to build hundreds of ground recharge wells so the rainwater could start seeping in. We took up reforestation initiatives, replacing water-intensive species like acacia trees and planting indigenous trees like mango, peepal and others along the riverbeds.
The miracle was, after doing the land surveys, building the recharge structures, and replanting millions of right species of plants, we could see thousands of water bodies, ponds were rejuvenated and today 70 odd rivers are gushing with perennial water in 5 Indian states, the birds have started coming back, and so have the clouds.
Last May about a thousand farmers from the Vidarbha region, where farmer suicides were one of the highest, flew in, to our Bangalore Ashram, to say thanks for the transformation brought by the work done by our volunteers. They were now earning four times more than before. More than 19,500 villages benefited in less than two years.
When a person is clear and free from stress, he becomes sensitive, he or she is caring, sharing and committed. Here faith-based organizations can play a big role in attending to the mental health of people, inspiring them and motivating them to serve, bringing back our rivers to life, which will in turn bring prosperity, stability and peace around. (Photo: ArtOfLiving.org)