Gita for Global Warming? || with O.P. Jindal University (2021)
Questioner (Q): What solution does the Gita offer for contemporary sociopolitical issues like global warming? Could Shri Krishna have anticipated back then that the planet would be facing a crisis like this at some point?
Acharya Prashant (AP): You see, the crisis that you are talking of is man-made. You call it anthropogenic global warming, right? It is not just global warming or climate change; it is AGW (anthropogenic global warming). We did it.
So, it is not of much use to talk about the problem without talking of the problem-creator. We created that problem, the human mind created that problem, and the human mind created that problem because the human mind is infested by and is vulnerable to certain malicious tendencies right from birth. We have almost a design flaw. The child is born enveloped in ignorance, and that ignorance displays itself in everything that we do throughout our lives.
As the flow of history would have it, today we have more material power than we have ever had in the course of time. Now, that is a deadly combination. One, we have tendencies pertaining to accumulation, consumption, ignorance, violence, fear—these are deep-seated tendencies sitting within everyone—and, on the other hand, we have a lot of destructive power in our hands. And these two things have combined to give us this gruesome specter of biodiversity loss, ecological catastrophe, the total vandalization of Prakṛti (physical nature) that we see around us, extinction of species, and, obviously, climate change that you are referring to.
It cannot be solved by just talking of the problem; you will have to go into the mind of the human being. Unless the mind of man is addressed, understood, and purified, these problems will continue to exist. You can probably, to console yourself, take care of one form of problems, but the underlying reason will continue to exist; therefore, the same mother problem will manifest itself in some other way. And then you will say, “Oh! Now we have a fresh challenge in front of us. Let’s occupy ourselves in addressing this challenge.” And that is a great timepass.
