Letter # 108: "Pollution"

A friend told me that just recently he took in some fresh air at sunset while strolling along the beach at Ioco, Vancouver, BC. Vancouver might be relatively clean and low in pollution but it’s still in my country, Canada, that shamefully takes second place as a leading polluter, per capita. But the worst affected in our polluted world are Azerbaijan, China, India, Peru, Ukraine and Zambia.
We churn out industries that pollute the air, the waters, and soil with chemicals, and burden our planet with unwanted noise, heat, and light that all harm living forms, including us.
If you think that there is no ancient wisdom to guide us in this matter you'd be wrong. There is. Here is a spiritual story, probably 5,00 years old, from another place and culture that talks about Demigods and Demons toiling together to churn nectar from the Ocean of Milk. They churned and churned but first produced only poison that disturbed other living creatures:
“SB 8.7.18: The fish, sharks, tortoises and snakes were most agitated and perturbed. The entire ocean became turbulent, and even the large aquatic animals like whales, water elephants, crocodiles and timińgila fish [large whales that can swallow small whales] came to the surface. While the ocean was being churned in this way, it first produced a fiercely dangerous poison called hālahala.
SB 8.7.19: O King, when that uncontrollable poison was forcefully spreading up and down in all directions, all the demigods, along with the Lord Himself, approached Lord Śiva [Sadāśiva]. Feeling unsheltered and very much afraid, they sought shelter of him.”
Lord Shiva, the benevolent Lord of Destruction, helped out by drinking the poison and holding it in his throat. Doing that gave Him a blue line on His throat but no other harm. [Please, dont' try this at home!]. Only after this were the nectar and other good thing produced.
The lesson is that we have to control the pollution and stop the harm. Only after we do this can we truly benefit (enjoy the nectar) from our industrial activities.
Pollution is an old word. In 1340 CE, this English word, having come from the Latin polluere "to soil, defile, contaminate," [por before, luere to smear], meant "discharge of semen other than during sex." By 1382, the word came to mean "desecration, defilement".
Desecration of the environment is tragic but defilement of the mind is even more so, for the latter worsens the former. And how to control that pollution within? The body does it's own job of churning its metabolism and ridding itself of impurities through the liver and kidneys but what of the mind? How to rid the impurities of the mind? How to avoid becoming a “demon”?
An anonymous author said, “Hate pollutes the mind.” The Bible has many references to defilement. The psalmist sings “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.” 51:2.
Guru Nanak sings that when the body or clothes become soiled we can wash them with soap and water, but the defilement of the mind can only be purified by the constant recitation of Naam, God’s name.
So, as you stroll along and watch the sun bleach, the rain wash the plants and ground, and feel the breeze cleanse the air, give some thought to how to sanitize the mind.

God Bless; Allah Hu Akbar; May The Forces Of The Universe Bring You Harmony; Hare Krishna; Radha-Swami; and Nanak Naam Chardi Kala Tere Bhane Sarbat Dha Bhalla.

I wish to express my gratitude for your comments, which inspire me to carry on writing. Please forgive my fallibilities in presenting this material. Also, feel free to send this message on to someone that you might think would like to receive it. If you do send it on, my only request of you is that you send it as it is, in its entirety, and to not alter or modify any of the text, references or authorship information. Thus you will help to give credit or liability to where they are properly due.
Jas Bhopal
Copyright© 2008References: "The Holy Bible" Online version; "The Koran" as translated by SV Mir Ahmed Ali 2005 ISBN 0-9761870-0-0); "The Bhagavad Gita As it Is" as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN 0-89213-268-X; The Srimad Bhagavatum as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN0-89213-259-0; "I Am That. Talks With Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj” ISBN 0-89386-022-0; The Dhammapada ISBN-10:1-84483-344-5; The Sacred Sukhmani ISBN 81-7205-098-4; Wikipedia.