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According to ancient Hindu mythology, time has been divided into four Yugas or eras. The Satya Yuga or the Age of Truth, the Treta Yuga or the Age of Perfect Morality, the Dwapara Yuga or the Age of Courage and Competition and the Kali Yuga or the Age of Destruction.
For the sake of argument, let us assume that the Age of Truth was a simpler time of subsistence agriculture and humans living off the land. With bountiful resources and small communities, this era of peace was born from the ultimate truth - that of natural selection. Then as humans evolved and communities grew, the Age of Morality was born. This was a time of great scientific and moral learning and led to the birth of religions and civilizations. With a stable lifestyle, population boomed and trade and colonies were established among different cultures around the world. This era was known as the Age of Courage & Competition and included numerous colonial explorations, the Two World Wars and ended with the competitive Cold War. Finally, we stumbled into the Age of Destruction. According to Hindu mythology, we are currently in the Age of Destruction and the phrase, ‘devil in disguise’ rings true for this era.
With the Green Revolution and invention of the antibiotics, we were able to clone entire living species and cure incurable diseases. Society progressed to new heights and never before in history had there been so much universal peace. With abundant food, medical miracles andrising wealth, human population flourished like never before. However, with good and evil being two sides of the same coin; these successes came at a price.
Our planet’s health is the price we pay for having comforts such as fresh oranges in the winter or 30 minute pizza deliveries. With the world population currently at 7.5 billion, our unrestricted resource extraction to fulfill consumption needs is taking a toll on Mother Nature. Even with the wonders of the 21st century, one would think ‘the more the merrier’, but here too, we seemed to have failed. With half the global wealth owned by the richest 1% and nearly half the world’s population – more than 3 billion people – living in poverty, our ability to improve the standard of living for only a select few, seems selfish and wasteful. With huge income disparity and unrestricted consumption patterns, it seems that the Age of Destruction has finally shown up at our doorstep.
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| Matsya saving Vaivasvata Image Source: Wikimedia Commons |
Like most good stories, Hindu mythology has a a strong protagonist and this role is played by Vishnu, the God of Gods. Vishnu is known to have been reincarnated ten times to transition the world from one yuga to the next. In one of his first avatars, Matsya, he is known to take the form of a fish. Matsya helps Manu, the first man and the progenitor of humanity, to survive a great flood. Keeping in tune with the reincarnation theme in Hinduism, Manu is reincarnated in each eon or Kalpa and the current world is once ruled by Vaivasvata or the seventh Manu. Vaivasvata was the king of ancient India and Matsya warns him of this great flood. Heeding Matsya’s warning, he builds a boat that carries his family and seven great sages to safety. Does this story sound familiar? Yes, according to ancient history. The tales of a great flood have been described for centuries by almost every culture around the world.
From the first civilizations of Mesopotamia to the Biblical Genesis flood, from the lore of the K’iche’ and Maya people of Mesoamerica to the legend told by the Lac Courte Oreilles Oibwa tribe of Native Americans, the story of a great flood exists in almost every continent. Without Facebook or CNN around 3000 BC, how did a Mesopotamian tale have the same story as that of a Native American legend? One explanation might be that there was a catastrophic rise in sea water level which happened almost simultaneously around the world. This rise in sea water level could explain a Mayan lore having the same origins as a Hindu myth. However, before you start thinking of this as Conspiracy Theory 101, according to hard scientific data, we know that climate change really did happen in the past and it was Au Natural.
In the past few decades, however, we have failed to recognize that climate change can also be man-made and will only get worse with every ounce of carbon we emit into the atmosphere. With growing affluence and an expanding middle class, the ability for anyone with a decent income to travel from New York to Mumbai in less than 24 hours just shows the level of globalization and connectivity that humans have achieved. With an average of 100,000 flights a day, shouldn’t we at least acknowledge that our current fast-paced-consumption-
In the era of high speed internet and solar powered airplanes, what can ancient mythology teach us about climate change? Well for starters, it teaches us that history (the popular belief being that history inspires mythology and the line between them is blurred at times) repeats itself and that catastrophic climate change that had happened in the past can certainly happen again in the near future.
In the face of the global climate change, studies have shown the growing instances of Solastalgia or the distress and depression affecting people that experience this environmental change. On the forefront of those affected, are the environmentalists and climate scientists that deal with the hard facts everyday but don't see any action being taken on reducing carbon emissions. Unfortunately for society, even a 2 degree Celsius rise in global temperatures is catastrophic and the difference between the predicted 2 and 4 degrees Celsius is humanity’s survival.
Nature, much like an ever forgiving mother, gives out second chances to even the most undeserving of children. She has not only blessed us with intellectual capabilities that allow us to imagine our future, but we can also choose to form and break habits. This ability to break a habit in the face of grave danger and surviving against all odds makes us the underdog - and boy oh boy, does society love an underdog story!
In the ancient days, Noah and Manu could bank on the Almighty to warn them against nature’s wrath. It is time we heed the wise words of our climate scientists and the moral underpinnings of our myths, to reach a consensus on cutting global carbon emissions at COP-21 in Paris this year. Let us choose to be underdogs in the fight against climate change and survive against all odds in this self-fulfilling prophecy known as the Age of Destruction.
