T he outbreak of spring sets a perfect milieu for the Earth Day celebration at Isha Institute of Inner Sciences, Tennessee. Our center here is 1300 acres with a 300 feet bluff, roaring waterfall and a beautiful and challenging terrain. So, we thought more people from the local community and elsewhere should enjoy this, hence the opening of walking trails and intermediate level mountain biking trail in this fabulous Cumberland plateau.

…from slaying the land, from taming the land we need to understand that, right from day one, we are a team, we have to team up, not tame.

Earth Day is about bringing focus towards raising awareness to what all of us can do to lower the burden of humanity upon this planet. The incredible planet that we are upon, the very content of our bodies is in a state of ravage unprecedented; all this in pursuit of human happiness and wellbeing. Unless we human beings, all of us learn and understand that human health, wellbeing and joy can only happen from within; human aspiration for what they perceive as wellbeing is going to end up like the proverbial story of a man cutting the branch of a tree sitting on the wrong end of the branch. That is, if he succeeds he will fail.

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A conversation between me and Bill Zechman, a noted radio journalist, was one of the highlights of the day.

May all of you know the joy of your being which will for sure allow you to walk gently upon this planet.

Love & Grace

The following is a small excerpt of the conversation between Sadhguru and Bill Zechman.

Bill Zechman: Sadhguru, Earth Day is a time when we pay respect to the Earth and the natural environment. There seems to be in the U.S and elsewhere in the world a strong political ideological push back against efforts to preserve the natural environment and to use our resources wisely. Can you explain why this is?

Sadhguru: Probably there is a cultural historical background to this. When people landed here from Europe, maybe a few hundred years ago, they did not have the same relationship with the land that the native people here had. In the sense, that when they came here, their thought was to tame the land not to team up with the land. They came as conquerors. I think we have still not gotten out of that mode mentally. Though, there are enough red flags coming up all over indicating many things that even a blind man can see. We think the only way to succeed is by taming things and conquering things. Actually the words used are "we slew the land". So from slaying the land, from taming the land we need to understand that, right from day one, we are a team, we have to team up, not tame.

Bill Zechman: Going back to what you were saying, I think these are your exact words Sadhguru “the constant transaction”, because when we exhale we’re generating carbon dioxide that the trees and the plants are inhaling and then they in turn return the favor by giving us oxygen. Do you see American society moving more toward an environmental sensitivity?

Sadhguru: It’s beginning to happen slowly, but not as rapidly as it is required and not in the volume that it is required. You cannot say it’s not happening, definitely it is. But not quick enough to turn it around in this generation. See, all these things - recycling, driving a certain kind of car, doing this and that, all these things are good as a way of spreading awareness among the human populations, but not good enough as a solution. It is not a solution. It is just making people conscious. When they turn off the light, or plant a tree, that is not a solution, we are only postponing the disaster.