When we refer to the Earth as our mother, how can we reconcile exploiting her as we do? Popular singer Neeti Mohan poses this question from a mother’s perspective. Through a humorous story and scientific insight, Sadhguru sheds light on notions of love, the fascinating cycle of life, and the urgency of taking action now to save the planet’s soil.
Neeti Mohan: Sadhguru, since I have become a mother, I feel I have become more intuitive with Mother Earth, with so many things, with life. At the same time, as a mother, I have a lot of expectations from myself. And with Mother Earth also, there are a lot of expectations. We keep using Mother Earth, and still we are thinking that she will keep giving us unconditional love.
But somewhere, I feel depleted as a mother, and I’m sure our Mother Earth – because we are talking about Save Soil – is feeling depleted too. I wanted to know your thoughts on that.
Sadhguru: Neither our mother’s love for us, nor the Earth’s compassion for us is unconditional. There are far fewer conditions than in other relationships, but still there are conditions. Nothing is unconditional. We cannot do whatever we want and expect the planet or our mother to take care of us. Both our mother and planet Earth have a limit. We should never cross that limit if we value life and its subtle aspects.
When we sit here, we are complete by ourselves. As we grow and become strong, it may feel like we do not need anyone, but we were born of another person. It may be very hard to imagine now how helpless we were then. If our mother had thrown us out at that point, it would have been over for us. Today, we are on our feet and capable of many things, but it is that base that has propelled us to be where we are now. That goes for your mother, the soil, and the planet. Even if you are taking off to space, the spacecraft has been dug out of the planet.
Let me tell you a joke. On a certain day, in 2060, some scientists asked for an appointment with God. They got it, went there, and told God, “Hey, old man, you’ve done pretty well with creation. But everything that you can do, we can also do now. So, it’s time you retire.”
God looked at them and said, “Oh, is that so? What is it that you can do?”
They dug out some soil, made a rough image of a human child, did all kinds of things, and in a few minutes, the child came alive.
God looked at this and said, “That’s pretty impressive. But first, get your own soil.”
The soil is the most magical material, not only on the planet, but in the entire universe. From it, worms, insects, trees, birds, animals, and humans come forth. This is the only place in the universe where, if you sow death into it, life will burst out. If you bury something dead, you will see life sprouting around it.
The body we carry is the soil that we walk upon. Even if you do not do anything significant or eco-friendly in your life, you can still do one eco-friendly thing when you die – you must put the body back into the soil. You should not leave it in space or in a metal box. This body has come from the soil, and it must go back to the soil.
This is not some philosophy – life on this planet is essentially a carbon cycle. Some online climate warriors think of carbon as poison. However, you and me, a tree – all life is made of carbon. The carbon cycle is needed for life to happen.
What is the main source of carbon life on this planet? What is it that instigates and maintains this circulation? Scientists estimate that over three billion years ago, single-celled microbial life occurred, and slowly evolved into algae, fungi, and so on. Then certain bacteria became the first life on this planet to be able to use the perpetual energy of the Sun to create energy, food, and life.
That is when photosynthesis began. This process captures the carbon around and transforms it into carbon sugars. This creates a constant, complex exchange process with microbial life. The first 15–20 inches of soil are far more complex and sophisticated than any telecommunication or stock exchange that has been set up on the planet.
Today, it is widely known that you cannot digest the food you eat without the help of the gut microbiome. Only a little over 40% of your body is your parental genetics; the remaining almost 60% are microbial cells. Our life is a consequence of what is happening in the soil. In this carbon chain, we are just one link, and the soil is one major link. If you break one link, the chain falls apart. This is what is happening right now with the soil.
Before we started talking about soil, most people have been blissfully unaware of this. In many ways, whether it is Project GreenHands, Rally for Rivers, or Cauvery Calling, it is all about the soil. We were talking about water first because you can relate to it more easily.
To give an example – right now, the streams around the Yoga Center are still flowing, even after two and a half months without rain. How is this possible? There are no glaciers on this mountain that would slowly melt. Where is the water coming from? It is because the soil up there in the mountain has an organic content that is somewhere between 60–70%. This allows the soil to hold water for an entire year and slowly release it.
The current state of agricultural soil in our country is such that 62% of it has an organic content of less than 0.5%. That means our agricultural land is on the verge of desertification. Even in southern Europe, it is just over 1.2%, and in northern Europe, it is somewhere around 2%. In the United States, it is estimated that nearly 50% of the topsoil is gone.
The nutritional value of the food we eat has decreased by 70–90% since 1920. The soil situation is not a joke, and it is not a doomsday either. Right now, if we do the right things in the next 10–15 years, we can significantly turn it around.
This is a challenge, responsibility, and privilege for this generation that we can actually turn it around. Right now, 27,000 species of microbes are becoming extinct on the planet, on average, each year. At this rate, in 30–40 years, we will reach a place where, if we then try to regenerate the soil, it will take another 150–200 years. Right now, we are at a crucial point in time where, if we act now, in 15–20 years, we can achieve a significant turnaround. We cannot delay this any longer. It has to happen now.
