Nature is the manifestation of God’s creative desire! isavaasyam Idaggum Sarvam is the Upanishadic proclamation! In fact in our tradition, the five elements are eulogized as divinity itself. This can be seen in the Five Shiva temples, dedicated to the five elements.
Prithvi – Earth Element: Ekambreshwara Temple, Kancheepuram. Dedicated to the EARTH element. Auspiciousness, abundance, security, creativity, accommodativeness, vastness, the attributes of the earth element are endless. The Shivalinga in the temple is made of soil, it was prayed to by Parameswari. Likewise the temples of Jalagandeswara in Thiruvanaikka is dedicated to the WATER element, Arunachaleswarar of Thiruannamalai is dedicated to the FIRE element, Sri Kalahastheeswara temple in Sri Kala Hasthi is dedicated to the AIR element and Chit Sabesa in Chidambaram is dedicated to SPACE element.
Maintaining the ecological balance is a responsibility that we have to hold in highest priority all through our lives. In Satyananda Yoga Parampara, the age old tree pooja is being revived. Every temple in Tamilnadu has a Sthalavruksham, a dedicated divine tree. Every banyan tree has a Vinayaka and every neem tree has a Mariamma.
Tamil people have lived a life in absolute harmony with nature. They have adored nature in all its forms. Birds and animals are even given the status of a vahana for a deity and prayed to. Every river has been prayed to. Every mountain is given the status of a sanctified kshetram of a deity.
The Vedic hymns in praise of all the dimensions of nature in the oceans, rivers, sun, moon, starts, trees, animals, birds, reptiles, all of them find a divine reference and space.
In the modern context, the connect with nature is being lost as people live with gadgets in artificial environments. Our ashram has guided its disciples to connect with nature through tree pooja.
TREES
Planting trees, preserving them, praying to them are activities that we do and encourage our students to be involved in Seva as part of SEVA SHIBIRAM.
Seeds of Love
During the Munger Symposium conducted by Bihar School of Yoga, Satyananda Yoga Centre had the blessed opportunity of distributing seed balls to all the participants of Munger Symposium from all over the world. About two thousand bags each with three seed balls were given as prasad by Swamiji from the Akhada and Swamiji called it as the Seeds of Love!
The article by Sn Shivarishi on the experience of bringing the seed balls all the way from Cuddalore to Ashram has been written in YOGA magazine.
Swami Niranjan’s speech on Seeds of Love was also published with Swamiji holding out the seed balls
We go out on treks in forest areas. We carry seed balls, and deploy them on the way of the trek. We also encourage people to give seed balls and plant samplings in family functions such as marriages.
Terrace Garden
Satyananda Yoga Centre has a terrace garden and encourage our students to create terrace gardens with flowering plants, vegetable and greens grown organically.
Green Belt and Green Lungs in Chennai:
This is a dream project that we have been seeding this idea in the minds of our students to develop in and around Chennai.
Serving Animals
Go Seva has been considered as the most auspicious from ancient times in India. Satyananda Yoga Centre provides opportunities for its students to become part of the eco system to preserve, protect, nourish and serve the cow.
Every year we also gift cow to peasants through our ashram. Many of our students inspired by the teaching of our scriptures have involved themselves actively in serving cows through go salas.
Feeding cows during the pandemic time was an important activity that we took up along with several volunteers from the society and in collaboration with several organizations. Not only cows, dogs and birds were also fed during these times.
Bee Culture
Honey Bees play a vital role in the preservation and propagation of trees, plants, shrubs, creepers and all flora and vegetation.
Rampant and unchecked use of pesticides and insecticides in farm lands has lead to large scale reduction of honey bee population in the world at large and particularly in India.
If we wish to have plenty of fruits, vegetables, and a healthy profitable harvest, honey bee is a very important companion who is essential for cross pollination.
Satyananda Yoga Education Charitable Trust has started a project with the support of Mr.Selvakumar a bee culture farmer. He is recognised by the Government of India as a Beeman.