Let sacred rivers flow to enrich and enable

Jul 21, 2009, 12.00am IST
BHARAT JHUNJHUNWALA, TNN.


We offer prayers of thanksgiving to water as a river stored in a sacred pot, the kalash, because water is a blessing; it is life-giving and life-sustaining.
On a metaphysical plane, the cleansing power of water is believed to help remove inner disturbances. The waters absorb our negative thoughts when we take a dip in the river. The river then discharges those negative thoughts and the waters are purified when rishis undertake penance on the banks of rivers. The river waters are sacred passages that connect sinners with holy men and women and River Banks are suffused with the spiritual energy of those who meditate there. .

The superior physical, chemical and organic qualities of river waters arise from the waters rubbing against stones, gravel, herbs and plants and their mingling with air. Certain curative qualities of the River Ganga, for example, arise from the presence of medicinal herbs found in the Himalayan range of mountains. These waters also contain micro levels of beneficial radioactivity.

It is necessary that the physical qualities of waters of the rivers are kept pure in order that the deeper spiritual qualities are manifest. Such interrelationship is explained in the light of Patanjalis Ashtanga Yoga. Just as eight types of cleanliness are necessary for the soul to rise to Godhead, it is necessary to maintain the physical, chemical and biological qualities of the rivers in their pristine form to make it possible for them to absolve usof our sins.

We must promote economic activities to alleviate the suffering of the poor and the less privileged. However, economic development or activities associated with artha or the material plane should be pursued in a way that they uphold long-term social good and protect the environment, establishing dharma. The way forward is to develop the service sector in a way that it is in tune with environmental harmony, utilising minimum energy. Nature trips will benefit students and patients who can experience first hand the benefits of natural water bodies and their environs.


Urban sewage, even if treated, should not be discharged into rivers. Rather, they should be utilized for irrigation purposes. The hill areas need to be protected from indiscriminate activity in the name of development and efforts should be stepped up to keep the hillsides free of garbage. If the spiritual and natural quality of rivers is diluted near their origins in the hills and the waters are diverted to tunnels, canals and reservoirs, the rivers tend to lose their contact with natural surroundings and ambience, and in the process, lose some of the spiritual qualities that render the waters sacred.


Drinking water being supplied from rivers to urban areas ought not to be at the cost of endangering the river itself. It should be a gentle arrangement, rather like the Sun taking water from rivers and lakes and turning it into rain, in a way that nothing is wasted. During the monsoon season, when there is increased flow of water in rivers, some water may be diverted and stored in other off-line reservoirs for use as drinking water and for irrigation in winter and summer months without ever disturbing the main flow of the river.


Instead of raising embankments, river water must be allowed to spread naturally and replenish Earth. Floods perform valuable functions of providing silt for flood-recession agriculture and recharging groundwater. People should be encouraged to live with the difficulties and benefits associated with floods.


Downstream stretches may be dredged, like King Bhagiratha had done in the past, to provide waters to ports. Human effort must be to increase the flow of the rivers rather than obstruct it through manmade structures such as dams, barrages and embankments.

The writer is the author of `Economics of Hydropower