Quotes About Nature

Life is like a river. You can struggle to change its course but ultimately it will go its own way. Bathe

The ego is the product of imagination. It is how a human being sees himself or herself. It makes humans demand special status in nature and culture. Nature does not care for this self-image of human beings. Culture, which is a man-made creation, attempts to accommodate it.

Once, while wandering in the woods, they came upon the carcass of a wild buffalo teeming with maggots. 'How disgusting,' cringed Shilavati. 'I don't think the maggots will agree with you,' said Prasenajit. Shilavati realized the wisdom in her husband's simple words. The human way is not the only way in this world.

Humans have the ability to control fire, water, plants as well as animals, something that no other living organism can do. But we struggle to control the human mind: our mind as well as the mind of those around us.

Both greed and outrage stem from insecurity; insecurity is the result of a poor understanding of, and a lack of faith in, one's true nature and the true nature of the world around us. The Veda says that as long as we do not accept life for what it is, as long as we try to control and change things, there will always be conflict. Conflict ends when we realize that beyond tangible material reality, there is intangible spiritual reality.

Ram and Ravana represent two ends of the human spectrum.

What is the most amazing thing about the world? 'Every day creatures die, yet the rest live as if immortal.

those who live by the law of the jungle must be ready to die by the law of the jungle.

Stars, rocks and rivers are not sentient. They move, but do not act. They do not seek opportunities or avoid threats. They do not feel or think. If they do, we do not know, as they cannot express themselves, or at least we cannot fathom their responses. They do not seem to experience death, as they do not demonstrate any struggle for life. Even

Dharma must not only domesticate nature, it also needs to ensure there is harmony between nature and culture.

Ashrama ensures that not more than two generations utilised the earth's resources at any one time. When the grandson is born, it is time to retire, eat less food than the householder. And when the great grandson is born, it is time to become a hermit, eat what the forest, not the field, provides.

In nature, there is no concept of possession or property hence there is no thief, police, or court of law.

In the Ramayana many women are killed or mutilated on the grounds of them being demons. It is difficult to digest that these are simply metaphors for wild, untamed nature. There is clearly an acceptance of male violence against women.

Life is like a river. You can struggle to change its course but ultimately it will go its own way. Bathe in it, drink it, be refreshed by it, share it with everyone, but never fight it, never be swept away by its flow, and never get attached to it. Observe it. Learn from it.

Laws by their very nature are arbitrary and depend on context.

The earth satisfies all our needs. But sometimes man forgets that he is the beneficiary of the earth's goodness. He deludes himself that he is the master of the earth. That is when Durga rises with her trident and impales the demon who assumes he can control her.

No action exists in isolation. Every decision impacts the ecosystem. Karma is often mistaken for the adage, "As you sow, so shall you reap." The assumption then is that if we sow good deeds, we will reap good rewards. But who decides what action is good or bad? The desire to qualify an action, and its consequence, as good or bad, right or wrong, is a peculiarly human trait. Nature does not do so.

In nature, nothing is contaminated. In culture, the polluted are cast out.

A banyan tree may offer shade and hold the promise of permanence, but it does not let even a blade of grass grow around it, nor does it provide life-sustaining fruit for man. The banana plant offers no shade but its rapid regenerative ability ensures it provides food to sustain the family. Snow may be still but cannot sustain life. To sustain life, it must melt, turn into a river and flow down the plains.

Kali with the most primal form of nature, before culture and outside culture, unaffected by rules and opinions of humanity. She is power, raw and elemental, both venerable and frightening. Human society is created within her; she ultimately consumes human society.

Herons and cranes often stand on one foot, to fool fish into believing their solitary legs are reeds. When a fish comes near a heron's leg, it immediately catches hold of its hapless prey.

Do not punish yourself if you waver. Humans judge, nature does not.

What a pity that most young people instead of seeing one animal in nature--which is worth a hundred in any Zoo--must derive their knowledge of God's creatures from their appearance in prisons. ... How do we manage to think that we know all about an animal by gazing at him penned in a cage?

Fear is taught by grown up men and beasts to their young. Once we learn to be afraid, we rarely shake off the habit, and I believe our fear frightens other beasts causing them to attack us.