Published in Earth Times
May 1997

SPIRITUAL LEADERS HELP TO RE-GREEN KRISHNA'S BIRTHPLACE

by Paul Spencer Sochaczewski (c) 1997

VRINDAVAN, India

When I visited Vrindavan in north India, birthplace of Lord Krishna and site of a city-wide re-greening effort, I was asked if I wanted to plant a tree. I arrived at the designated site and found that the hole had already been dug. For me, digging my own hole and getting dirty is part of the ritual, a point I politely explained as I took up the spade.

I was reminded of the observations of Richard St. Barbe Baker, who led a movement he called Men of the Trees. "Planting a tree is a symbol of a looking-forward kind of action;" he said, "looking forward, yet not too distantly."

Vrindavan clearly needs quick environmental action. During the 1960s Vrindavan was among the cleanest towns in India, with streets washed twice a day and clean water available to all. Today, during the monsoon season, cholera threatens. Monkeys destroy vegetable gardens. There are few toilets. Politicians get rich while public services are reduced. People are fed up.

Vrindavan is a one-business town: Krishna. Every year the town of 70,000 swells by some 2.5 million pilgrims; more people visit Vrindavan's 5,000 temples than gaze at the Taj Mahal, just 70 km south.

The irony is that in their search for spiritual blessings, people have destroyed the natural beauty that made Vrindavan special in the first place.

The Yamuna River, where Krishna playfully hid the clothes of bathing maidens, is today brown with sewage and industrial wastes. Most of the 36 forests of Krishna's time have been cut. The greatest scar is the condition of the holy parikrama, an 11 kilometre pilgrimage route.

In some parts it is lined with newly constructed ashrams and shops. Pilgrims on this route, who are instructed to touch their feet to Vrindavan soil, are forced to walk for several kilometres on burning asphalt while dodging traffic. In other places they risk parasites of a most diverse kind as they tread on a rainbow of excrements.
However, in the midst of these very real environmental problems in a very holy setting, there are a few signs that Krishna's ideal vacation site might just get restored.

The key is in a massive tree-planting program that has catalyzed a burgeoning political movement.

In one corner of Vrindavan two toddlers join forces to lug a half-filled bucket of water to care for "their" tree in a tennis-court-sized park built on the site of a former dump. "We encouraged the government to put in a water pipe and provided saplings," notes Sanjay Rattan, the WWF coordinator of the re-greening effort. "But as you can see, the people themselves take responsibility for keeping it alive."

In another part of town, religious leader Pran Gopal Mishra presides over a meeting of religious leaders. Their decision: seek help to regreen Gyan Gudari, one of the city's holiest sites. "The trees spoke to Krishna," Pran Gopal Mishra says. "If we learn how to listen to the voice of the earth, things will come right. The real solution to Vrindavan's problems will come from trees. Social problems, environmental problems, they're all linked."

In spite of modest success, some monks are very frustrated. Sadhu Tyagi Baba has travelled the world, but has chosen to settle in a simple ashram along one of the prettier parts of the parikrama. "It's not easy to stop this destruction, to stop the search for money. But we'll gather the religious leaders together. The environmental problem is as political as Sarajevo. We must force a cease-fire to all tree cutting, a cease-fire to all new construction."

After planting the seedling in Vrindavan I realized that after I left India the tree would become orphaned, with no one having responsibility for it. So I asked Rajni, the ten-year-old son of the chief gardener, if he would do me the honor of watering and caring for my tree in my absence. Together we painted on a metal plaque that is affixed to the metal tree guard: 'Planted by Paul.' And in Hindi: 'Looked after by Rajni.' We both signed it. To further cement the agreement I promised Rajni that I would plant a tree in his honour on my return to Switzerland.

Both trees are flourishing.