Nature and Us

~ Davi Kopenawa, Shaman and Leader of the Brazilian Yanomami

Biologically are we vegetarian or non vegetarian?

Non stop lightening storm

Relampago del Catatumbo 

Located in Venezuela, Relampago del Catatumbo is home to a lightning storm that has been raging for as long as people can remember.

For 140 to 160 nights out of the year, for 10 hours at a time, the sky above the river is pierced by almost constant lightning, producing as many as 280 strikes per hour. 

Oh Lord! Please give us rain

It is now known that at the centre of every raindrop is an impurity, a particle of dust, soot, clay etc. It is impossible for rainfall to take place from pure water.

Naturally occurring particles in the sky help trigger rainfall. Sometimes particles have to be introduced artificially into clouds to cause rainfall. This is called Cloud Seeding 

There are several ways seeding is carried out. Modern techniques involve introduction of various types of materials particle matter into the clouds using ground based particle generators, rockets, artillery shells or dropping from aircraft.

Now accepted as an effective way across the world, to modify weather and help stimulate rainfall and snowfall. Materials used vary but include, dry ice (solid carbon dioxide), sea salt, silver and potassium iodide etc. 

Ridiculed by modern science and frowned upon by many as witchcraft, until recently cloud seeding has been carried out successfully for thousands of years across the world. 


One of the practices used in India even nowadays, is called a Havan*.

It took a wise scientist, my teacher and friend Dr. Rajendra Jagdale to connect the dots between science and tradition and explained why people performed Havans.

Indians, Chinese, European, native Americans, all had similar practices. A fire, fed by combustible materials charged with materials that generated, soot etc, chanting, prayers and sometimes dancing (Rain-dance).

The reason is now not far to understand that a Havan often worked is, because the fires fed by wood, ghee and other combustible materials threw up particles of soot and dust into the sky. These particles would often ascend thousands of metres into the atmosphere and into clouds causing them to form raindrops and bring rain down.


Many people who do not understand the mechanics, just perform a havan for rainfall at anytime and usually indoors and are often disappointed. The wise men are successful because they studied the sky, wind etc. and then chose the right time to seed the clouds by the havan to help trigger rainfall.

I too like other 'scientific minds' and the 'educated', scoffed at ancient rituals and traditions,  calling them mere mumbo-jumbo, and silly superstitions worthy only of a laugh. 

Everyday I  learn about many ancient wisdom and traditional practices, I now feel humbled and also foolish for keeping a closed or prejudiced mind.

Just because we do not understand something does not mean it is untrue or irrelevant.

Maybe you too should stop laughing.

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*Havan, is a Vedic tradition and is also called Homa or Yajna or Agnihotri
There is some controversy of excessive use of cloud seeding, leading to use or misuse of this and other weather modification systems.

Dr. Raja Marathe, a highly reputed scientist has set up his own low cost rain seeding project in Nanded, Maharashtra, India with good success. Click here for more information:

God everywhere. God in all things. - Chief Seattle

In 1855 President Franklin Pierce of the United States made a “request” to Chief Seathl of the Suwamish Tribe of American Indians (who lived in what is now the State of Washington) to “sell” his land to the government. In reply, Chief Seathl sent the following letter to the President: 

         ________________________________

The great chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The great chief also sends us words of friendship and goodwill. This is kind of him, since we know that he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer, for we know that if we do not do so, the white man may come with guns and take our land.

How can you buy or sell the sky—the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us?

Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore,every mist in the dark woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people. We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of the land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. 

The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. His appetite will devour the earth and leave behind only a desert. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the red man. But perhaps it is because the red man is a savage and does not understand. 

If I decide to accept, I will make one condition. The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. What is man without beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of the spirit, for whatever happens to the beasts also happens to man.One thing we know which the white man may one day discover: Our God is the same God. You may think that you own Him as you wish to own our land. But you cannot. He is the God of men. And His compassion is equal for the red man and the white. 

This earth is precious to Him. And to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites, too, shall pass—perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffaloes are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the sacred corner of the forest heavy with the scent of men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by talking wives, where is the thicket ? Where is the eagle? And what is it to say goodbye to the shift and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of dying.

There is no quiet place in the white man’s cities. No place to hear the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand—the clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the argument of the frogs around a pond at night? The Red Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind itself cleansed by the midday rain, or scented with a pine. The air is precious to the red man, for all things share the same breath—the beasts, the trees, the man. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the smell.

We might understand if we know what the white man dreams, what hopes he describes to his children on long winter nights, what visions he burns into their minds, so that they will wish for tomorrow. But we are savages. 

The white man’s dreams are hidden from us. And because they are hidden, we will go on our own way. If we agree, it will be to secure our reservation you have promised. There perhaps we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last red man has vanished from the earth, and the memory is only the shadow of a cloud moving across the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people, for they love this earth as the newborn loves its mother’s heartbeat. 

If we sell you our land, love it as we loved it, care for it as we have cared for it, hold in your mind the memory of the land, as it is when you take it, and with all your strength, with all your might, and with all your heart,preserve it for your children, and love it as God loves us all. One thing we know—your God is the same God. The earth is precious to Him. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny.

              Chief Seattle

(Letter released by the United States Government as part of the Bicentenary celebrations).

                                                                                                    ____________________________________

The only known photograph of Chief Seattle, in 1864 (c. 1780 - June 7, 1866). Chief Seattle (anglicised name) was a Suquamish Chief, also known as Si'ahl, Sealth, Seathle,  or See-ahth. Seattle in Washington was named after him.

"Native American isn't blood. It is what is in the heart. The love for the land, the respect for it, those who inhabit it, and the respect and acknowledgement of the spirits and elders. That is what it is to be Indian."

- White Feather, Navajo Medicine Man



"We are all one Tribe,  the Human Tribe... "

Are we destroying the earth?

One day my sons Mohit and Pavit and I drove through the the middle of the city. We passed a stream, which flowed into what was previously a pristine river. 

Pollution destroys waterbodies and the oceans, killing all life, slowly but surely.

We humans had turned the beautiful gift of life, the river, provided to us by nature, into a sewer.

I sighed and shook my head muttering, "What the hell are we doing to our environment? If this continues we humans will destroy the world. We must save the Earth?"

Choked and polluted streams attract pigs and disease 

Mohit responded, 

"Dad, if we do not respect nature, how can we expect nature to respect us? 

Humans cannot destroy the Earth though we are causing much damage and numerous ugly scars. It is the arrogance of us humans, that we think we are going to save the Earth. 

Bird dies from eating junk, mistaking plastic for food

The Earth has been around for 4.5 billion years and humans for only 7 million years. What we humans are really doing is, we are destroying ourselves and our future generations. 

At the rate we are going, we humans will be extinct pretty soon.  In 20,000 or even a 100,000 years Earth will simply recalibrate and reset itself without humans"

No one spoke a word for the next three hours.

22nd April is marked as Earth Day. 

Countless speeches, media articles, editorials, and Facebook comments will change little or nothing. 

Unfortunately many religions, ideologies, and governments preach that nature belongs to Man for his pleasure and exploitation. The truth is, Humans are not apart from but just an integral component of nature.

We can only survive as a species if there is respect. **Respect for all nature, all life, different people, faiths, thoughts and cultures.

Tripureshwar Mahadev Mandir

© Larry Louie

Fog enshrouds the abandoned Tripureshwar Mahadev Mandir, a temple and a cultural heritage site in Nepal. It was built as a traditional Newari temple by Queen Lalita Tripura Sundari in 1818. 

Located in Kathmandu, there has been talk of restoring this temple.