On the occasion of World Environment Day, it is imperative to ponder what is a natural disaster? Why do we open our newspapers every morning to see at least one piece of news about a natural disaster: a flood, an earthquake, a tsunami or a cyclone?
From a spiritual perspective, are these all a glimpse of pralay, the ancient Hindu philosophy of destruction of the Universe as we know it by the biggest flood let loose by Nature's fury? An online dictionary defines pralay as the day when "'shrishti' and 'Brahmaand' (the Cosmos) will be destroyed by the fury of Nature. Hindus call it pralay, Muslims call it qayamat and Christians call it Armageddon. A lot of people are actually predicting the end of the world on 12th December 2012.
Now, why shouldn't Nature be furious? We have done everything we can to threaten it. We waste water everyday, we use up all the electricity we can, we pollute wherever we leave our footprint, we create artificial warming by use of chemicals and chemical emissions, we pile garbage where the stray animals can eat them, we drive when we can walk, we waste paper, we cut down trees before we can plant a sapling, our plastic bags choke our sea life, and we cook and throw when we can feed.
Our lifestyle is responsible for the continuous attacks on Mother Earth till she can't take anymore. Is it any wonder then that we live in an age of natural disasters?