Environmental Disease: Nature's Answer to Being Overlooked

This is an English translation of the original Hindi. Translation may have changed the meaning a little; the Hindi original is the authoritative version.

Nature is not a view; it is the current of life. It holds not only trees but the compassion of air, water, earth and living beings. When that nature is overlooked, when the air turns poisonous, the water half-dead and the earth burdened — then disease spreads not only in the body but in society and in awareness.

Environmental disease has become a silent epidemic across the world, India included. Asthma, skin disorders, cancer, hormonal imbalance and tiredness of mind — these are not pollution alone but nature’s answer. This asks not for medicine but for the remaking of how we see life.

The extent of the problem

According to the Environmental Health Index – India 2024:

• in 70% of India’s urban areas the air quality is at a level harmful to health
• polluted water leaves about twelve million people a year with diseases of the skin, the stomach and the nerves
• cases of hormonal disorder are rising because of agricultural chemicals and plastic pollution

These figures are signs not of pollution alone but of the breaking of our bond with nature.

The undercurrent of the causes

Environmental disease is not caused by chemicals alone. It is the outcome of a life in which:

• nature is taken as a resource, not as a relation
• a tree is taken as timber, not as life
• water is taken as a means of use, not as something to be honoured
• non-violence has been limited to living beings and not extended to the environment

Jain thought says — “पृथिवीकाय जीवोऽपि स्पर्शेन हिंसां अनुभवति” (Acharanga Sutra) — that is: there are living beings in the earth too, and its excessive use is itself violence.

This view is not principle alone but a direction for living. When we look at nature with compassion, disease will not merely lessen; it can disappear.

The effect on society and the feelings

Environmental disease tires not only the body but society. Asthma in children, tiredness in the young, skin disorders in the old — these are not pollution alone but signs of a shortage of feeling. When society is cut off from nature, it does not merely fall ill; it stops feeling.

This asks not for medicine but for a collective remaking — that we look at life not as consumption but as co-existence.

The direction of a remedy: the inspiration of Jain practice

To come out of this crisis we need not technology but austerity. If we take nature not as a resource but as a practice; if we understand air, water and earth not as things to use but as things to honour — then this answer of nature will not merely quieten; it can turn into compassion.

In the Jain way of living, feeling for the environment is expressed through non-violence, restraint and many-sidedness. Practices such as restraint in the timing and quantity of the evening meal, restraint with water, planting trees and silence join a person to nature.

Practical remedies:

Measure	The Jain view	Expected effect
Restraint with water, and its purity	The widening of non-violence	Fewer water-borne diseases
Planting trees, honouring the earth	Compassion in conduct	Better air quality
Silence and samayik	Steadiness of mind	Less tiredness of mind
A life free of chemicals	Restraint	Hormonal balance, fewer skin disorders

The place of policy and education

If environmental disease is to be stopped, not pollution control alone but feeling and restraint towards nature must be given a place in policy. Conversation about nature in schools, sessions on environmental restraint at workplaces, and the encouragement of a non-violent way of living in the media — together these can build a gentler society.

NITI Aayog’s Eco-Health Strategy 2025 proposes that India should set up community tree campaigns, centres for restraint with water, and forums for natural living, for environmental health.

A sign that inspires: from neglect towards reverence

A man who had struggled for years with skin disorder, tiredness and asthma decided to remake his life. He took up restraint with water, planted trees, and gave silence a place in his routine. Slowly his body grew well — but more than that, his mind joined itself to nature.

This was no miracle, but the result of restraint, compassion and co-existence.

Conclusion

Environmental disease is not pollution alone — it is nature’s answer to being overlooked. If we take nature not as a resource but as a relation; if we make life not consumption but reverence — then this crisis can not only be controlled but defeated.

This chapter is a call — that we bring restraint into life through the inspiration of the Jain way of living, look at nature with compassion, and adorn society with co-existence.