1. We read the sacred story of the descent of the Celestial Ganges River to the earth because of the efforts of Bhakīrathaṉ to help his ancestors get a heavenly afterlife.
2. The water circulates in a cycle: Rain, river, ocean, vaporization by the heat of the sun, clouds in the sky, and rainfall. Mahaṛṣis taught us this climatological truth about the water. Kapila Ṛṣi’s story in the Purāṇa depicts this truth.
3. This story reveals another truth. Water as the element is essential for Taṛppaṇam (libations with the waters of Ganges). Water for drinking is also the giver of life.
4. Water should never stagnate but flow continually and freely. It should not be stored in a reservoir; that stagnant water goes bad. Today, water is a commodity. We have committed in multiple ways transgressions as this.
5. Land, water, air, fire, and ether are community property. But what do we do? Avarice to own and exploit these natural resources for our selfish benefit is the dominant model. We celebrate ownership of not only the land, but also the ether, and the oceans.
6. Man’s activities are contrary to Ṛṣi’s values and thoughts. Ṛṣi Āṅgīrasar says, ‘All are not your possessions. Do you know what you should own? A small plot for your living space. If you build a 100-room bungalow, it is one you do not need. You need only one room for retiring. The rest is not yours. You expropriated what others should have and deprived them of what they deserve. You committed an infraction.
7. You must eat to live. Two sacks of rice should be enough for you to last for a year. But you have stacks and stacks of rice sacks piled high in your godown. You need the nourishing milk. One cow should be enough. You own hundreds of cows. You prevent others from having milk. All these are wrong, said the Ṛṣi. (Comment: All for one and one for all. In the modern age, rice and dairy farms serve the community under the state laws that enforce hygiene, fair price, and even distribution. In the olden days before these laws, people drank unpasteurized milk from individual cows and died of brucellosis. The Dairy Farms serve  well the people living in the skyscrapers and city dwellers. No worry for them about caring for cows in the sheds in the big city. Respectfully submitted.)
8. Bhāradvājar says, , “If you own one measure more than your need, you are a thief. You must receive punishment.
9. That was the thinking of the Ṛṣis those days. All consumable products must reach all life forms and should not be in the ownership of one man. Therefore, when you eat, you feed not only your family but also the indigents that come to your house seeking food, the birds, the dogs, and other living forms, as said by the Ṛṣis. (Such a noble idea.) The Ṛṣis told if a person feeds living beings from Brahma to a blade of grass (Tulsi) and later eat his food, he would become a Ṛṣi. This thought did not take hold in the modern man. It will never happen. The reason is man’s selfishness. Once men have higher thinking and purpose, they will not have enemies.
10. Gautama Ṛṣi says, “The trees proffer their fruits to a multitude of life forms and not for their self-consumption. Likewise, the river is of use for other life forms. Men must also help others for the weal and the welfare of others. That is the utility of the body of a man.
11. Take the river. A multitude of life forms lives in the water. For that, there should be a continuous flow of water. Narmada River is two km wide and four or five people deep. Besides other life forms, crocs live in it and eat the riverine food.
12. Once a dam spans across the river, there was a perceptible loss of life forms. The selfishness of man without regard for other life forms causes the loss of many faunas. I am not protesting dams for an insubstantial reason. The truth is this: This horrendous situation should not take place. The Ṛṣis call the river Jīvanadhi (Life-giving river). They stress it should not be dammed or impeded.
13. Likewise, we should protect the mountains and forests. We destroy the forests, partition the land into plots, sell them, and build flats (condos) on them. We demolish a mountain into a flat terrain and celebrate its destruction. It is not only wrong but also a sin. The wellbeing of the hills and the forests guarantee rainfall and help the luxurious growth of flora. All life forms prosper because of it.
will continue.