Q1.
Do you know of practices that reflect this?
Answer
Yes — many. In traditions that see Nature as a nurturer and nourisher, the respect is not only stated, it is built into everyday practice.
| Practice | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Tulasī pūja at home (Fig. 1.6 in your book) | A plant tended and honoured daily for the wellbeing of the household |
| Sacred groves — devrai, kavu, sarna, orans | Whole patches of forest where cutting is forbidden. The chapter itself uses these on page 2 as an example of something culturally unacceptable to exploit — which is exactly why they are still standing |
| Offering arghyam to Sūrya (Fig. 1.9) | Water offered to the sun as a mark of gratitude for light and warmth |
| Rivers addressed as mothers — Gaṅgā, Narmadā, Kāverī | A river you call mother is harder to treat as a drain |
| Festivals built around crops and animals — Pongal, Bihu, Onam, Baisakhi, Govardhan pūja, Nāga Panchamī | Thanks given to soil, sun, cattle and rain at the moment they have delivered |
| Trees honoured individually — peepal, banyan, neem tied with thread and watered | A named, protected tree is rarely felled |
| Gentle ploughing (Fig. 1.4) | Minimal disturbance to the underground ecosystem, and soil moisture retained |
Why these practices matter beyond belief: look at what each one does. Sacred groves preserve native biodiversity and recharge local water. Fallow days and no-fishing seasons let a population recover. Honouring a tree keeps it standing. The chapter's own point on page 6 is the same — traditional communities regulated fishing during the spawning season, and that maintained the fish population. Reverence, in practice, works out as restraint at exactly the moment restraint is needed.
Try This: ask an elder in your family which plant, tree, river or animal is treated as special at home, and on which day. Then work out what the practice protects. Write both columns side by side — the custom, and what it conserves.