Part XVI — Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker

PCG 18. Department of Religion, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA

Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker: In the light of the current environmental crisis, how would you see God in Nature?

Sri Chinmoy: My esteemed Professor, God the Creator and God the creation are one. Nature is the outer expression of God. The environmental crisis that we are seeing at present, especially in the twentieth century, may take away some beauty from Nature, or we can say her beauty may be partially destroyed, but the inner divinity of Nature or the environment can never be destroyed.

Nature is God's revelation and manifestation. God is Nature's Source. You can say that Nature is God in His outer Form. When a crisis in the environment takes place, we may lose Nature's beauty but not Nature's divinity. Even when the ocean is polluted at various places, or when a forest is turned into a wasteland, we can never say that God has left the ocean or the forest. God will always remain inside both creation and destruction because He is beyond creation and destruction.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by atom bombs. Beauty left those two cities, but divinity remained. Now that divinity is expressing itself in the most soulful peace shrines that have been built in the ruins. The man-made power that is tempted to destroy the world will definitely be arrested by the Heart-Power of God.

Ignorant people who are destroying Nature will not remain ignorant forever. In this century, warmongers have been successful in their destruction-attempts directed towards some countries. Again, peace-lovers with their superior wisdom are not allowing the war-mongers to succeed as freely as they did in the past.

The mind has destruction-power. The heart has creation-power and enlightenment-power. Today's doubting and destructive mind will grow into tomorrow's searching mind and creative heart. Today's matter-satisfaction-hunger will be turned into tomorrow's spirit-nourishment-meal.