Editorial-May

According to Gautam Buddha, the greatest Indian of all ages, ‘what we think, we become’. The highly evolved human brain with enhanced cognitive abilities is capable of diversified functions, the mysterious phenomena called ‘mind’ further augments this capacity through deep emotional experiences which human beings come across in its lifespan. The emotional responses of the human minds, both positive and negative impact not only us but the entire world; the whole of this universe which is in our affective reach is our stage. Our emotions are dramatic, well depicted in our dramatic existence. The emotional conflicts of our mind express itself in the modern existential crisis of human beings. The modern human beings led by the trendy race of material pursuits, failed to focus on the practice of positive emotions and the resulting overemphasis on negative emotions engulfed us in the vicious cycle of conflicts and crises. We couldn’t uphold to the essence of humanity, we repeatedly treaded into the dark alleys of malevolence and violence. We pushed our planet into turmoil, name it biodiversity crisis, extinction of life forms, man-animal conflict, climate crisis, and so on and so forth the aftermath of our jet sped human greed has been nothing but apocalyptic. The rapid extinction of species, the unprecedented warming of earth’s atmosphere to the current Covid-19 pandemic, almost every modern-day crisis is a man-made disaster. The shocking reality is that despite all, we human beings chose to remain incorrigible, we fail to act sensibly. Human beings are suffering because of their own misgivings, but alas the Homo sapiens have lost foresight because of the tightly held blindfolds of self-conceit.  The news of the mysterious death of 18 wild elephants in Bamunipahar of Nagaon district saddened the nature lover in me and wrecked the mind of the humanist which delves in me. Since then, an insatiable series of whys and hows been perplexing my mind and heart. Yes, the initial official assessment regarding the cause of death of the 18 Wild Asian Elephants is absolutely not convincing, at least not yet in the lack of any scientific data. But the very plausibility of a foul play, the possible homicidal killing of 18 wild Elephants by human beings in the wake of a looming pandemic really concerns me.  If the sufferings and the rising predicament of the covid-19 pandemic doesn’t teach anything to us, then when would we learn? Are we ever going to learn?? In Assam, Elephants command a historically significant position in religion and culture of the people. This incident questions the very integrity of humanity, the fabric of love, compassion and tolerance of Assamese society seems tattered. I often passionately disagree with my friends and family who sometimes tend to consider the intense fight of daily life as the reason behind the violent reactions of human beings. I strongly believe that violent and inhuman means will never resolve our struggles, the fight for survival is rather getting steeper and unbearable because of our dependency on these unwholesome and unfair means. The problem lies in our goals, the problem lies in our inner values. The practice of compassion is a matter of choice, when a person learns to practice compassion towards all living beings then the essence of love and respect naturally follows. The people who learn to secure their forests and respect the other life forms will flourish in future. India was the land of sages, the people of India were led by the noble truth of Gautama Buddha, ahimsa been our dharma. The world still looks eastward to find answers to their questions. Let us not lose our roots, let us rediscover ourselves yet again. The model of violence, bigotry and mindless material race is an imported waste; let it not overpower our inner resilience. Let us show courage to take the path of truth, not because it’s our tradition but it is the only way out. I hope the truth behind the shocking incident of the death of 18 wild Asian Elephants in Bamunipahar, Nagaon district comes to the forefront.The forest department came up with an assessment that the 18 Elephants have died of thunder bolt which seems absurd. Different organisations including the All Assam Engineer’s Association have raised serious doubts about the possibility of bulky animals like Elephants to die of thunder bolt, that too 18 of them together. The people of Assam are waiting for scientific evidence from the government authority to ascertain the real cause behind the tragedy. I sincerely hope the decision makers, people entrusted with authority practice utmost care to do justice to the truth. The man-animal conflict situations are after all created by men, conflicts are undeniably human domains. Hence, the responsibility is solely ours to mend our ways.  We just need to realign ourselves, we need to explore ways to comprehend the fact that the success and victory of human beings lie in peace, and mindless competition is directionless. The tragic loss of the 18 Elephants, a complete herd of Bamunipahar on the night of 12^th May 2021 is the darkest night in the history of Assam. This is high time for people of Assam to find peaceful solution to the worsening man-elephant crisis situation, let Assam set an example for rest of the world in resolving this rising issue of man-animal conflict. Tragedies and crises are times of great learning; these are times when we can grow if only we can learn. I request every reader to join me in saying a prayer for the peace of every sentient being, my humble request to everyone to say a prayer for the peace of 18 Elephants of Bamunipahar who met untimely death on the fateful night of 12^th May, 2021. Let us learn to practice compassion, let us learn to co-exist with respect to Nature.