Sarvam Dahati Pavaka: Some Fiery Meanderings

On June 8, 2023 World Ocean Day

There is a famous saying regarding the indestructibility of the spirit - nainam dahati pavaka: This (atma) is not burnt by fire. 

Implication is also that everything else is burnt by fire - consumed by fire.  Hence fire is the purifier and the medium of offering to God, passing through which everything is purified. That may be the logic for burning waste.  With what God had created this appeared fine.  Now that the humans have increasingly taken on the creator role, creating stuff on their own, they apparently don't follow the divine logic of purification by fire. These stuff created by humans, rather, putrefy the whole world when they come into contact with the all-purifying medium.  They indeed get destroyed and transposed, but from the solid state, as they get transformed into gaseous state, they become the deadly dioxins, causing slow death of the humans in the process. 

The days of the novelty of Prometheus bringing the great gift of fire are long gone by! The irresistible craving to don the creator role tends to let the humans forget their limitations, and take to themselves a sort of pride of invincibility bordering haughtiness which is now being repeatedly punctured through the collapse of human babel towers built to withstand the force of God's original creation - of fire, of water, of wind, of snow, of earth's own movements - in spite of all the communication, transportation facilities, and the potential to predict events. 

And that is happening to all irrespective of their status of developed-underdeveloped; rich-poor; men-women; white-black; old-young...

This thought occurred to me as people in my native town Kochi suffered directly for over a week from the intense smoke billowing from the 'hell-like' (?) fire that occurred in the once-sleepy, clean, farming-fishing hamlet of Brahmapuram on the shore of the beautiful Kadambrayar-Chitrapuzha. I was one of the meek voices of protest totally unheard by anyone concerned, (as we didn't know how to go about it then), when the project idea came to light.  I visited the spot with a bunch of my students and we found the transfiguration of a place happening before our eyes - the land, the water, the air.  The stench was horrible.  It was just the beginning, and the protest of the people was still on.  But they were not let to come to the spot.  There were restrictions.  Now after more than a decade of centralised mismanagement of unmindful urban consumption and resultant waste, the carrying capacity of that part of the planet has given way to the all-consuming, but not purifying but putrefying, fire! Finally, it was put out, but the damage is done, after effects come up on the skins, on the bronchial epithelium of the dwellers of Kochi - rich and poor, old and young, men, women and any other gender... It has disappeared, but the bronchial epithelium of the planet earth has absorbed it, and is definitely carrying the brunt, and is weaker for that.  The air quality indexed (AQI) around 500 which is considered much above the hazardous level of 200 plus, from the very good status of under 33.  It refers to the presence of Carbon Monoxide (CO₃), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂), Sulphur Dioxide (SO₂), Ozone (O₃), Lead & Particulate Matter (PM 2.5 & 10).

In the past 2 years, we have observed fires of such fierce fecundity, with ability to consume anything and everything that came in its way, occurring every now and then, in almost every part of the world. 

The first one I recall is the Australian fires of 2019-20.  The fire which began to rage from November 2019, with all human advance technology put into action, left a terrible death trail, by the time it was manageable by end January 2020.  By then, it had consumed in its wrath 110000 sq. kilometres of forests, 33 people (including four fire fighters), more than 2000 houses, over 25000 koalas, thousands of sheep, wild animals including endangered species like dunnart (a mouse like marsupial), black glossy cockatoo.  The vast continent, sparsely populated by humans burnt for three months. The modern man, in spite of valiant efforts, and technological advancements had to remain helpless before the ferocity of the elements.  It was said that the noxious plumes of the fire had reached beyond New Zealand and more than 10000 kilometres.  Capital Canberra was one of the most affected cities, taking its pollution level to that of the worst polluted cities. 

2022 witnessed a series of fires - and though away and apparently unaffected, I felt deeply pained at the great loss that was happening to the planet, to the elements - air and water, to the diverse beings including the humans. 

In my travels across the few countries of the global west, I have felt kind of deprived and discriminated against by the God of the planet earth (universe) in the treatment being meted out to us South Asians, more specifically, Indians.  The dusty regions, the extreme weather - especially, cold & heat of the northern belt, lack of water and energy, the rivers running dry, the filthy slums and rural settlements (not clean), when compared to the clean surroundings, less of dust, the rivers running all through the year, clean water,  power-cuts unheard of (compare Rajaramapur where I lived as a student, when, to have electricity at night for 2 hours uninterrupted was considered a great blessing or miracle).  

However, last couple of years, I have felt that God of our beautiful universe turning Jewish (read, OT style), apparently vindictive, and starting with the United States, seemed to express His (I have to reiterate this always, it is invariably He, for She cannot go to this extent! Now, ultra feminists might protest) ire against the emerging pattern of life - the rivers, including the great and majestic Rhine running shallow to make the great water transport system to come to a standstill; and several others like River Po of Italy, on which the agri-belt of Italy depends, running dry. 

But what alarmed me more was the terrible fires across the globe from the west of the east to the west of the west. California, spread over almost 4.5 lakh square kilometres (almost 10 times as big as my Indian state of Keralam), with almost 40 million population (almost same as my state), perhaps the biggest state of the US, experienced forest fires in a series one after the other. Almost 7500 fires recorded, almost 14000 sq. km of forest patch gutted, several humans displaced and/or dispossessed; 9 of them killed.  Pacific Gas and Electronic Company was reported to have spent almost 6 billion USD in mitigation measures. The wiki article points to climate change factors as causative for all this. While, annual fire season is a persistent Californian experience, it is said that the frequencies and spread have increased over the years. 

May - June of 2023 saw the cool Canada in fires again, even as the temprature hovered around 16-17

degree celsius, almost 10 million acres of forests were gutted in 427 fires, and the smog from the plumes of smoke literally choking the Quebec region and spreading further to New York region, with air quality deteriorating to hazardous level and beyond. 

The fires that hit Spain, now almost regularly, are again another regular feature but growing in intensity.  While 2022 summer fires did not spare the warm and charming Italy and France, it caught the wet and phlegmatic United Kingdom by surprise - more than 24000 wild fires occurred in the UK between June  and August 2022.  

I feel bad for Canada! I feel bad for California, Australia, Spain, France, Italy, UK.... the world! 

Today, we also observe the rekindling of the great natural fires of Kilauea volcano of Hawaii islands erupting huge fires.  Apparently, in this, it is purely the Divine Hand, and no human hand found!!

And to add to the woes caused by the all-consuming fires not intended, we have the several human encounters, spitting fire all around, destroying human built-up environment as well as the natural environment and in effect, losing in the bargain the only distinction between the humans and other animals, of rationality! There is Russia on Ukraine, Israel on Palestine, and the Yemenis, the Sudanese, the Congolese, the Burmese, the Manipuris - each of them pitted against themselves.  Literally, all of them spitting fire in combating fellow humans and adding to the woes of the planet!

There are also fires in big cities like Dhaka where human/technical errors have burnt buildings costing several lives (2012 Tazreen fashion factory fire killing over a hundred; 2022 Kamala building fire of Mumbai)

Now it appears indeed time for the divine fire to consume this wicked strain of mother nature which manipulates the nature herself for serving immediate and short-living pleasures.  

Foolish humans with all their science around, seems to forget simple fire lessons:

1. Fire and smoke do not recognize national boundaries

2. Earth is on fire - and wherever it be, it affects me too

3. It requires collective action on the part of all to mitigate the suffering and neutralise the impact.

4. And the collective efforts inevitably include 'responsible consumption' - which points to conservation of green cover, reduction of waste generation, and sustainable management of the same. 

The Cleansing Fire Tradition

As I was making these notes, I crossed the Sundara Kanda of Ramayana, where Hanuman finds fire a friend (assumes on account of his windy heritage, the near relative of 'wind-god' Agni was acting friendly), but for the rakshasas of Lanka, it turned out to be a formidable foe - for Sita and Hanuman, a protective and purifying agent of the lumpen Lanka, whereas, for the Lankan natives an agent of punishment.  The whole of Lanka is set ablaze by the Ram devotee Hanuman, but the Ashokvan, where Sita was kept imprisoned was preserved from the ferocious fire. Before the punishment of setting 

ablaze the precious possession of the tail to Hanuman turned into the disastrous fire dance by him, Sita on learning about the fun the rakshasas were about to have at his expense, kindled a fire and offered a prayer to the god of Fire: "O Agni! If there be any goodness in me, any purity, be cool to Hanuman; do not hurt him." And Hanuman, after his adventure with fire, recalled with a shudder that Devi Sita was also there, and in all likelihood she too was destroyed in fire.  He is soon to receive the consoling news of Sita being safe and unhurt.  And his response is: Can fire hurt fire?  He sees Sita's chaste life as a purifying fire itself, which is unscathed by the wild fire he has set. Hanuman is all praise for Sita's chaste power as he narrates his exploits with his fellow Vanaras - Jambavan and others. He is genuinely surprised as to why Ravana was not burned into ashes, and concludes that Sita wanted all such retribution to happen through the Lord Rama. 

A similar divine presence in fire is indicated in the book of Exodus of the Holy Bible, where Moses is confronted with a burning bush, where the bush remained in tact, while the fire burnt vigorously.  It prompted Moses to sense the presence of the Divine, and approaching which he was led on a glorious track of liberating leadership. (Exodus 3)

However, Hanuman story reminds me of another fire story and a fiery prophet, who is kind of a model for us Carmelites.  Prophet Elijah, known for his classic response of being on fire: I am burning with zeal for God the Almighty, the Lord of hosts, when he is asked (? by God) as to what he was doing there (I Kg 19:10). And indeed, his further acts prove him to be a prophet of fire.  The whole story could be treated as one of religious intolerance and fundamentalism for today's standards.  But its final act apart, it is symbolic of the fearlessness and daring of a person charged with God.  He assembles the prophets of the several gods who were popular among the people, and ask them to offer sacrifices - if they were consumed by divine fire, it was the proof of the reality of the god(s).  And several hundreds of the prophets of those gods did his bidding, but no fire came.  It was getting late.  Elijah ridicules them with barbed comments as to the likely engagements of those gods.  Now, he gets into action, repairs the altar of the Yahweh, left in total disrepair, digs ditches around that, kills the victim for sacrifice and lays it on the altar, and pours water on it abundantly so that the water flowed down the altar and filled the ditches, and he calls upon the Lord to exhibit his power. And lo, fire came down and consumed the immolation and also licked the water in the ditches dry! Wow!! What power! The divine manifested in power through the elements of nature.  (Now I leave all the controversies and valid debates regarding acceptance, tolerance, respect, non-injury, etc. aside. I am charmed by the sheer guts of Elijah to take up the challenge of proving his belief system right. Elijah also is said to be the model for contemplatives and mystics - where he is fed by God with ravens bringing him food, he is on a flight of the seeker for 40 days with an assiduous fast, he is able to experience the divine in the meekest of the winds).  But he was indeed a prophet of fire, who was willing to take the test of fire - purifying, purgatorial, punishing and proving fire! (I Kg 18) And finally is described as seen taken up from the earth in a chariot of fire, as his close disciple Elisha observes, the very sight of which engulfs his spirit in fire of double intensity than that of his master.

The old testament of the Holy Bible has a narration of much earlier cleansing by fire of an entire population of Sodom-Gomorrah, where an only just man, Lot, was spared the fire, with prior intuition (Genesis 19).  There is a very interesting dialogue with a God who is close to the just - Abraham persistently appeals with the Almighty, who shows willingness to spare the cities from fire, provided there are at least five just 'men' there (women, without saying it, are deemed not to be in the category of the unjust!). 

It appears that the fires of the present days across the globe are like the fires lit by Hanuman in Lanka, or that was brought down by Elijah, to correct and chastise those who stick to a path of wrongdoing. In the bargain, several others, apparently who knew nothing about the crimes against life, are losing theirs. The impact is not selective but on all.  It's not merely the perpetrators and the proud, but the poor and the pure, also become prey. Humans should find in these fires the light of wisdom, as it is said to have occurred when tongues of fire descended on the disciples of Christ, and put them on a track of righteousness, courage of conviction and readiness for action (Bible: Acts of the Apostles).  A new fire is to consume the human species - a fire for cooling the earth and bringing it back to the pre-industrial era temperature. May that happen to this present generation and purify them, to build a new world where harmony is restored, rhythm regained, and the earth is protected in her green blanket.