Hindu Environment Week Celebrated With an Interfaith Green Mass Wedding, Water Ceremonies,Eco-Toilet Building, Tree Planting and More

India’s first ever Hindu Environmental Week was celebrated this February by Ganga Action Parivar, signifying a growing movement of faiths coming forward for the conservation of our natural resources.

Hindu Environmental Week, an initiative of Oxford University’s Bhumi Project, was organized collec­tively here as an intergenerational effort by Ganga Action Parivar (GAP), the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, the Green Pilgrimage Network (GPN), Alliance for Religions and Conservation (ARC) and the Bhumi Project.

Said Pujya Swamiji, “Beginning now, on the first day of India’s first Hindu Environmental Week, let our every moment be dedicated to serving the Creator though serving His creation. The splendour of nature is a precious and irreplace­able gift, which we all must do our utmost to protect.”

Distinguished delegates from Delhi’s Senior Citi­zen Counsel opened the week alongside HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji with a heart-felt Wa­ter Blessing Ceremony, in which the sacred waters of the River Ganga were offered to a multi-hued globe. The observance symbolized the crucial need for our water resources to be protected and main­tained in their pristine form. In India, nearly 100 million people have no access to clean water.

Youth from Parmarth Niketan’s Gurkul next took the Hindu Environmental Week banner to the rural village of Veerpur, where they installed a Bio-Sand water purification system that they personally fab­ricated. The system, which will soon be installed in the schools of Uttarakhand under an initiative of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance and Ganga Action Parivar, will help ensure that the state’s four million students are protected from deadly water-borne diseases, such as cholera and dysentery.

“Every day, 1,600 children die because of diseases associated with deplorable water, sanitation and hygiene conditions. Today, youth themselves are taking matters into their own hands by installing a water purification system that will help keep them, and their peers, safe,” Said Pujya Swamiji

Afterwards, the youth planted trees to signify a green future for all, and to recognize the importance of trees for protecting our world’s soil, air, and water.

Later in the day, students assembled at a nearby PG college in order to begin construction of a biotoilet complex, which will provide the institution’s 3,000 female students with the benefits of protective sani­tary facilities. Some 70% of India has no access to toilets, presenting a major threat to the environment and public health.

Simultaneously, a green interfaith wedding ceremony, overseen by Hindu priests and Muslim Imams, was held for twenty-one couples in Uttar Pradesh, under the inspiration of Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati­ji. Of the couples, sixteen were Hindu and five were Muslim. The joint nature of the ceremony resulted in decreased environmental impact, while also bringing together the faiths to celebrate the joys of a beauti­ful wedding ceremony in harmony, as a united community. Afterwards, the happy couples planted trees alongside their families in celebration of their green wedding.

Hindu Environmental Week’s first day concluded on the banks of the Ganga River at Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh, with sacred homa and Ganga Aarti ceremonies for world peace and environmental preserva­tion. As the sun slowly descended over the serenely-flowing river, which provides sustenance for some 500 million people, prayers were held that all people of all faiths may come together to ensure it is pro­tected and preserved for all generations to come.