You are Therefore I am: A Declaration of Dependence - Softcover

Satish Kumar

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1903998182 ISBN 13: 9781903998182

Publisher: Green Books (UK), 2002

Synopsis

Traces the spiritual journey of the author, as he learns to view the world as a network of multiple, diverse relationships.

René Descartes’ famous maxim ‘I think, therefore, I am’ considers the world in terms of dualism, division and separation. Yet the Sanskrit dictum, So Hum, is well known across India but not in the West, and can be translated as ‘You are, therefore I am’. A journey of the mind, You are Therefore I am examines the sources of inspiration which formed child monk, peace pilgrim, ecological activist and educator Satish Kumar's understanding of the world as a network of diverse yet interconnected relationships.

Written in four parts, the book begins with Satish's memories of conversations with his mother, his teacher and his Guru, all of whom were deeply religious. The second part recounts his discussions with the Indian sage Vinoba Bhave, J. Krishnamurti, Bertrand Russell, Martin Luther King, and E. F. Schumacher. These five great activists and thinkers encouraged him to engage with social, ecological and political issues. In the third part Satish narrates his travels in India, which have continued to nourish his mind and reconnect him with his roots. The final part brings together Satish' world-view, which is based in relationships and the connections between all things.

You are, Therefore I am is an inspiring and deeply moving look at how we can re-connect with the world and find peace within ourselves by embracing Satish' emergent world-view.

About this title

About the Author

Satish Kumar is an internationally renowned speaker on ecological and spiritual issues. He was born in Rajasthan, India, and now lives in England where he is Editor-in-chief at Resurgence & Ecologist magazine, co-founder of Schumacher College and founder of the Schumacher Society UK. Satish has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Education, and in Literature, and he was also presented with the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values Abroad.

Excerpt. İ Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

You Are Therefore I Am

A Declaration of Dependence

By Satish Kumar, Truda Lane

Green Books Ltd

Copyright İ 2010 Satish Kumar
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-903998-18-2

Contents

Acknowledgements, 
Foreword, 
Part One: Encounters with Meaning, 
1 Learning from Nature, 
2 A Hindu Mind, 
3 Mother Principle, 
4 The Joy of Making, 
5 Going to Ladnun: Meeting the Guru, 
6 A Jain View of Reality, 
7 Dharma Practice, 
8 The Five Practices, 
9 Self and the World, 
Part Two: Quest for Wholeness, 
10 Return to the World (walking with Vinoba Bhave), 
11 Soil, Soul, Society, 
12 Learning from the Sun, 
13 Truth is a Pathless Land (conversation with J. Krishnamurti), 
14 No Birth, No Death, 
15 Rationalism and Non-violence (encounter with Bertrand Russell), 
16 Justice before Order (meeting Martin Luther King), 
17 Poverty and Progress (insights from E. F. Schumacher), 
Part Three: Travels in India, 
18 Islam, a Religion of Peace, 
19 A Land of Contrasts, 
20 Temples of Delight, 
21 A Culture of Crafts, 
22 To Be a Pilgrim, 
23 In the Footsteps of Gandhi, 
24 Seeds of Renewal (visiting Vandana Shiva), 
Part Four: A Relational Philosophy, 
25 You Are, Therefore I Am: A Reverential Ecology, 
26 A Declaration of Dependence, 
Notes, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Learning from Nature

"Nature is the greatest teacher," said my mother while we were walking from home to our farm.

"Greater than the Buddha," she continued, "for even he learned from nature. He became enlightened while sitting under a tree, contemplating on the compassionate, generous, ever-giving tree. While observing the banyan tree under which he was sitting, the Buddha realised that the fulfilment and self-realisation of the tree was in its being that which it is, never trying to be anything other than a tree. As tree it was always available to those who came to it: the birds could nest in it, the animals could rest under its cool shade, and everyone could benefit from its fruit."

I was only eight years old, listening to my mother, and yet this was something I could understand. She would talk to me in more or less the same way that she would talk to my older sisters and brothers. For her, I was not 'a child — an underdeveloped adult'. She always talked to me about matters of great substance.

Yet Mother was an illiterate woman: she could not read, nor write. She could not even sign her name, and on a document she would put her thumbprint. But she was both deeply religious and an intuitive philosopher.

My mother, whose name was Anchi Devi, was born in 1900, in the small town of Momasar in Rajasthan. Her parents were farmers, so she grew up on the land. Therefore, her religion, her spirituality, her philosophy and her way of life were part of her experiences, rather than a result of any formal education.

Mother was short and slim with bright eyes. The wrinkles on her kind and thoughtful face were clear evidence of an active and eventful life. She wore traditional clothes: an earth-coloured skirt with tie-dyed red circles on it, full and long, a black blouse and a dark brown cotton wrap which went over her shoulders and head, and veiled her forehead. All her clothes were woven, dyed and stitched locally in our town. She adhered to the Jain religion. Everything she did was underpinned by a religious view of life.

My father, Hiralal Sethia, was also Jain. His family lived fifteen miles away in another small town, Sri Dungargarh. His parents were mer

Edition details

• Publisher: Green Books (UK)
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1903998182
• ISBN 13: 9781903998182
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192