Manhattan is one lucky island.  Irene came and went this past weekend and largely left us unscathed.  The residents in my building, which is in lower Manhattan and rather close to Battery Park, were told to evacuate, and many of us did.  It turned out to be unnecessary – we never lost power, the elevators worked throughout the weekend, and there was no structural damage – but for me, it was truly a case of “better safe than sorry.”

On Monday, as I was eating lunch in front of my laptop, I took a quick glance at the front page of nymag.com and was immediately drawn to the headline stating “Michele Bachmann blames God for the Earthquake, Hurricane Irene.”  According to the report, Bachmann said:

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.”

Now her spokesman claims that it was said in jest, but it still highlights how fundamentally different her and so many Evangelicals’ view of God is from that of the Dharmic traditions.  One would be hard pressed to find a Hindu who believes that the earthquake and Irene were brought upon America by a vengeful God who is upset at our government’s spending.  How is the US government’s debt problem the cause of almost 40 deaths post-Irene?

Hindus will likely have different opinions on why Irene affected some more than others – but I’d venture to say none will equate it to a vengeful act of God.  One of the main reasons is that Hinduism has always had a deep respect for nature and does not teach that human beings have a divine right to reign over the planet and take from it what they want.   In fact, one of the fundamental tenets of Hinduism is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or the whole world is one family.  Hindus believe that Divine resides in all living beings – from algae to plants to animals to humans – and no one Divine is superior to another’s.  And aptly so, the common Hindu greeting of “Namaste” loosely means “The Divine within me bows to the Divine within you.”  It is a beautiful reminder of the divinity inherent in all of life surrounding us.

Thus, embedded within Hinduism is a deep respect for Mother Earth and the understanding that when we as a society abuse nature, we will have to face the consequences.   In a previous blog, I relayed the story from the Mahabharat where Krishna stops Bhima from mindlessly cutting down a beautiful tree, reminding him that we must only take from nature that which is absolutely necessary.  Today, our blatant abuse of nature is clearly demonstrated through the effects of global warming, and although I am far from an expert in the field, some studies do suggest that hurricanes have become stronger over the last few decades due to global warming.

Hindus have largely been comfortable with modern science.  Our belief in the law of karma – the Hindu spiritual law of cause and effect which posits that each action brings forth an appropriate outcome – is almost akin to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, but goes far beyond.  For Hindus, this law applies not only to how we treat other people, but also to the manner in which we treat nature.  When we as a society take too much from Mother Earth, when we abuse the forests and oceans, when we fill our planet with trash, it is only natural that we as a society will face consequences.  It is not the act of a vengeful God upset at our government’s spending.  It is simply the result of our own thoughtless actions.