{"id":716,"date":"2011-08-30T16:19:01","date_gmt":"2011-08-30T20:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omsweetom\/?p=716"},"modified":"2011-08-30T16:19:01","modified_gmt":"2011-08-30T20:19:01","slug":"sorry-bachmann-but-government-spending-didnt-cause-irene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/2011\/08\/sorry-bachmann-but-government-spending-didnt-cause-irene.html","title":{"rendered":"Sorry Bachmann, but government spending didn’t cause Irene"},"content":{"rendered":"
Manhattan is one lucky island. \u00a0Irene came and went this past weekend and largely left us unscathed. \u00a0The residents in my building, which is in lower Manhattan and rather close to Battery Park, were told to evacuate, and many of us did. \u00a0It 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 \u201cbetter safe than sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, as I was eating lunch in front of my laptop, I took a quick glance at the front page of nymag.com<\/a> and was immediately drawn to the headline stating \u201cMichele Bachmann blames God for the Earthquake, Hurricane Irene<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0According to the report, Bachmann said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now her spokesman claims that it was said in jest, but it still highlights how fundamentally different her and so many Evangelicals\u2019 view of God is from that of the Dharmic traditions. \u00a0One 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\u2019s spending. \u00a0How is the US government\u2019s debt problem the cause of almost 40 deaths post-Irene?<\/p>\n

Hindus will likely have different opinions on why Irene affected some more than others – but I\u2019d venture to say none will equate it to a vengeful act of God. \u00a0One 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. \u00a0\u00a0In fact, one of the fundamental tenets of Hinduism is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam<\/em>, or the whole world is one family. \u00a0Hindus believe that Divine resides in all living beings – from algae to plants to animals to humans – and no one Divine is superior to another\u2019s. \u00a0And aptly so, the common Hindu greeting of \u201cNamaste\u201d loosely means \u201cThe Divine within me bows to the Divine within you.\u201d \u00a0It is a beautiful reminder of the divinity inherent in all of life surrounding us.<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0\u00a0In a previous blog, I relayed the story from the Mahabharat<\/em> 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. \u00a0Today, 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hindus have largely been comfortable with modern science. \u00a0Our 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\u2019s Third Law of Motion<\/a>, but goes far beyond. \u00a0For Hindus, this law applies not only to how we treat other people, but also to the manner in which we treat nature. \u00a0When 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. \u00a0It is not the act of a vengeful God upset at our government\u2019s spending. \u00a0It is simply the result of our own thoughtless actions.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manhattan is one lucky island. \u00a0Irene came and went this past weekend and largely left us unscathed. \u00a0The residents in my building, which is in lower Manhattan and rather close to Battery Park, were told to evacuate, and many of us did. \u00a0It turned out to be unnecessary – we never lost power, the elevators…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":390,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hinduism-101","category-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSorry Bachmann, but government spending didn't cause Irene - Om Sweet Om<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sorry Bachmann, but government spending didn't cause Irene - Om Sweet Om\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Manhattan is one lucky island. \u00a0Irene came and went this past weekend and largely left us unscathed. \u00a0The residents in my building, which is in lower Manhattan and rather close to Battery Park, were told to evacuate, and many of us did. \u00a0It turned out to be unnecessary – we never lost power, the elevators…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omsweetom\/2011\/08\/sorry-bachmann-but-government-spending-didnt-cause-irene.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Om Sweet Om\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-30T20:19:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sheetal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sorry Bachmann, but government spending didn't cause Irene - Om Sweet Om","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"nofollow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sorry Bachmann, but government spending didn't cause Irene - 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