While writing this piece I keep my gaze fixed on the Himalayas. Clothed with white radiating snow, the peaks of the Himalayas are elevated to glorious heights. My gaze is fixed on the Himalayas, but my heart and my mind are conjuring the thoughts and images of Professor Henryk Skolimowski who is radiating and inspiring like the Himalayas. In fact, I am deriving inspiration from these mountains through Henryk Skolimowski's way - by completely merging my mind and soul with the magnificent Himalayas:

Keep your gaze fixed on the Himalayas and all your little worries will melt away. Keep your gaze fixed on the Himalayas and you will bathe in beauty. Keep your gaze fixed on the Himalayas and you will be closer to Gods. Keep your gaze fixed on the Himalayas and you will be closer to your inner self.

Himalayas for me, as for the majority of others, did hardly carry any deeper meaning or message touching the core of heart or mind. Just a broad, and perhaps a dull picture of these mountains was hanging in front of me. They hardly meant more than their literal meaning - 'home of snow,' or colossal entertainment and shooting of films, or, at the most, a crucial ecosystem on earth playing a pivotal role for the economy of the major part of the subcontinent. I held this shallow image until I happened to meet Henryk Skolimowski in March 1991. The occasion was his lecture on Eco-Philosophy at my university.

I have been teaching ecology and animal science at the G.B. Pant Agricultural University's hill campus located in the Garhwal Himalayas and also taking part in the local ecological movements. The Garhwal Himalayas are quite familiar with ecological movements ever since the highly celebrated Chipko movement emerged from the area. This movement has been successful in generating tremendous ecological consciousness amongst the mountain people. But Henryk's lecture on Eco-philosophy, for me, was a new window opening towards a more real Himalayas and a real world. I perceived Eco-philosophy, in the first instance, as the most necessary dose for mental nourishment. I felt like achieving something new, something special, something wonderful, something great. The very word 'Eco-philosophy' became a mantra, an enchanting word for me.

After concluding his lecture and lengthy discussion with the scientists of the university, Henryk displayed his newly published book Dancing Shiva in the Ecological Age. The title sounded revolutionary. "Ecological Age?" someone asked. "Is that Ecological Age?" Henryk replied in the affirmative, smiling and with reasoning, further stirring the curiosity of the mind. The notion of 'Ecological Age' denotes time's arrow. The time is an arrow and this must be understood to step up in a new age, to construct/re-construct a new world. The time's arrow signifies a new vision, a new tactic to take us to a more desired future. The book's title sounded well. The whole content was promising to be an agenda for reshaping the order of our survival on earth.

The Earth is in crisis, everyone says. Life is endangered, everyone says. Humankind's survival is at stake, everyone says. Henryk ought to be indifferent. But when he puts forth such statements, he means to choose a new path, a real path to overcome what is ominous. He does not create a horror out of the emerging gloom scenario which make people hopeless. When he talks about an Ecological Age, he presents his unparalleled optimistic viewpoint. I have been exposed to many scientists, scholars, and social thinkers. But I found none as optimistic and hopeful as Professor Henryk Skolimowski. His remarks that we are now ushering in an Ecological Age appeared to be the height of his optimism and creative thinking and transcendental thinking.

Henryk camped at my university for a couple of days. Virtually everyone was being attracted by him. His impressive looks - blue eyes filled with a sea of hopes, luminous smile, glow of face - he would naturally attract anyone. He uses conceivable language not only in lectures and writings, his body itself is a language. He is a teacher not just by teaching, he teaches by his exemplary behavior also. Philosophy can be read not only in his books and article pieces, it can be read on his face too. His entire personality is a unique expression of philosophy. Gray hair, glow and radiance on face, signs of unceasing struggles, scholarship and far-sightedness on his forehead - all these characteristics make him a great learned man of humanity.

My first remarks on Henryk was: "His is more Hindu than us, he his more Indian than us." My discussion with Henryk often took place on the verandah of the university guest house. Seated in his chair, he seemed to be lost in the Himalayas. He was in perfect meditation. I went to him, he welcomed me showering his sweet smile. He often drew my attention to the snow capped peaks of the Himalayas. A very wide and beautiful panorama of the Himalayas is visible from that site. When I said, "you are doing marvelous work," he spoke very humbly, "I fold my hands and say namaste to the Himalayas." He would fold his hands and offer his sincere obeisance to the Himalayas like a devotee Hindu would do. Henryk was deriving inspiration from the serene mountains.

Amidst the breath-taking beauty of the mountains, Henryk wrote a lot on Eco-philosophy. He also composed odes to the holy Himalayas. Himalayas were naturally offering a new dimension to his philosophy. His writings were not just a form of documentation or based on objective research and interviews as would be in case of conventional researchers and journalists. There was an extension of a holistic view point of the sacred mind, an outcome of reverential and compassionate thinking. Himalayas, for Henryk, are a form of cosmos, an exquisite sanctuary, a place reverberating with divine energies. His synthesis on the Himalayas (though not in an epic form) which I came across later sounded unique, unparalleled and wonderful, giving new meaning to the youngest and the highest mountain range on Earth. Each and every word of Henryk on the Himalayas is so chosen, so beautiful, and so meaningful that the mountains appear to be taking a new shape and new role.

Henryk assigned an important responsibility to me. He created an Indian chapter of the Friends of Eco-philosophy, an informal network of people concerned with the state of the Earth and prepared to heal the Earth. I was made its secretary. "India needs ecological renovation and healing as much as any country on the globe," the first message of the Friends of eco-philosophy read. "We need to help ourselves to bring ecological sanity to our land. Friends will work as a platform for the increasing environmental awareness, and for fostering ecological ethics and ecological spirituality."

The initial response to this organization was encouraging. Interested persons, not very large in number, from all corners of India responded, the majority among them were students which reveals that the youth are more concerned about Mother Earth. Henryk Skolimowski left Garhwal Himalayas in April 1991. But when he was here, he sowed the seeds of Eco-philophy and watered the saplings of Eco-philosophy which already existed. Eco-philosophy thus arrived in the Himalayan mountains. The Eco-philosophical elements which were already there captured new roots. Thus a new fertile land for Eco-philosophy to blossom was prepared.

"Staying there in the shadow of Nanda Devi, I brooded over the meaning of the human condition." Henryk wrote back in his Season's Greetings for 1992. "The Himalayas are the playground of the Gods. If the Gods did not exist, people gazing at the Himalayas would have been bound to invent them - such is the majesty, grandeur, and power emanating from their peaks."

Much has been written on the Himalayas in Indian literature, right from the Vedic Age. The Himalayas have entered the inner core of humanity perhaps since the very down of human awareness. All the major and minor religions render the Himalayan mountains spiritually significant and the most sacred place on Earth. The great Sanskrit poet Kalidasa refer to the Himalayas as "yardstick to measure the Earth." Skandapurana says, "as the dew drops are dried up in the morning sun, so are mankind's sins at the sight of the Himalayas." Lord Krishna in the Bhagwad Gita identifies himself with the Himalayas. "Among the steadfast I am Himalayas."

Ancient scriptures provide to these mountains the powerful symbols of spirituality, obvious destination of pilgrimage, sources of blessings, places of personal transformation, symbols of ceremonial sacrifices and the likes. However, the approach of modern writers, scientists and geographers towards describing the Himalayas has been prosaic one - dull, incomplete and conveying as if these mountains are merely constituted of rugged topography, steep slopes and much inhospitable environment. In modern writings, the mountains don't seem to convey their sanctity, their spirituality, their holistic picture. It is because the modern 'inventors' do not hold any compassionate outlook and reverential thinking, in short, because they are devoid of Eco-philopshy. The wrong thinking leads to wrong synthesis and wrong action and it is why the Himalayas today are in the throes of ecological crisis.

Henryk's portrait of Himalayas is fused together with a mental image, such as heaven, god, paradise which the observer holds as extremely precious. The Himalayas represent a superb picture in Henryk's writings:

The Himalayas are the symbol of our potential greatness and godliness. They are also a very potent symbol of our times. So many past religious symbols have crumbled, as they are unable to sustain us anymore. The Himalayas stand up undiminished. They unite people of all denominations. They are one stupendous altar at which the earth sings the glory of creation.  When you are close to the Himalayas, you can hear their peaks singing amidst the total silence.

In Indian poetry, novels and love stories, it is the moon which is the most popular metaphor used to express beauty. But Henryk provides a new metaphor. Beauty must, of course, be compared with living objects. And why not? Henryk's Himalayas create a sense of great value, meaning and respect in the mind of the beholder:

If we are eternally gazing at the landscape of the moon, our being would have become image of the monotonous lifeless scenery of the moon.  The Himalayas, in contrast, present all the drama the human beings can experience. The Himalayas themselves are the drama. From their explosive volcanic origins, via the rolling hills with their exquisite flowers, rising to a tremendous crescendo of peaks reverberating with the everlasting energy - the Himalayas offer every aspect of the drama known in human experience. Except that in the Himalayas it is all on the Himalayan scale.

The human mind continues to derive inspiration from the mountain experiences. Human mind also creates several myths for which mountains continue to be a major source. The mythology is instrumental in enriching our arts, literature, cultures, religions and philosophy. The mountain, legends say, is seen as a cosmic axis that stands at the center of the universe, connecting the three levels of existence: heaven, earth and hell. As the link, the mountain acts as a place where sacred energies come in contact with the human world. It is why the mountains are held with supreme reverence. Henryk rightly refers to them as the 'playground of gods.'

The Himalayas are a vital force uniting humanity. They are also the meeting point of four cultures: the Tibetan Buddhist or Lamaist culture, the Indic or Hindu culture, the Islamic culture and the Aranya (forest) culture of indigenous people. Human qualities of truthfulness, courage, hard work, adventure, austerity, ahimsa, reverential thinking and love for freedom are the unique gifts of the Himalayan environment. All the cultures dwelling in the Himalayas have been cultivating sacredness and spirituality. The sanctity of the ecosystems the people hold instills in them a sense of reverence for the whole life, a sense of care for their environment. This fuels sensitivity in the minds of the people. This makes them creative and dynamic. This makes them ecologically conscious. Sacred mountains, sacred rivers, sacred peaks, sacred temples, sacred trees, sacred forests, sacred seeds - all these metaphors have been the cultural means for healing the Earth, for healing themselves.

Skolimowski's expression of the Himalayas goes deeper than that of the ancient Sanskrit poet, Kalidasa, when he writes: "Like no other mountains on this Earth, like no other place on this Earth, the Himalayas belong to all humanity. Each one of us has been personally tied to the Himalayas. For who of us has not dreamt about going there, and being there - if only for a while? Who of us has not been dazzled by their beauty and radiance? Who of us has not been inspired and humbled by the Himalayan ethos - so overwhelming, so much beyond us, and so much calling us to measure ourselves against it?"

Henryk's notion 'Playground of Gods' to the Himalayas leaves deeper, wider, more meaningful, more creative, more inspiring, and really divine impressions on our minds compared to Kalidasa's notion of Nagadhirai (the king of mountains). Gods' Playground' is a prayerful notion evoking the highest regards for the mountains. Nagadhirai may not be like that. From the medieval age a king has been regarded more as a demonic power.

Henryk's expression "if Gods did not exist, people gazing at the Himalayas would have been bound to invent them" can be compared with Skandapuran's "mankind's sins are dried up at the sight of Himalayas." As Kalidasa regards the Himalayas a "yardstick to measure the Earth," Henryk attempts to "measure humanity against the Himalayas and the Himalayan people against Gods and creating philosophies of the Himalayan dimension."

The Himalayan mountains serve as water towers for mankind. Himalayas' water is living water. Himalayan rivers are the holiest. They are life-giving and life-sustaining even for the far off plain areas. Himalayan mountains regulate rains, winds, moisture and temperatures even in the plains of Asia. Thus plains' greenery is attributed to the pivotal role of the Himalayan mountains. Hence, Himalayan mountains send happiness to the plains. Himalayas belong not only to the countries they are stretched in. Himalayas, in fact, belong to entire humanity, to entire life. For the Himalayas show us the height of life's evolution. For the Himalayas show us the height of human creativeness. Put in Henryk Skolimowski's words "..those celestial mountains serve as the ultimate point of reference of the greatness of our visions. We define ourselves and our projects in terms of their magnitude and grandeur. Our spiritual vision is helped and sustained by our awareness that they are there - pulling us upward, beyond our reach, but eternally calling us to their abode."

Henryk has not written volumes on the Himalayas. But whatever small he has composed on the Himalayas is like an ocean filled up completely in a jug. Mountains of literature of conventional type prepared by the so-called experts are available. This seeks only the superficial solution to the Himalayan problems and does not guarantee to preserve and restore what makes the Himalayas worth their name. But Henryk's writing on the Himalayas does. He gives deeper meaning to the seemingly ordinary aspects relating to the mountains and makes everything unique, preservable, and restorable. The sacred Ganga of Eco-philosophy symbolizes utmost peace, happiness, purification, salvation and emancipation.

It was in 1992, i.e. one year after the renovation and arrival of eco-philosophy in the Himalayas, that the Mountain Agenda presented at the United Nations' Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro recognized the values of mountains' sacredness and spirituality: "Cultivating the sacred and spiritual is crucial in evolving the respect for mountain environments and is necessary to lead to more concerted efforts in restoring the perilous ecological balance of mountain regimes; it is also crucial for reawakening respect for mountain people."

An input in the development programs in the mountains, based on sacred and spiritual concepts, would be a valuable response towards addressing the crises emerging out of insensitive intervening minds. Henryk's Eco-philosophy is there to illuminate a path towards sustainable and compassionate development in the mountains.

When Henryk visited the Himalayas again in April 1995, I requested him to give a lecture on the Ecological Age. He kindly agreed. he lectured to the scientists and students of my university on "The Coming of the Ecological Age." His lecture reawakened the consciousness of all the listeners. An eco-philosopher who is looking across a whole age and attempting to lead us to a new age, will definitely be an incarnation, not an ordinary man - so I have been thinking and feeling.

Dr. Henryk Skolimowski is the first person who is taking Eco-philosophy on the road. This father of eco-philosophy doesn't confine his subject to the books only. Through eco-philosophy he wants to revolutionize the world. Henryk's eco-philosophy is the unique fusion of ecology, philosophy and religion. He pursues the principle of attachment, unlike the Hindus and the Buddhists. He feels attachment is necessary "while we are fighting for the integrity and the survival of the Earth." His attachment is not for materialism, but for preserving the values of life. "I want society that engages me with life, not one that eliminates me from it," he says.

Henryk is above caste, creed, color, complexion, religion, nationality and such other barriers which are an eclipse on humanity. He is a man above all religions, as he has laid the foundation of Ecological Dharma which is the meaningful fusion of all earthly religions and ecology. This doctrine of Henryk would help the world get out of the bloody wave of present day fundamentalism, and this would be a giant leap towards establishing the order of ahimsa, peace, harmony and symbiosis on the planet. Henryk belongs to all nations, in a true sense. Ecological well-being of the Earth amounts to the well being of nations which his eco-philosophy assures. Ecology, of course, might be of the greatest value for and the most powerful bond amongst all the nations on the planet. Henryk's Eco-philosophy would greatly help the world get rid of the ugly face of chauvinism.

Henryk's vision goes beyond an Age. He envisions what he calls an Ecological Age. His Eco-philosophy is the medium on which the Ecological Age might be created. Henryk's conception and framework of the Ecological Age creates new hopes and new tactics for saving, preserving, conserving, enhancing, sustaining and sanctifying life and living Earth. In the Ecological Age the Earth will sing the songs of her glory. The evolution of the cosmos will be at its climax. We shall be the part of the whole celebration.