“The trinity of Soil, Soul, Society is a distillation of much learning and living. Born and brought up in India for the first half of my life and then living in the West for the second half, I have gained much from both worlds, for which I am grateful.

While reading Talks on the Gita by Vinoba Bhave, I came across a concept articulated in three Sanskrit words that gave me a way of understanding and establishing a right relationship with nature, the self and society.

Then, while walking from New Delhi to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington for the cause of peace, I realised that peace is not just an absence of war, rather it is a way of being in harmony with planet Earth, with oneself and with all human beings on the planet irrespective of their race, religion or nationality. That long walk became my meditation on the reality of interdependence and interbeing.

I have studied Buddhist philosophy from a very early age, but only when I reflected on the teachings of the Buddha within the context of the interrelatedness of planet, person and people did I understand the deep meaning of the four noble truths – which, I realised, are a means of healing the Earth, the soul and society.

There can be no healing of the self if the Earth around us is sick and human communities are suffering.

In my youth, I was a Jain monk and learned the principles of non-violence, self-restraint and self-discipline, but at that time I looked at these principles only from the view of personal liberation. However, studying the Gita and walking through many cultures and examining the profound meaning of the four noble truths in my meditation, I saw the Jain principles in a different light. Doing no harm and practicing non-violence towards plants, animals and people was at once a way of enhancing my relationship with the natural world, the inner world and the social world. If our civilisation were to embrace non-violence, self-restraint and self-discipline, we would avoid ecological calamities, personal alienation and social injustice.”

A former monk and long-term peace and environment activist, Satish Kumar has been quietly setting the Global Agenda for change for over 50 years. He was just nine when he left his family home to join the wandering Jains and 18 when he decided he could achieve more back in the world, campaigning for land reform in India and working to turn Gandhi’s vision of a renewed India and a peaceful world into reality. Inspired in his early 20s by the example of the British peace activist Bertrand Russell, Satish embarked on an 8,000-mile peace pilgrimage together with E.P. Menon. Carrying no money and depending on the kindness and hospitality of strangers, they walked from India to America, via Moscow, London and Paris, to deliver a humble packet of ‘peace tea’ to the then leaders of the world’s four nuclear powers. Since 1973, Satish has been the editor of Resurgence magazine, and the guiding spirit behind a number of now internationally-respected ecological and educational ventures including Schumacher College in South Devon where he is still a Visiting Fellow. He continues to teach and run workshops on reverential ecology, holistic education and voluntary simplicity and is a much sought-after speaker both in the UK and abroad.

EXCERPT from the book Soil Soul Society by SATISH KUMAR