Faith & Values

Ram Aithal – Trustee & Faith guide. Balaji temple, Tividale 

The need to love and respect all things in nature

“The foundation of Hindu faith is known as DHARMA, meaning ‘living in harmony with nature and the force that sustains the world.’ We are to respect all things in nature we are part of and which we depend on. Caring for our environment is an essential part of Hindu faith and its teachings.

In Balaji Temple, we are aware of the current and impending crisis with our environment, partly brought about by man’s greed and his contempt to nature. With this in mind, we only use vegetarian food and organic milk, minimise the use of plastic, avoid waste and adopt energy conservation measures.

As a Hindu I was brought up from childhood to love and respect my Mother, Father and my Teacher and other people and everything in nature. According to my faith, the entire creation is the manifestation of the creator which, in the end, is destined to be one with the creator. My faith teaches me not to be selfish and to renounce lust, anger, greed, desire, arrogance and envy.” 

John Beard, Birmingham Buddhist community

Our planet is our house

“The Dalai Lama says our planet is our house, and we must keep it in order and take care of it if we are genuinely concerned about happiness for ourselves, our children, our friends, and other sentient beings who share this great house with us. If we think of the planet as our house or as our mother – Mother Earth – we automatically feel concern for our environment. Today we understand that the future of humanity very much depends on our planet, and that the future of the planet very much depends on humanity. But this has not always been so clear to us. Until now Mother Earth has somehow tolerated sloppy house habits. But now human use, population, and technology have reached that certain stage where ‘Mother Earth no longer accepts our presence with silence’. In many ways she is now telling us, ‘My children are behaving badly’. She is warning us that there are limits to our actions. We only have one planet earth so we must look after it.”

Rabbi Margaret Jacobi, Birmingham Progressive Synagogue

We are Guardians for the Earth

“Judaism teaches that human beings have been appointed as Guardians of the Earth, commanded in the book of Genesis ‘to work it and to watch over it.’  God’s creation is a wonderfully complex web of interdependent living things.   Although human beings can use creation for their benefit, they must do so in a spirit of care and respect. The Torah commands us to avoid unnecessary waste and to show compassion to all creation.  A midrash (story) warns ‘take care of my creation for if you destroy it there is none to come after it.‘    We have abused our power and now it is the poor who are paying the highest price.  We must respond urgently to preserve God’s creation, which is so precious and so full of wonder.”