The forest; the oldest university of the world

The forest is pure and infinite intelligence

By Surya Vishwa 

The forest is the world’s oldest university and houses a library of knowledge representing every single living dynamism.

It first birthed the blessing of medicine, invention and the earth governed version of sustainability. 

The forest thereby can be described as the cradle of man in whichever zone of earth he may dwell.

Modern man, living in his tomb of ignorance has now scorched, uprooted and felled this university. 

No commercial business on this planet can thrive if we allow our forests and its multifarious species to die. The resource based root of every business, including technology is the earth. The treasury of the earth that maintains the checks and balances of the planet’s varied richness (beneath and above the earth) is the forest. A basic level of authentic thinking and comprehension is enough to grasp this truth.

In other words the modern technological age is just an offshoot of the supreme intelligence of forests that bestowed on earth the origin of every nature based asset that allowed for the creation of the industrial age.

The forest is pure and infinite intelligence. It is the handmaiden of the cosmic creation force that we refer to as the Big Bang in today’s scientific jargon. From the burning lava of the first minute of earth’s birth, billions of years ago, the cosmic force surged forth and distributed across the planet a plethora of diverse and magnificent plant species. Most of these have become extinct along with the many living beings of the natural world. 

At the core of our consciousness all of us human beings are indigenous people, unless some of us are new age zombies. 

Absolute Original

Although most of us have discarded our indigenous earth rooted inheritance there are a handful of humanity on this earth who still retain this identity. These people are called aboriginal. We can dissect the meaning of aboriginal to mean the Absolute Original. We are so used to the rote repetition of these terms that we often do not try to interpret the deeper meaning behind the word. 

The aboriginal people the world over were the first earth scientists who experimented and developed the knowledge of trees, shrubs, vines, flowers, leaves and twigs and how these would benefit in different ways for the upkeep of the human body; as both medicines and food. Their seat of learning was the forest. 

The forest was the university not just for daily laymen life but for those who wished to tread a different untrod path of seclusion, searching and being. The ancient spiritual paths of the aboriginal people, Hinduism and Buddhism originated from the forest. The forest represents luxury. The luxury of rivers, trees, fruits, flowers and food. The Holy Quran, the scripture of the Islamic faith which originated in the caves of the golden deserts, (that distant cousin of forests and seas) in the description of paradise refers to the basic elements of forests; trees, foliage and flowing rivers. 

This encapsulates the treasure that a forest might have represented for people who only knew the expanses of arid deserts which although clothed in its own mysterious beauty and rare plant species were nevertheless arduous terrain. 

The world’s first shrines were not made by brick but fashioned from the architectural intelligence of nature such as caves, mountains and forests. 

Last week the Harmony page featured the Dambana Aadi Vasis of Sri Lanka who are known as the ancient Veddha community; the oldest inheritors of this piece of planet earth once referred to as Siwhela in which the tribes of Yaksha, Naga, Deva lived. 

Authentic guardians of Sri Lanka’s forests

The Veddhas who are identified with these ancient tribes are today a vanquished people. Their lifestyle is crippled by modern man forcing their so-called superior knowledge values and rules on these forest dwellers without tapping into the unlimited knowledge they possess. The Veddhas could be described as the authentic guardians of Sri Lanka’s forests. In our article last week we quoted Vanaspathy Vishwakeerthi Uruwarige Vannilaye Aththo speaking of the difficulties they face on account of being forced to ‘earn’ as the townsmen do because their access to forests as in time gone by is restricted by laws and regulations purportedly to protect the forests.

The issue of the knowledge of the forest dying out with the offspring of the forest inhabitants being schooled under general curriculum and without any formal means of inculcating appreciation of a life linked to the heritage of the first people of the land. The wilderness they are surrounded by is looked upon by the younger generation of the Veddha community more as a restrictive trap. This has to be changed if we are to safeguard whatever that is left of our knowledge of forests. If we know the pulse of our forests and understand the treasures it holds we will value the life of every single tree.

The Harmony page is dedicated to promoting this knowledge in their diverse forms and will be focusing our upcoming 2024 editions on featuring day to day experiences from diverse forest reserve areas of Sri Lanka, including from the Veddha community.

This is parallel to a project the Harmony page is practically implementing to create day to day paths for the children, youth and teachers of forest adjacent villages to develop innovative ideas to deeply reconnect with their heritage knowledge and share it with the world. 

We will also be soon introducing a Dambana Forest Diary developed by a 10 year old student of the Adi Vasi community.

The forest is the sacred space that could save the world and the people whose ancestors have dwelled alongside forests should be treasured and protected and their knowledge preserved. 

If we do not act at least at this late hour, we are destroying our last link with the survival of this planet.