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Śrīddhi Trayaṁ Bhagavān Kī Jai, Śrīddhi Vapurīṣyama Deva Kī Jai, Śrī Hindu Dharma Samrāṭ Mādhavānandajī Bhagavān Kī Jai, Viśva Guru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Svāmī Maheśvarānandajī Satguru Deva Kī Jai, Sat Sanātana Dharma Kī Jai. Oṁ tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugaṁdhiṁ puṣṭivardhanam, urvārukamiva bandhanān mṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt. Oṁ tryambakaṁ yajāmahe sugaṁdhiṁ puṣṭivardhanam, urvārukamiva bandhanān mṛtyormukṣīya māmṛtāt. Nāhaṁ kartā, prabuddhiḥ pakartā. Mahāprabhujī pākartā hī kevalam. Oṁ Śānti, Śānti, Śānti. Welcome to Jadan Ashram. Good evening from Śrī Śādan Āśram. Welcome to our webcast. Our topic today is "Water is Life," which is very relevant here, especially as summer has begun and it is quite hot and dry. Water is life. We, as humans and animals, can survive without food for days or even weeks, but we need water constantly. After one day or even a few hours, we become thirsty; our bodies cannot survive. The human body is 70 to 80 percent water. Most of us come from Europe or Western countries where we can simply open a tap and clean water flows. We do not think about how precious water is because it is so easily available. But in India, especially in Rajasthan, the situation is completely different. Many people, especially in villages, do not have access to tap water. They must go to an open well or a pond (talāb), a water collection point. Often, this water is not clean; it may be salty or of poor drinking quality, causing many diseases. Imagine being in an Indian village where it is 45 degrees Celsius, with a hot, dry wind blowing, and you must walk two or three kilometers to the next village for drinking water. Then we can understand how precious water is here in Rajasthan. I will explain why there is a water crisis here. The climate is generally very hot and dry. Let us take the example of the year 2010, which had an especially dry season. Here is a comparison of rainfall between Vienna, Austria, and Jadan, Rajasthan, where our ashram is located. Last year in Jadan, there were 97 days with temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius, and only 47 days of rain. The rain that falls here is not like in Europe. After a long, six-month dry summer, the monsoon rain comes all at once. The earth is completely dry, hard like clay, and unprepared for the rain. Most of the rainwater flows away over the surface; the earth cannot absorb it all. After the rains, small lakes, ponds, and pools form, but they dry up very quickly when the hot, dry weather returns. In Europe, we have very clean water from the tap. But here, especially for Europeans, the water must be filtered because it contains many substances our bodies are not used to; it must be purified before drinking. The problem is not only a lack of water but also its variable quality. According to a study, 75% of all villages suffer from poor water quality. One reason for this is high levels of salt and fluoride in the water. High salt concentration can cause diarrhea in animals, as seen in a picture of two cows. A high fluoride concentration affects teeth, bones, and the entire skeleton, causing deformities and joint pain. Here is a picture of a young girl in India whose legs and joints are deformed from drinking water with high fluoride content from an early age. This high concentration is not in every village, but where it exists, it has a immense negative impact on people's health, especially with long-term use. In the peak summer, when the need for water is greatest, most places in Rajasthan have no lakes or rivers from which to draw water. Therefore, we depend greatly on wells and groundwater. Ninety percent of drinking water is taken from groundwater. Farmers also need it for irrigation. Because many people dig their own wells—which is easy to do in India—everyone draws from this groundwater. They take more water than the groundwater can replenish, so the water level slowly sinks. As the water level and volume decrease, the concentration of fluoride, salts, and metals in the remaining water increases. Consequently, out of 237 groundwater areas, only 30 provide usable water. Therefore, many villages depend on water supply organized by the government. This is not an easy task for the government. They set the requirement at 40 liters of water per person per day, and 30 liters per domestic animal. But this water must be used for everything: washing, cleaning, cooking, and toilet use. When we imagine how much water we need per day, we see it is very little for each person. In Germany, for example, an average of 240 liters of water is consumed per person per day. Here, only 88.5% of villages receive even the targeted 40 liters per day. Of course, humans and domestic animals are one part, but wild animals are mostly overlooked in this great task. I found a fascinating statement: if we could save just one or two percent of the rain that falls in India per year, we would have enough water for every person—for 1.25 billion people—providing 16 liters per day for a year. This water from above is clean and sweet, without excessive salt or fluoride. This brings us to the Rainwater Harvesting Initiative. It revives traditional methods to show people how to collect and use rainwater properly. Rainwater harvesting is not new; it has a very old tradition, especially in desert and semi-desert regions. The main point is to remember and revive these practices. There are two main methods to collect rainwater. The first is surface runoff harvesting. This is simple: water from rain that flows over the land is collected into a talāb, a small lake. We are very fortunate here at Jadan Ashram because, due to geographical circumstances, water from six to ten kilometers away flows toward the ashram, giving us an excellent opportunity to collect rainwater. One example: in 2007, within just 32 hours of rain, we filled our talāb with 322 liters of water per square meter. That is like a bathtub of water on every square meter. After these 32 hours, the talāb was full. You can imagine the potential. Otherwise, this water would simply run off and be unavailable. The second method is roof water harvesting. This is an option that can be practiced by everyone; every house in a village can do it. It is easy and inexpensive. In India, the government has a rule that every new house built in cities should install roof water harvesting. It is quite simple. In India, most roofs are flat, so water collects well there. It is channeled down a pipeline into a simple filter made of sand, pebbles, and gravel of varying coarseness. I was never good at mathematics, but I like this calculation because it is very easy. Consider a house roof of 60 square meters with an average annual rainfall of 500 millimeters. Multiplying these gives 30,000 liters of rainwater falling on that roof in one year. If we harvest 80% of that, we have enough water to provide 16 liters per day for four people for a year. Of course, the first rain must be flushed away because the roof may be dirty, but the rest can be harvested and, after filtering, is of good quality for drinking. There is another possibility: reusing water. For example, used water from cooking, washing, or toilets can be filtered and reused for gardening or agriculture. We also practice this in the ashram in certain areas, like the kitchen and the school. The dirty water flows into a tank with different chambers. The dirt settles to the bottom, and the cleaner water flows into the next chamber. What comes out at the end is quite clean and can be used for plants. This is why we have the rule in the ashram to use only biological or organic washing powder. If we used chemicals, the water would be polluted and could not be reused. By using organic materials, this water can be pumped into fields to water plants. Now, I will briefly explain the construction of the large talāb. This is from the roof of the White House. Looking down, you can see it was farming land before the talāb was built. This was the original state of the earth before the year 2000, when construction started. By 2002, excavation of the lake had begun. It was a very difficult task because the earth was mainly hard rock. The excavation took place in several stages over four years. They first had to drill holes and use dynamite. In total, over 100,000 blasts were made to break up this hard rock. All the stone was carried away on 30,000 trucks to a nearby mountain. After some time, when all the hard rock was removed, they made a small mountain—you could call it Kailāś—from these stones. They put earth on it and planted trees; today it is nicely green. Then, the slopes and ground had to be plastered so the water would not seep through. This was also a big task, involving a massive wall. Many Indian workers performed this hard labor. A very important material was a thick plastic sheet placed underneath all the sides and on the ground to prevent water from seeping in. Over this plastic sheet, stone slabs (kota stone) were laid to distribute the water pressure evenly. This is a good combination of old and new techniques. This photo shows a stage where the building of the talāb was very advanced; it was largely finished in 2004. Through the blessings of Svāmījī and Holy Gūjī, we had the first rain that filled the talāb, as seen nicely in this picture. Of course, construction stopped for a while then. In March 2004, they had to hurry because summer was coming, and after summer comes the rain, so they had to plaster the side slopes. From 2004 to 2011, improvements were continually made, and the entire work was finally completed in 2011. So, this is about the construction of the talāb. Here you can see the hole without water; it looks much nicer with water. Another part of the project is ensuring water supply during drought, distributing water from the talāb to surrounding villages. This system, which we call the Humanitarian Project, is very much appreciated here. We have delivered about 130,000 liters of water daily using 26 tractors. Of course, this is also a great financial burden, but there is no life without water. Anyone who would like to donate is welcome to support this project. We have also delivered much water to animals, not only domestic animals but also wildlife. It was Svāmījī Mahārāj’s wish that no living creature be without drinking water in this area. This is naturally also our concern—that all animals, both domestic and wild, have access to drinking water. Finally, I will briefly show you the current rainwater situation here in the ashram. I tried to capture the entire talāb with my camera, but it is so big. You can see it is almost completely dry. Only on the left edge at the back is one small pond of water remaining. I forgot to mention until now that this talāb has also attracted much wildlife. There are fish and turtles inside, and birds that live from it. So, through this talāb, the wildlife here in Jadan has changed. We have settled here; we have fish in the talāb, turtles, many different bird species, and the whole environment has changed because of it. We also have some other tanks with clean, fresh water. This was not an easy task for us amateurs, but it was also very much fun to do in a group. If you want to see more pictures and details, you can visit the website omashram.com, where there is a section about this with photos. We also have a lake called the Manzarova lake, quite close to the small Kailash mountain. It has been completely dry since 2010. It is about 34 meters deep, and you can see a reflection of water deep down. Here, the water level is also very low. In the end, we can just hope for good rain this year. I hope to see with my own eyes that the talāb gets completely filled—or even half-filled would be very good. I hope rain will come. You can see how much joy this water brings, even for the children in this picture.