On December 14, 2024, I delivered a keynote to the outgoing batch of Certified Nature Guides of The Naturalist School. The morning saw me, bright and early, at the Bannerghatta Nature Camp on the outskirts of the city enjoying a nature walk with this group of curious, promising, and multitalented people. Closer to noon, I delivered the keynote to this rapt and attentive audience, and it was heartwarming to see that families, teachers, and loved ones had also been invited to attend.
The Naturalist School is an initiative I wish I had access to while I was growing up. It trains people with a love for nature into steering their passion towards finding their calling in guiding others towards cultivating that love in themselves, by showing, revealing, and interpreting the delightful insights of Nature to them. The course is packed with activities and learning, with expert interventions and field experiences. While the school, founded by Priya Venkatesh, a highly resourceful trainer and communicator, offers a 6-month intensive Certified Naturalist course that equips trainees with a Skill India certificate, the shorter but no less intensive Certified Nature Guide programme puts trainees through the grind over a four-week schedule.
I am not good at memorising anything verbatim, so what follows is only the script of my speech as I intended to say it. The actual keynote, on the topic of Letting Nature Guide You, had many spur-of-the-moment segues—and a few dad jokes. I am not sure if a recording exists. I thought it might be useful for budding naturalists everywhere to ruminate on these thoughts.
Good morning.
I am proud and humbled to address this outgoing batch of Certified Nature Guides of The Naturalist School.
My thanks to Priya for inviting me to be part of this great moment. And to all of you for having me here.
Foremost, congratulations to all of you for taking this transformative step in your lives.
I say lives and not careers consciously, because the path you’ve chosen—the path of service to Nature—is much more than a career.
It is a life mission, a calling, and a journey.
More than all of that, it is a profound gesture of giving back for the gifts that you have received from Nature.
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You are wayfarers and pathfinders. Each one of you.
But before I speak about your journey and the path ahead, I want to begin with two words:
Thank You.
Truly, deeply.
Because you have made a decision you will not regret.
Because in this life, in our lives, in our daily lived experience, we are all guided by a powerful force.
We have many names for that force — some call it god, some call it destiny, some call it luck…
But that force is Nature.
So today, as you step out into Nature equipped with new knowledge and confidence that you have gained, I would like to share with you some thoughts and maybe some experiences.
But first, there is a reason why I thanked you, and not just congratulated you.
And that is because you have chosen a noble path.
This is the path of our ancestors, the collective family tree of all humanity, of our civilisation, of our species, of our planet, of our DNA…
And why do I say this?
Because the instinct to guide is in all of us.
This is a trait that links us to every other taxon with which we coexist, with which we share space on this planet — from elephants to fungi, from blue whales to robber flies, from Komodo Dragons to plasmodium…
We read each other’s signals, we follow each other’s trails, we look for clues, signs, scents, shadows, spoors, footprints, pug marks, even memories in fossils and ores… we are always seeking.
And so the instinct to guide is in all of us.
But today, more than ever, our species needs to be guided. We need to see, and be shown, the ways of Nature. We need to be reminded of our place and our purpose in Nature.
Because today we are in danger of forgetting them forever.
And this is on account of the way we live today. Our lifestyle, our beliefs, our choices, our cultural symbols, our ambitions, our strategies for life, all of these are growing more and more distant from Nature.
Ever since the dawn of human civilisation, our species has tried to tame Nature, to arrest it, to dam it, to tie it down, to harness it, to choke it, to manage it…
All of these terms — manage, harness, arrest, dam, tame, etc. — speak of great violence to Nature.
Some people refer to Nature as a Mother, but most of the time we violate the very womb that gave birth to us.
All around us, we see our species committing grave, unspeakable horrors — to wildlife, to forests, to the land and the oceans, to the air we breathe, even to each other…
It seems that we are at war with ourselves, at war with humanity, and at war with Nature.
It is in this climate, at this juncture in time, in this moment of the Anthropocene, that you have made this brave, noble, and selfless choice — to guide your species towards the beauty and wisdom of Nature.
You have made the choice to be guided by Nature.
And that is why you deserve thanks.
Although we are born into Nature and are part of it, for many of us, our response to Nature is often not instinctive. We often forget our roots, our origin story.
And we try our best to find a path to avoid running into Nature as much as possible.
So what do we do?
We build walls, fences, bridges, moats, trenches, we have gated communities with watchtowers and security cameras.
We try our best to keep Nature out.
But Nature never goes away, it always finds a way to come back.
And that is because as much as we try to leave Nature, Nature does not leave us. We are made of the same stuff — the same matter, the same Carbon molecules.
So what is the point of trying to run away from Nature?
We have to learn a new way to relate to Nature. Or maybe we have to unlearn our present ways of engaging with Nature.
So, your work as a Nature Guide is pretty much cut out. Your job is to help your species learn what they have unlearned or unlearn what they have learned—your job is to make them trust Nature again.
When you are guided by Nature, you become the eyes and the ears, the senses and the instincts that you must awaken in the people that you guide.
Many of you have your own personal reasons for taking up this path. Some of you may want to forge a new career, or start a business. Some of you may want to add new skills to your repertoire. And maybe some of you are just curious, passionate, lifelong learners looking to try new things and new experiences and see where the road takes you.
Whatever be your motivation, here you are — equipped with the gifts to see the world, and to show the world, in a new light.
There is one thing that you may have started to observe about yourself ever since you began doing this course: the more you know about Nature, the more you learn about the interconnected web of life, the more humble you become. And this feeling is only going to deepen as you go further along on your journey.
At times you may feel small, insignificant, powerless, worthless, weak, inept, incompetent… but actually the right word for this feeling is humility.
This is acceptance. This is kinship with Nature.
This is the first step to realising that you are not above Nature but a part of its extraordinary family.
It is a feeling of belonging.
This is the first step—the beginning of self-actualisation, or Ikigai, or moksha, or nirvana, or whatever you wish to call it.
But the path to this humility may not be the same for everyone. And that is what makes our seeking unique.
There’s a thing that you may have noticed.
Think of all the holiest places in the world. Many of them are situated in hard-to-reach places, often in the heart of nature.
Think of Sabarimala, Kukke Subramanya, Mount Abu, Biligiri Rangaswamy Betta, Baba Budan Giri, Kollur Mookambika Devasthana…
There is a reason for this remoteness, probably. Because the arduous human task of making the journey to visit these places, to seek divine blessings, is full of hardships, challenges, sacrifice, struggle, danger… the pilgrimage itself is one that kindles humility in the human spirit. It is designed to deepen our respect for the unknowns of Nature. And this humility, this devotion, is our piety, our path to the divine.
But what have we done today?
We have taken all of these sacred experiences and stripped out the challenges and difficulties. Especially those of us in travel and tourism—we have removed the thorns from the roses. We have packaged all of these experiences as safe, customer-friendly, and value for money!
Ease of doing business, right?
Again, instead of venerating Nature, we see it as an obstacle.
This is the challenge that you will have to negotiate as Nature Guides. Because, every day of your life, you will be faced with choices.
You must have heard the story of the two metaphorical wolves.
An old Cherokee chief was telling his grandson a story.
Inside us, he tells the little boy, there are two wolves that are constantly fighting — one wolf represents all that is good in the world, and another represents all that is evil.
“Which wolf wins?” the grandson asked the Chief.
“The one you feed,” says the Chief.
So, the one you choose to feed, in other words, the choices you make every day, will define the quality of your experience, and the experience of those you guide.
These are obviously not going to be easy choices.
These questions will confront you every day.
May you choose to be compassionate, ethical, mindful.
And may you feed the right wolf.
This might sound like a pretty ominous story but there is a bright side to all of this.
Because, as much as we try to run away from Nature, there is an energy that draws us to it.
Some people have tried to understand this force better, to try and give it a name.
Some thinkers like E O Wilson and Erich Fromm called it Biophilia — it’s an idea that is older than Aristotle. Very simply, it means a love for life. A love for life that is natural. A longing for connecting back with Nature. Sometimes this need is very strong, and it motivates us to make radical choices — such as the choice that you have made today.
A writer named Florence Williams has another name for this craving that we feel from time to time.
She wrote that “we’re experiencing a mass generational amnesia enabled by urbanisation and digital creep.”
And what we need is a Nature Fix.
And this is where you as Nature Guides come in. Because you have already been shown the way. And now you need to help others find it.
You are missionaries of Nature. You are the prophets who will take the word of Nature to the people, to touch their hearts, to open their senses, to help them heal themselves, and heal the world.
A final thought.
Today, as you step into this role, remember that you are not just Nature Guides—you are guardians of a deeper truth.
You are here to show others that Nature is not something to be feared, conquered, or tamed but something to be cherished, respected, and protected.
Your mission is not just to lead people through forests or mountains—it is to lead them back to themselves, back to the Earth, back to the rhythms of life that sustain us all.
So go forth with humility, courage, and a heart guided by Nature.
May you always be inspired, and may you inspire others in return.
May your feet always be busy, your boots muddy, and your hearts filled with gratitude.
May you be guided by Nature.
Thanks to The Naturalist School for the pictures
- Pranayama with Bar-headed Geese – A Pilgrimage in Gadag - January 10, 2025
- 2024 – The Year The Green Ogre Breathed Again! - December 29, 2024
- Let Nature Guide You – Inspiration For Naturalists - December 28, 2024
