Hinduism is an incredibly diverse religion that expresses, through many of its texts the complex relationship between the environment and humanity. The base teaching that the earth is the physical body of the goddess Devi, and the idea of reincarnation, gives the Hindu a different perspective of what "life" is, and what respecting earth beneath us is accomplishing. Most importantly, they perceive that our treatment of the world directly affects our karma, the positive and negative forces that affect our future.
Hindu villages of the past did not see nature as disconnected from their everyday lives. Yet they actively protect it in keeping with an important Hindu concept, dharma, or as it is often translated, "duty" or "virtue". For example, Nelson (1998) explains that, “many Hindu villages have a sacred lake, and around it a grove of trees to catch rainfall and protect the banks from erosion. The lake and its grove store rainfall to irrigate surrounding fields and supply village wells with drinking water”. These villages are performing dharma, and are not making what we in the west would call an attempt at environmental preservation. They simply respect and care for the environment and believe that the environment will in return, respect and care for them.
Hindus respect the environment because they believe in rebirth and reincarnation. A human being can be reincarnated into any animal, plant, or any form of life. The idea of rebirth reinforces their choice of a vegetarian diet. Most Hindus are vegetarian because they do not like inflicting pain (the concept of ahimsa) on an animal. Hindus believe that all things have souls and that all things have a right to life. To kill another living species is to not respect their sacre...
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...e part of our very being and it makes up our very bodies.
Works Cited
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Chapple, C. K., & Tucker, M. E. (2000). Hinduism and ecology: the intersection of earth, sky, and water. Cambridge, MA: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School.
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Nelson, L. E. (1998). Purifying the earthly body of God religion and ecology in Hindu India. Albany, New York: State University Of New York Press
In the journal of Environmentalism as Religion, Paul H. Rubin discuss about how environmental is similar to religion. Rubin want everyone to know that the environment and religion are somehow similar in a way, which they both have belief system, creation stories and original sin.
Hinduism conceives the whole world as a single family that deifies the one truth, and therefore it accepts all forms of beliefs and dismisses labels of distinct religions which would imply a division of identity. It is the belief that animals and human castes were created
Larry A. Samovar, Richard E. Porter, Edwin R. McDaniel, “Hinduism”, communication between cultures, pg 132-138.
Though Hinduism is labeled as a religion, it’s actually much more than that. It’s a culture, a lifestyle, and a society that has influenced it’s people for more than four thousand years. The Indian culture is made up of several languages and dialects causing much racial diversity amongst the civilization. Although modern Hinduism often conflicts with that of the earlier forms of this religion, it’s most basic foundation is practically the same. Even though it’s teachings are not commonly agreed upon.
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Hinduism is a polytheistic religion with countless Gods and Deities, that is now the third most followed religion in the world, after Christianity and Islam. The word “hindu” originated from the Sanskrit word “Sindhu” which is a historical name of the longest river in Asia, northwest of India. Hinduism is unique, the only religion without a founder, no one scripture, and it is without a specific set of rules and expectations. It is often described as being a way of life, unlike other religions, and is said to be an assortment of different religious, philosophical ideas, and cultural practices that began in India. While it doesn’t have specific teachings, it does have sacred texts, the Sanatana Dharma, otherwise known as “The Eternal Teaching”.
Many foreigners cannot know what makes Hinduism so strange. Hinduism lacks an uniting belief system and many people do not know faithfully what makes up the Hindu religious belief. After one goes in-depth concerning Hinduism, one must be familiar with the fundamental details about this difficult religion. Do you realize that almost 80 percent of the India people find themselves being Hindus? Hinduism is in addition known as the Sanatana-Dharma, which means everlasting religion. Hinduism is the third leading religion following Christianity and Islam and has no one initiator, teacher, or spiritualist and it is not an unconvinced religion. All through this article, I will look further in-depth on what makes up the Hindu religion what the traditional and group influences that have prepared Hinduism fundamental to Hinduism, and I will provide details the yearning for freedom from early existence.
Fisher, Mary Pat. "HINDUISM." Living Religions. 1991. Reprint. Upper Saddle River: Person Education, 2011. 73-120. Print.
While examining different religious paths within Hinduism from the perspective of four patterns of transcendence (ancestral, cultural, mythical and experiential) it is interesting to see how each pattern found its dominance over four segments of Hinduism: Vedic sacrifice, the way of action, the way of devotion and the way of knowledge.
Winzeler R. L. 2012. Anthropology and religion what we know, think, and question. Rowman Littlefield Publsihers, AltaMira
Bloom, Alfred. "Buddhism, Nature and the Environment." The Eastern Buddhist. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
The most obvious reason that the environment has moral significance is that damage to it affects humans. Supporters of a completely human-centered ethic claim that we should be concerned for the environment only as far as our actions would have a negative effect on other people. Nature has no intrinsic value; it is not good and desirable apart from its interaction with human beings. Destruction and pollution of the environment cannot be wrong unless it results in harm to other humans. This view has its roots in Western tradition, which declares that “human beings are the only morally important members of this world” (Singer p.268).
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