Hinduism and the environment.
Front cover Page 1
Contents Page Page 2
Introduction Page 3
How Hindus in India Respond Pages 4 to 6
to Environmental Issues
The Effects of a Damaged Pages 7 to 8
Environment to Hindus and India
Glossary Page 9
The religion I have chosen to do this project on is Hinduism. This is my second Religious Studies project for GCSE Short-course. This project focuses on Hindu attitudes towards the Environment, environmental issues and animal rights. For this religious studies project I will focus on how Hindus feel about environmental issues such as recycling and wasting.
I will also compare how Hindus who live in India and Hindus who live in the West (Western Europe and America) have many different attitudes and feeling towards environmental issues and animal rights
I will also mention what certain religious Hindu movement groups are doing to protect the earth and the environment and what lone Hindus have done to make the environment a better place to live in. I shall use quotes from many famous Hindus and from religious texts such as the Bhagavad-Gita and the Mahabharata as well as everyday prayers that focus on the subject.
At the end of this project I will include a glossary which will contain many key words to do with Hinduism, Animal rights and Environmental issues and their meanings.
83 percent of the Indian population are Hindus, which means that almost 700 million people who live in India are Hindu.
However, because poverty is so abundant in India, many Hindus don't consider many environmental issues that are considered in the West to be important. For example, many Hindu do not care much if supermarkets are using and wasting too much packaging for their product. But, recycling is a major aspect of Hindus who live in India. As I mentioned before the living quality isn't very high at all in India so many Hindu families may not be able to afford to waste too much material or food. In fact, whatever Hindus in India think can be used for a practical purpose will be recycled over and over again until it runs out or stops working. Many very poor people will search rubbish tips and dustbins looking for items that have been thrown away or can be used practically.
But, now that I have mentioned this, beliefs wise all environmental issues are considered very important in Hinduism, one of the main reason for this is that in Hinduism there are two main elements. These two elements are MATTER (prakriti) and SPIRIT (purusha). According to Hindu beliefs, the physical world is made up of these two elements and that Brahman (the ultimate being) looks over it all, this must mean that environmental beliefs are core in the Hindus mind.
Another reason for why Hindus should have a deep respect in the environment is based on their belief ...
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But, now that I have mentioned this, beliefs wise all environmental issues are considered very important in Hinduism, one of the main reason for this is that in Hinduism there are two main elements. These two elements are MATTER (prakriti) and SPIRIT (purusha). According to Hindu beliefs, the physical world is made up of these two elements and that Brahman (the ultimate being) looks over it all, this must mean that environmental beliefs are core in the Hindus mind.
Another reason for why Hindus should have a deep respect in the environment is based on their belief of reincarnation. They should respect the environment as they will be born immediately back into it when they die. The idea of preserving and protecting the environment is not a modern idea as well. It has been passed on through our ancestors who felt Brahman's presence in everything around them. Since these divine forces sustained all living creatures and organic things on this earth, to please God, they felt they must live in harmony with His creation including earth, rivers, forests, sun, air, and mountains.
This belief has spawned many rituals that are still followed by traditional Hindus in India. For example, before the foundation of a building is dug, a priest is invited to perform the Bhoomi Pooja in order to worship and appease mother earth and seek forgiveness for violating her. Certain plants, tries and rivers were considered sacred, and worshipped in festivals. In a traditional Hindu family, to insult or abuse nature is considered a sacrilegious act. A Hindu mother would severely scold her child for acts like ripping the limb of a plant or urinating or spitting on a tree or in any body of water.
The environmental issues that matter the most to Hindus living in India are:
* Basic Hygiene: Matters like pollution of water systems are very important in India and now most people are discouraged to pollute water sources. The matter of hygiene has been emphasised much in India and people are being taught about many diseases that has have spread rapidly, such as cholera and typhoid.
* Hindus who live in India are also concerned when it comes to deforestation and the killing of wildlife. Many Hindus spend their lives saving the environment by means such as tree-planting, providing moisture traps for areas that suffer from drought, using natural and renewable energy sources such as hydro-electric power.
So the key beliefs for Hindus towards the environment are:
Every living thing on this world contains atman. This includes grass and trees etc... So everything on the planet is sacred and valued by Hindus.
Care and concern for the environment is considered a religious duty in Hinduism. This had been so since the earliest Hindu scriptures, the Vedas. We are urged not to exploit but to lovingly milk the earth. The earth is referred to as Mother Earth as it sustains us all.
Hindus daily practice Bhoot Yajna. This means that every sentient being must look after the earth by preventing waste and avoiding pollution.
The Upanishads teach that there is an abundance of resources for us to use but that we must develop the knowledge of how to use it properly.
Damaging the earth through greed or ignorance has its price in bad karma. Greed is one of the most dangerous things humans can have and it is much worse when it damages others around us as it would if we damage the planet.
The doctrine of ahimsa also refers to the earth itself. Hindus must not cause harm to the earth
Although many people in India suffer from the damage to the environment, it is almost always the responsibility of the richer countries. For example, the richer countries produce the oil and ship, which sometimes leads to an oil spill; they consume most of the planets resources. This in turn makes life harder for the people living in poorer countries. If there is a sudden climate change, people in India will suffer from the floods or drought. If there is oil or chemical spills in the sea, people in India will suffer as the food they fish for will be poisonous and infected, this will lead the poorer people to suffer.
One of the world's most dangerous industrial accidents happened in India in 1984; an American owned chemical factory called Union Carbide leaked a deadly poisonous gas that killed thousands of Indians immediately and hundreds of more dies slowly as a result of it. This accident leads to stricter regulations being put in industrial factories.
So, in summary, Environmental problems in India can be classified into two broad categories:
* Those arising as negative effects of the very process of development;
* And those arising from conditions of poverty and under-development.
The first category has to do with the impact of efforts to achieve rapid economic growth and development and continuing pressures of demand generated by those sections of society who are economically more advanced and impose great strains on the supply of natural resources. Poorly planned developmental projects are also often environmentally destructive.
The second category has to do with the impact on the health and integrity of our natural resources (land, soil, water, forests, wildlife, etc.) as a result of poverty and the inadequate availability, for a large section of our population, of the means to fulfil basic human needs (food, fuel, shelter, employment, etc.). Needless to say, the two problems are interrelated.
Another thing that affects the environment is the population of India. Population is an important resource for development, yet it is a major source of environmental degradation when it exceeds the threshold limits of the support systems. Unless the relationship between the multiplying population and life support systems can be stabilised, development programmes, however, innovative, are not likely to yield the desired results. It is possible to expand the 'carrying capacity' through technological advances and spatial distribution. But neither of these can support unlimited population growth. Although technological progress will add to the capabilities for sustaining a large number of populations, the need for a vigorous drive for population control can hardly be over emphasised in view of the linkage between poverty, population growth and the environment.
Ahimsa - non-violence, harmlessness; is doing no injury to any living creature.
Brahman - God; the essence of all reality; the one truth of which all the deities are aspects.
Dana - charitable giving.
Laws of Manu - a code of conduct, traditionally written by Manu, the first man; it is also known as Manusmriti.
Purusha Sukta - a piece of Hindu literature which tells the story of the creation of the world through the sacrifice of primeval man.
Shiva - one of the most important deities of Hinduism, the 'lord of the dance', creator and destroyer.
Trimurti - the three Hindu gods Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer, who together represent the whole of reality.
Vedas - the oldest and most sacred texts of Hinduism
