h o m e

n a t u r e    w o r s h i p

c o n t e n t s

Hinduism has always been an environmentally sensitive philosophy. No religion, perhaps, lays as much emphasis on environmental ethics as Hinduism. The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Puranas and Smriti contain the earliest messages for preservation of environment and ecological balance. Nature, or Earth, has never been considered a hostile element to be conquered or dominated. In fact, man is forbidden from exploiting nature. He is taught to live in harmony with nature and recognize that divinity prevails in all elements, including plants and animals. The rishis of the past have always had a great respect for nature. Theirs was not a superstitious primitive theology. They perceived that all material manifestations are a shadow of the spiritual. The Bhagavad Gita advises us not to try to change the environment, improve it, or wrestle with it. If it seems hostile at times tolerate it. Ecology is an inherent part of a spiritual world view in Hinduism. 

According to Swami B. V. Tripurari, in his book, Ancient Wisdom for Modern Ignorance, " Our present environmental crisis is in essence a spiritual crisis. We need only to look back to medieval Europe and the psychic revolution that vaulted Christianity to victory over paganism to find the spirit of the environmental crisis. Inhibitions to the exploitation of nature vanished as the Church took the "spirits" out of the trees, mountains, and seas. Christianity's ghost-busting theology made it possible for man to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects. It made nature man's monopoly. This materialist paradigm has dominated the modern world for last few centuries. 

The current deplorable environmental crisis demands a spiritual response. A fundamental reorientation of human consciousness, accompanied by action that is born out of inner commitment, is very much needed. One of the measures that could help a great deal to fulfill this need is to regenerate and rejuvenate basic values of Hindu culture and propagate them."

Introduction
Dharma: ecological balance
Mountains - The Abode of the Gods
Rivers/Oceans/Lakes
Mother Earth/Sun & Planets
Plants/Animals
Conclusion
Articles

Introduction

Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) was among India's most fervent nationalists, fighting for Indian independence from British rule. He observed:  

"I bow my head in reverence to our ancestors for their sense of the beautiful in nature and for their foresight in investing beautiful manifestations of Nature with a religious significance." 

(source: Glimpses of Indian Culture - By Dr. Giriraj Shah p. 106). For more refer to chapter on Hindu Scriptures.

Hinduism has often been coined as a "environmental friendly" religion. Hindus regard everything around them as pervaded by a subtle divine presence, may it be rivers, mountains, lakes, animals, flora, the mineral world, as well as the stars and planets. It is so because the Divine reality is present as Prana/Shakti energy, power, in every electron, particle, atom, cell and in every manifestation of matter. It is its very fabric. Just like the sparks of a fire are of the same essence as the fire they were issued forth from, so is the entire creation, of the same essence as the Divine. Just as Hindus greet each other saying "Namaste", which means: I recognize and salute the Divine within you, so do they recognize the same Divine essence, in all around them.

Ayurveda, the science of life, which is a complete health and medicine system based on nature and its regenerating forces. Then we have Vastu Shastra, upon which the now well-known Feng Shui is based. Vastu, teaches us how to place and build dwellings, according to the environment it is situated in. It is done in such a way that the surroundings are not damaged by the building's presence, and so that all the natural energies are flowing uninterrupted and freely, providing comfort, peace and prosperity for the dwellers. 

Another facet of Hinduism's environmental concern is to do with food is a very physical example: vegetarianism. Typically, Hindu social thought has always included an ecological dimension. Socialism and liberalism do not have this dimension, they can at best annex it. But it is an organic part of Hindu dharma.

(source: Hinduism and Environment - hinduchatzone.com).

Throughout the long history of India, Hindus have shared a fascination with, and respect for, Nature and animals. 

This attitude went beyond the usefulness. It had to do with reverence for all of God's creation. Our ancestors worshipped trees, rivers, birds and stones and connected to the universal principle through Shiva. As we are growing more materialistic, we are losing this connection. Our ancestors saw Nature as being a manifestation of God. There was, therefore, a gratitude towards nature. 

Lake Louise, Canada, with receding glaciers.

Hindu philosophy has always had a humane and dignified view of the sacredness of all life, and that humans are but one link in the symbiotic chain of life and consciousness. 

Western philosophy, on the other hand, treats man and nature as separate entities believing that the former has the prerogative to exploit the latter. Thomas Carlyle in Signs of the Times says, "We war with rude nature; and by our restless engines, come off victorious and loaded with spoils."

Western world finds itself at the crossroads and is desperately looking for a new philosophy “to get rid of the ecological crisis which threatens man’s existence on earth.”

Refer to Global Warming Is an Immediate Crisis -  By Al Gore and Fight Global Warming by Going Vegetarian - govegan.com. Also refer to Meat and the Planet - New York Times.  

Watch Miniature earth movie

Also refer to Nature: China from Inside - pbs.org and The Earth today stands in imminent peril

(image source: webmaster's own collection of photos taken during a recent visit).

***

The tradition of maintaining sacred groves and sacred trees vanished from most countries, due  mainly to the rise of dogmatic religions like Christianity and Islam, which advocated faith in one god and were explicitly for the eradication of ‘pagan’ practices. The underlying theme in Semitic religions is that of a chosen people who have been divinely granted ownership of the earth and all living things, and permission to exploit them. The Semitic perception that humans have more "dignity" than animals has gone a long way into the enormous decimation and extinction of non-human life on our planet not to mention the massacre of non-believing human beings. Hindu philosophy has always had a humane and dignified view of the sacredness of all life, and that humans are but one link in the symbiotic chain of life and consciousness. 

According to Guy Sorman, visiting scholar at Hoover Institution at Stanford and the leader of new liberalism in France, author of The Genius of India (Macmillan India Ltd. 2001. ISBN 0333 93600 0) says:

"The Indian tradition, on the other hand, is that men submit to nature and form part of it, there nature preserves its sacredness, lost in the West since the Industrial Revolution." He further states that the idea of feminism and ecology came from the 1968 movement, from the meeting between India and the West.  He says: "There is hardly anything in European thought to predispose the West to reject virility, the respect for authority, the mastery over nature.  India too has a warrior (khastriya) tradition of virility as exemplified in the Mahabharata, only it is secondary. First, comes the veneration of thousands of goddesses - for the Indians, India is above all Mother India. India's femininity and sexual ambiguity, is the very antithesis of Western virility. For example, when the British scaled earth's highest peak, the exploit was widely hailed as the "conquest of the Everest." It was not realized and is often not realized still, that the word "conquest" was totally out of place in the context of the peak which is considered an object of reverence by many. One does not "conquer" nature. Nature humors at times, man's curiosity. Conquest is, therefore, an irreverent word." 

Helen Ellerbe has written: "In the West, Christianity has distanced humanity from Nature. As people came to perceive God as a singular supremacy detached from the physical world, they lost their reverence for nature. In Christian eyes, the physical world became the realm of the devil. A society that had once celebrated nature through seasonal pagan festivals began to commemorate biblical events bearing no connection to the earth. Holidays lost much of the celebratory spirit and took on a tone of penance and sorrow. Time once thought to be cyclical like the seasons, was now perceived to be linear. In their rejection of the cyclical nature of life, orthodox Christians came to focus more upon death than upon life. Francis Bacon, (1561-1626) said: "Nature was to be bound into service and made a 'slave and 'put in constraint.' In short, nature was to be conquered, not enjoyed and certainly not revered. Nature is to be revered and befriended. 'Paganism' was a term of contempt invented by Christianity for people in the countryside who lived close to and in harmony with Nature, and whose ways of worship were spontaneous as opposed to the contrived though-categories constructed by Christianity's city-based manipulators of human minds.

(source: The Dark Side of Christian History - By Helen Ellerbe p.139 - 155). 

"To see the World in a grain of sand,
And Heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour ..." 

  William Blake (1757 - 1827) English poet. For more on William Blake refer to chapter on Quotes.

(image source: Webmaster's own homegrown wildflower photo collection).

***

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), German philosopher and writer.  No other major Western philosopher so signalizes the turn towards India, combined with a disenchantment with the European-Christian tradition. He proclaimed the concordance of his philosophy with the teachings of Vedanta. His contribution to the propagation and popularization of Indian concepts has been considerable. He has said:  

"Christian morality contains the great and essential imperfection of taking into consideration only man, and leaving the entire animal world without rights."

"I may mention here another fundamental error of Christianity, an error which cannot be explained away, and the mischievous consequences of which are obvious every day: I mean the unnatural distinction Christianity makes between man and the animal world to which he really belongs. It sets up man as all-important, and looks upon animals as merely things. Brahmanism and Buddhism, on the other hand, true to the facts, recognize in a positive way that man is related generally to the whole of nature, and specially and principally to animal nature; and in their systems man is always represented by the theory of metempsychosis and otherwise, as closely connected with the animal world. The important part played by animals all through Buddhism and Brahmanism, compared with the total disregard of them in Judaism and Christianity, puts an end to any question as to which system is nearer perfection, however much we in Europe may have become accustomed to the absurdity of the claim. Christianity contains, in fact, a great and essential imperfection in limiting its precepts to man, and in refusing rights to the entire animal world…"

(source: Historical Outline of Modern Religious Criticism in Western Civilization - By R G Price and crusadewatch.org).

Dr. Koenraad Elst (1959 - ) Dutch historian, born in Leuven, Belgium, on 7 August 1959, into a Flemish (i.e. Dutch-speaking Belgian) Catholic family. He graduated in Philosophy, Chinese Studies and Indo-Iranian Studies at the Catholic University of Leuven. He is the author of several books including The Saffron Swastika, Decolonising The Hindu Mind - Ideological Development of Hindu Revivalism and Negationism in India: Concealilng the Record of Islam

"Bloodthirsty fanaticism which characterizes the biblical creeds was unknown to the Pagans who had lived for long and in peace with their environment and every variety of worship in the vast stretch which is now known as the United States."

(source: History of Hindu-Christian encounters - By Koenraad Elst - voi.org). Refer to Global Meat Industry - Depths of Depravity - By Radha Rajan

(Note: The Rapture and the Environment - Many Christian fundamentalists feel that concern for the future of our planet is irrelevant, because it has no future. They believe we are living in the End Time, when the son of God will return, the righteous will enter heaven, and sinners will be condemned to eternal hellfire. They may also believe, along with millions of other Christian fundamentalists, that environmental destruction is not only to be disregarded but actually welcomed -- even hastened -- as a sign of the coming Apocalypse. American environmental policy in the Bush administration is being driven by Dominion Theologists-far-right Christian ideologues who believe that by exhausting our natural resources they will hasten the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. For most Americans Judgement Day is imminent and are making sure they are on side with Jesus before that terrifying but glorious apocalypse. National Christianism's reassuring message is that its own devotees, whilst they may for ever remain "sinners", are most certainly saved by their allegiance to the one true god. If they err in this temporary earthly life, and, for example, obliterate the life and liberty of a distant people, Jesus will understand and forgive them. Not accepting Jesus is by far a greater sin than merely squandering the resources of the earth. (source: Jesus Jihad: The Christianizing of America - The End Time). Refer to Divine Destruction: Dominion Theology and American Environmental Policy - By Stephenie Hendricks. Bill Moyers received an environmental award from Harvard University. He said: "James Watt told the U.S. Congress that protecting natural resources was unimportant in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ. In public testimony he said, 'After the last tree is felled, Christ will come back.' - sources: Battlefield Earth - By Bill Moyers and Regarding Global warming, Dinesh D'souza has said: “bring it on! I ‘m usually a bit chilly anyway.” and The Godly Must Be Crazy - By Glen Scherer and Rapture or Rupture? - By Bryan Zepp Jamieson. Ann Coulter, American right wing columnists, has written: "The ethic of conservation is the explicit abnegation of man's dominion over the Earth. The lower species are here for our use. God said so: Go forth, be fruitful, multiply, and rape the planet--it's yours. That's our job: drilling, mining and stripping. Sweaters are the anti-Biblical view. Big gas-guzzling cars with phones and CD players and wet bars -- that's the Biblical view." Oil Good; Democrats bad; October 12, 2000. Also refer to the movie An Inconvenient Truth - by Al Gore and The Earth today stands in imminent peril - By Steve Connor.

Reverend Jerry Falwell recently told his Lynchburg, Va., Baptist congregation that global warming is Satan’s attempt to redirect the church’s primary focus” from evangelism to environmentalism.

(source: Merry Christmas! Jesus Wants You to Kill the Earth - By Frank Schaeffer - Huffington Post).

Forrrest G Wood ( ? ) an author has written: "Christianity believed that God gave man dominion over all the earth. The popularity in the 19^th century of pre- and post-millennial sects – which held that Christ will return one day, believers will ascend to heaven in the “rapture,” and the world will end – easily led to a diminished regard for the physical environment. All this is very different in most of the polytheistic world, where man is considered to be merely one of many beings who survived and, indeed, prospered not because he subdued the forces of his natural environment but because he harmonized with them. To the Hindu, whose veneration of living things are the foundation of his faith.”

(source: Arrogance of Faith - By Forrrest G Wood  p. 116 - 117 and 231).

Betty Heimann (  ? ) late professor of Sanskrit and Indian philosophy at Ceylon University, has said: “While the West has proclaimed man’s uniqueness as a thinking and planning creature, propagating and promoting his domination over the natural world and his unique capacity for cultural development and historical progress, Indians, have never tried to separate him from the natural world and the unity of life: “No human hybris, self-elevation and self-deceit, can here develop, where man is but another expression of Nature’s all-embracing forces.”

(source: Tradition and Reflection: Explorations in Indian Thought - By Wilhelm Halbfass  p. 265 - 267).

Animism (used by the colonial British in India) was another disparaging term, used to denote the worship of spirits and forces of nature as opposed to a ‘true’ (Monotheistic) god. This bias persists in Western thought to this day, and rather than being debunked as a phoney concept, it is still widely used to describe non-Abrahamic faiths.

Balrama seated with snake hood. bronze. 8th-9th century. 

The mighty serpent Sesha, on whom Lord Vishnu rests during the intervals of creation, is reputedly a form of the god himself (Sesha-Narayana), though he is also identified as Balarama (Baladeva), elder brother of Lord Krishna. Animism was another disparaging term, coined by the Colonial British in India, used to denote the worship of spirits and forces of nature as opposed to a ‘true’ (monotheistic) God.

***

Mahatma Gandhi bemoaned: “We were strangers to this sort of classification – animists, aborigines, etc., but we have learnt from the English rulers.” When the missionary Dr. Chesterman queried if this objection applied to the ‘animist’ aboriginal races of the Kond hills, Gandhi insisted, “Yes, it does apply, because I know that in spite of being described as animists these tribes have from time immemorial been absorbed in Hinduism. They are, like the indigenous medicine, of the soil, and their roots lie deep there.”  

(source: Adi Deo Arya Devata – By Sandhya Jain p. 2 - 235).

“Man, when he is strong, conquers nature,” declared William Lawrence, a Massachusetts Episcopal bishop. Anything that gets in the way will be brushed aside. “Dominion over the earth is the condition of man’s residence upon the globe,” William Pope Harrison, an editor for the Methodist Church, South, reflected in 1893.

In 1967, a brief but influential article by UCLA History Professor Lynn White, Jr. appeared in the magazine, Science. Entitled, "The Historical Roots of our Ecologic Crisis. His astounding thesis that Western religion is one of the roots of the ecological crisis. In this article, he said that the Western world's attitudes towards nature were shaped by the Judeo-Christian tradition (he also included Islam and Marxism within this overall tradition). He asserts that Western Christianity is, "the most anthropocentric religion the world has seen. Man shares, in great measure, God's transcendence of nature. Christianity not only established a dualism of man and nature, but also insisted that it is God's will that man exploit nature for his proper ends." This overemphasis on anthropocentrism gives humans permission to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the integrity of natural objects. White argued that within Christian theology, "nature has no reason for existence save to serve [humans]." Thus, for White, Christian arrogance towards nature "bears a huge burden of guilt" for the contemporary environmental crisis. By destroying pagan animism, Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects. In older religious traditions, humans were seen as part of nature, rather than the ruler of nature.  And in animistic religions, there was believed to be a spirit in every tree, mountain or spring, and all had to be respected.  In contrast with paganism and Eastern religions, Christianity "not only established a dualism of man and nature but also insisted that it is God's will that man exploit nature for his proper ends." 

(source:  Religion and Environment).

Kewal Motwani (1899 - ) author of several books including Science and Society in India has observed:

"Unity between nature and man - The civilization of India had its birth in the bosom of Mother Nature. At the time when her history began, India was a land of vast forests. Those forests not only administered to the daily needs of the people, giving them shelter from heat of the sun and ravages to storms, green pastures for cattle and abundant fuel for sacrificial and architectural purposes, but they also made a permanent impression on the minds of the people. Their religion had no aggressive frontiers; no walls of brick and mortar set people apart from one another. The people lived in one vast embrace of nature, as one family. There was no “divide and rule” mentality, no aggressive, ruthless exploitation of nature, no assertive individualism which has been the characteristic of civilizations nurtured within the city walls. There was harmony within and without, and inward realization of the Eternal became dominant aspiration of people’s lives. There was an attitude of identification, not conflict, a search of the One, not of the many."

(source: India: A synthesis of cultures – by Kewal Motwani  p. 47).

According Dr. David Frawley  eminent teacher and practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine:

"No religion, perhaps, lays as much emphasis on environmental ethics as does Hinduism. It believes in ecological responsibility and says like Native Americans that the Earth is our mother. It champions protection of animals, which it considers also have souls, and promotes vegetarianism. It has a strong tradition of non-violence or ahimsa. It believes that God is present in all nature, in all creatures, and in every human being regardless of their faith or lack of it."

In the ancient spiritual traditions, man was looked upon as part of nature, linked by the indissoluble spiritual and psychological bonds to the elements around him. This is very much marked in the Hindu tradition, the oldest living religious tradition in the world. The Vedas, the oldest hymns composed by great spiritual seers and thinkers which are the repository of Hindu wisdom, reflect the vibrancy of an encompassing world-view which looks upon all objects in the universe, living or non-living, as being pervaded by the same spiritual power. Hinduism believes in the all-encompassing sovereignty of the divine, manifesting itself in a graded scale of evolution. The human race, though at the top of the evolutionary pyramid at present, is not seen as something apart from the earth and its multitudinous life forms. 

A Hindu woman performing a religious ceremony around the tulsi plant 

Painting by D.V. Dhurandhar, Bombay, C.1890 (courtesy V&A Museum, London).  

***

In The Bhagavad Gita, sloka 20, Chapter 10, Lord Krishna says, 

"I am the Self seated in the heart of all creatures. I am the beginning, the middle and the very end of all beings".  All beings have, therefore to be treated alike."

***

Our natural environment – comprising mountains and hills, rivers and dales, trees and plants – is considered auspicious enough to provide space for meditation. There are thousands of spots whose special sanctity is enhanced by the performance of daily rituals. Retreats in the Himalayas or on the river banks shelter sages who are credited with universal knowledge. Especially hallowed are the sources and confluence of rivers. Harmony with the natural world receives strong emphasis as a pervasive element in Indian spiritual beliefs and rituals. Evergreen trees were regarded as symbols of eternal life and to cut them down was to invite the wrath of the gods. Groves in forests were looked upon as habitations of the gods. It was under a banyan tree that the Hindu sages sat in a trance seeking enlightenment and it was here that they held discourses and conducted holy rituals.

The ancient sacred literature of the Vedas enshrines a holistic and poetic cosmic vision. They represent the oldest, the most carefully nurtured, the most elaborately systematized and the most lovingly preserved oral tradition in the annals of the world. Unique in their perspective of time and space, their evocative poetry is a joyous and spontaneous affirmation of life and nature. The Vedic Hymn to the Earth, the Prithvi Sukta in Atharva Veda, is unquestionably the oldest and the most evocative environmental invocation. In it, the Vedic seer solemnly declares the enduring filial allegiance of humankind to Mother Earth: 'Mata Bhumih Putroham Prithivyah: Earth is my mother, I am her son.' Mother Earth is celebrated for all her natural bounties and particularly for her gifts of herbs and vegetation. Her blessings are sought for prosperity in all endeavours and fulfilment of all righteous aspirations. A covenant is made that humankind shall secure the Earth against all environmental trespass and shall never let her be oppressed. A soul-stirring prayer is sung in one of the hymns for the preservation and conservation of hills, snow-clad mountains, and all brown, black and red earth, unhurt, unsmitten, unwounded, unbroken and well defended by Indra. 

(source: The East is green - ourplanet.com).

The Artha-Veda has the magnificent Hymn to the Earth (Bhumi-Sukta) which is redolent with ecological and environmental values. 

“Earth, in which lie the sea, the river and other waters,
in which food and cornfields have come to be,
in which lives all that breathes and that moves,
may she confer on us the finest of her yield.
Earth, in which the waters, common to all,
moving on all sides, flow unfailingly, day and night,
may she pour on us milk in many streams,
and endow us with luster,
May those born of thee, O Earth,
be of our welfare, free from sickness and waste, 
wakeful through a long life, we shall become bearers of tribute to thee.
Earth, my mother, set me securely with bliss in full accord with heaven,
O wise one, uphold me in grace and splendor.” 

Not only in the Vedas, but in later scriptures, such as the Upanishads, the Puranas and subsequent texts, the Hindu viewpoint on nature has been clearly enunciated. It is permeated by a reverence for all life, and an awareness that the great forces of nature – the earth, the sky, the air, the water and fire – as well as various orders of life including plants, trees, forests and animals, are all bound to each other within the great rhythms of nature. The divine is not exterior to creation, but expresses itself through natural phenomena. 

Thus, in the Mudaka Upanishad the divine is described as follows: 

“Fire is head, his eyes are the moon and the sun;
The regions of space are his ears, his voice the revealed Veda,
The wind is his breadth, his heart is the entire universe,
The earth is his footstool,
Truly he is the inner soul of all.”

India is a vast network of sacred places. There are seven sacred rivers, seven sacred mountains, sacred trees and plants, sacred cities. The sacrality of the land of India, gives a sense of unity to this country of so many religions, cultures, races and languages. 

The Indian tradition is strongly cosmocentric, where man lives as part of a system in which everything is related to everything else. Creation and destruction take place simultaneously. Materials and energy move from organism to organism. Matter is arranged in precise order in every organism, but in death this order is followed by disorder: cycling of materials through organisms brings order once again. But today, rapidly drifting from our traditions of sustainable use and coexistence, we seem to be entering a man-centered world that implies the decimation of nature.

The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, Puranas and Smriti contain the earliest messages for preservation of environment and ecological balance. Nature, or Earth, has never been considered a hostile element to be conquered or dominated. In fact, man is forbidden from exploiting nature. He is taught to live in harmony with nature and recognize that divinity prevails in all elements, including plants and animals.

Atman, the world-soul, is the whole world. God is in all things, and all things are in God. 

The Mahabharata hints that the basic elements of nature constitute the Cosmic Being -- the mountains His bones, the earth His flesh, the sea His blood, the sky His abdomen, the air His breath and agni (fire) His energy. The whole emphasis of the ancient Hindu scriptures is that human beings cannot separate themselves from natural surroundings and Earth has the same relationship with man as the mother with her child. Planting and preservation of trees are made sacred in religious functions. 

Ancient India sanctified plants, animals as a recognition of biodiversity.

The Rig Veda is a celebration of nature, its hero the God of Rain. Dawn was beautiful Ushas, dressed in a veil of light crimson, whose dancing appearance is heralded with the fragrance of the flowers. The lotus, said Kalidasa, welcomes the touch of the sun. The beautiful Chola temple at Gangaikondacholapuram in Tamilnadu contains a rare and exquisite representation of Surya in a navagraha stone - a lotus encircled by the planets. But the greatest tribute to the sun was at Konarak, the giant chariot reflecting the Sun God in all his glory.

In a sculpture in the rock-cut cave temple of Bhaja (2nd century B.C.) Surya, in his chariot, destroys the demon of darkness. Surya is invariably depicted in a chariot driven by seven horses representing the seven days, encircled by a halo, and wearing boots, for his feet could scorch the earth! 

Animals were revered too. Kamadhenu was the wish-fulfilling cow, whose offspring are all the cattle on earth. The word "go" or cow was very important: gopura was the entrance to the village, gotra was the clan to which a person belonged, goshti was an assembly of good men, gosarga and godhuli represented dawn and dusk, while gopa and govalla were officials. Krishna even lifts Mount Govardhana to save cattle from Indra's wrath, a recurring theme in Indian art. But the greatest honour given to animals was their elevation as the vehicles of the gods, and as the incarnations of Vishnu, roles that are repeated in sculpture and painting. Shiva rode the bull, Vishnu the eagle, Brahma the swan, and so on.

By recognizing the five elements that were essential for life and elevating every species of plant and animal to sanctity, Ancient Indians recognized and respected the importance of biodiversity. By secularizing rivers and lands, plants and animals, they were scientifically correct. But today people pollute and destroy with impunity. The earth and its bounties are sacred creations. Unless we revere them and revive a respect for their sanctity, we have little chance of saving them.

(source: Grounded in wisdom - by Nanditha Krishna - newindpress.com).  

Our scriptures warn, "Oh wicked persons! If you roast a bird, then your bathing in sacred rivers, pilgrimage, worship and yagnas are useless." In our ancient stories, birds and animals have always been identified with gods and goddesses. 
The Padmapurana warns: "A person who is engaged in killing creatures, polluting wells, and ponds and tanks, and destroying gardens, certainly goes to hell." Padmapurana, Bhoomikhanda 96.7-8

"The purchaser of flesh performs himsa (violence) by his wealth; he who eats flesh does so by enjoying its taste; the killer does himsa by actually tying and killing the animal. Thus, there are three forms of killing: he who brings flesh or sends for it, he who cuts off the limbs of an animal, and he who purchases, sells or cooks flesh and eats it - all of these are to be considered meat-eaters."     

                            - The Mahabharata

Welfare of all creatures: The Vedantic concept is that of the welfare of all creation, not only of human beings but also of what we call the lower creatures. 

Dr. Karan Singh states: 

"In our arrogance and ignorance we have destroyed the environment of this planet. We have polluted the oceans, we have made the air unbreathable, we have desecrated nature and decimated wildlife. But the Vedantic seers knew that man was not something apart from nature, and, therefore, they constantly exhort us that, while we work for own salvation, we must also work for the welfare of all beings." 

(source: Essays in Hinduism - By Dr. Karan Singh  p. 47).

Global Warming?

"Terrible wars and demonic diseases will decimate the human race, and savage cold and scathing heat, scorching droughts and sweeping floods will terrorise the people...."

     -  Rishi Markandeya  - The Mahabharata.  (Ramesh Menon, The Mahabharata: A Modern Rendering, Vol II, Rupa, 2004, pp 665-69). 

David Frawley, American eminent teacher and practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine and Vedic astrology and author of several books considers Hinduism to be a religion of the Earth, because, as he describes beautifully:

 "…it honors the Earth as the Divine Mother and encourages us to honor her and help her develop her creative potentials. The deities of Hinduism permeate the world of nature…they don't belong to a single country or book only. It is not necessary to live in India to be a Hindu. In fact, one must live in harmony with the land where one is located to be a true Hindu.

"I see Hinduism as a religion eminently suited for all lands and for all people because it requires that we connect with the land and its creatures - that we align our individual self with the soul of all beings around us. Hinduism finds holy places everywhere, wherever there is a river, a mountain, a large rock, or big tree, wherever some unusual natural phenomenon be it a spring, a cave, or a geyser."

(source: The need for a new Indic school of thought).  Refer to the movie An Inconvenient Truth - by Al Gore and The Global Warming Debate - By James Hansen - Goddard Institute for Space Studies).

Manu the Hindu law giver was vehemently pro-environment. Denuding, polluting, or other wise damaging the environment was considered such a serious offense in Hinduism a person could be excommunicated for killing trees!.

(source: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Hinduism - By Linda Johnsen  p. 229).

Hindus have worshipped trees, we have tied sacred threads around them, we have taken shelter under them, have held social ceremonies around these, offered these water, milk and sometimes even cowdung. Development destroys trees, these are often chopped mercilessly, and the eternal search for firewood threatens their limbs. 

We have worshipped the trees long before ecology became fashionable in the West.

 A quote from Vishnu Purana states::

"As the wide-spreading nargodha (Sanskrit for banyan) tree is compressed in a small seed, 
So at the time of dissolution, the whole universe is comprehended in Thee as its germ; 
as the nargodha germinates from the seed, and becomes just a shoot and then rises into loftiness, 
so the created world proceeds from Thee and expands into magnitude."

The Varah Purana says,  "One who plants one peepal, one neem, one bar, ten flowering plants or creepers, two pomegranates, two oranges and five mangos, does not go to hell." 

In the Charak Sanhita, destruction of forests is taken as destruction of the state, and reforestation an act of rebuilding the state and advancing its welfare. Protection of animals is considered a sacred duty. 

An Indian's relation with nature differs from that of a Western man. In the West, man has separated himself from nature, mastered it, he believes, and used it to serve his own purpose. Love of animals and of nature in the West is a personal attitude, not a natural law.  As the vine embraces, the tree, and could not live without it, so the Hindu unites himself with nature. From nature he came; to nature he returns, as ashes. The relationship between a Hindu and nature is one of adaptation and coexistence rather than of mastery and subjection. 

"As the curtain of the new millennium rises, the drama of life and humans seems tragic. More than six billion people are on a march of materialism, which means that acquisition, accumulation, possessions and consumption of material goods is the ultimate "good" of life. The philosophy assumes that the material resources are unlimited. Human beings are proliferating at the rate of 80 million a year and 90% of the growth is in the developing world. There, almost four out of ten people live at the edge of survival. In India alone, 320 million out of one billion are living marginally. It is not until 2100, according to the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), that the Earth's population may stabilize at 10.5 to 11 billion people. 

The Earth is endangered, according to a warning from the Union of Concerned Scientists in December 1992. A declared report states that: "Most biological systems, which have sustained life on the planet for millions of years, will collapse some time during the early part of the next century." Everywhere, the human spirit is in revolt. Extinction cannot be the future of this beautiful Earth. The perversion of technological systems must be challenged--a society on the march towards doom must accept the wisdom of the ancients that all life is sacred and its existence rests on the harmony established by evolution in the total scheme of life."  

(source: Hinduism Today - July/August 2000  p 20-23).

The current deplorable condition demands a spiritual response. A fundamental reorientation of human consciousness, accompanied by action that is born out of inner commitment, is very much needed. One of the measures that could help a great deal to fulfill this need is to regenerate and rejuvenate basic values of Hindu culture and propagate them. 

(source: http://www.hindunet.org/alt_hindu/1994/msg00953.html).

Whatever I dig up of you, O earth,
May you of that have quick replenishment!
O purifying one,
May my thrust never reach
unto your vital points, your heart.
May your dwellings, O earth,
free from sickness and wasting,
flourish for us!
Through a long life watchful,
May we always offer to you our tribute.

                                                     -  Atharva Veda

The ancient Tamil scripture, Tirukural, advises in verse 324, "What is the good way? It is the path that reflects on how it may avoid killing any living creature;" and in verse 327, "Refrain from taking precious life from any living being, even to save your own life."

Although Indian philosophers believed that the world goes through a cycle of evolution and decline, it always admonished reverence for life--respect for all forms of life and preservation of biodiversity--a continuation of evolution.  

The new philosophy of life challenges the arrogance of humans. The Earth is not for humans only. It is for all life--life in its various forms and structures. While individuals have a short and transient existence, evolution continues inexorably. The consciousness and spirits are beyond material existence, beyond time and space. They are eternal, an integral part of Brahman.

The Rig Veda 1.6.3 states:

"Nature's beauty is an art of God. Let us feel the touch of God's invisible hands in everything beautiful. 
By the first touch of His hand rivers throb and ripple. When He smiles the sun shines, the moon glimmers, the stars twinkle, the flowers bloom.
By the first rays of the rising sun, the universe is stirred; the shining gold is sprinkled on the smiling buds of rose; the fragrant air is filled with sweet melodies of singing birds, the dawn is the dream of God's creative fancy."  

***

Mother Earth - Bhudevi - is the consort of Lord Vishnu. She personifies the earth and holds a blue lotus.

Bhudevi, bronze - The consort of Lord Vishnu. She personifies the Earth.

In the Vedic literatures mother Earth is personified as the Goddess Bhumi, or Prithvi. She is the abundant mother who showers her mercy oh her children. 

For more refer to chapters on Symbolism in Hinduism and Women in Hinduism.

***

A prayer that offers respect to mother Earth and asks for her protection: 

“O Mother Earth, the worlds are maintained by you. Oh goddess, you are upheld by Lord Vishnu. Kindly purify this seat and daily maintain me.”   

The earth and the sun span the world of human experience. The sun, the ‘eye of God’, gives forth energy and life, fertilizing the earth, who is the mother from whose womb all life-forms are born. 

In the Vedic literatures mother Earth is personified as the Goddess Bhumi, or Prithvi. She is the abundant mother who showers her mercy oh her children. 

Her beauty and profusion are vividly portrayed in the beautiful Hymn to the Earth in the Arthava Veda from which the following verses are taken:   

“Your castles and fortresses are built by divine engineers. In every province of yours people are working hard. You bear all precious things in your womb. May God, the Lord of life, make you pleasing, on all sides."  (43) 

"O mother, with your oceans, rivers and other bodies of water, you give us land to grow grains, on which our survival depends. Please give us as much milk, fruits, water and cereals as we need to eat and drink.'" (3) 

"O mother, bearing folk who speak different languages and follow different religions, treating them all as residents of the same house, please pour, like a cow who never fails, a thousand streams of treasure to enrich me. "44) 

"May you, our motherland, on whom grow wheat, rice and barley, on whom are born five races of mankind, be nourished by the cloud, and loved by the rain." (42).

(source: Hinduism and Ecology: Seeds of Truth - By Ranchor Prime  p. 30  - 31).

Top of Page

Dharma: ecological balance 

The king was the administrator of dharma. He was to be guided by this principle of balance, harmonizing relationships between all kingdoms of nature, mineral, vegetable, animal and man, various groups and administrative units. Dharma was the underlying  principle of political, economic and social relations in a state, and this principle was to be extended even to the earth and its products. We catch a glimpse of this knowledge of ecological balance in the coronation oath which was administered to a king. Aitareya Brahmana gives the promise which Purohita took from the king to the following effect: 

“Between the night I am born and the night I die whatever good I might have done, my heaven, my life, my progeny, may I be deprived of it, if I oppress you. (Book viii, chapter 4). Satapatha Brahmana states that the king should take consent of the earth at the time of the Rajasuya ceremony thus: 

“Mother Prithvi (Earth), injure me not, nor I thee.” 

It was a bounden duty of the king to see to it that the earth was not subjected to undue strain, her resources not unduly depleted. The earth was the mother, she sustained life with her products. 

Somadev in his Niti Vakyamrita gives a hymn which it was incumbent upon the king to recite every day: 

“I am protecting this cow (earth) which bears the milk of four oceans, whose calf is dharma, whose tail is enterprise (purushartha), whose hoofs are varna and ashrama (four groups and four orders), whose ears are desire and action (karma and artha), whose horns are diplomacy and valor, whose eyes are truth and purity, and whose face is law…I shall not be patient with anyone who injures her.” 

This is probably the earliest record in all human history of man’s clear realization of the ecological state to preserve. Nations that have flouted this most significant fact of social life have disappeared and their wrecks lie scattered along the shores of history. India knew this principle and honored it in practice. 

Place of nature in Indian literature 

India’s attitude to nature was one of comradeship. Flowers, birds, beasts and men shared the one life, facing the same suffering and pain of the upward travail, entertained the same sentiments and affections. The early Vedic Indians became lyrical in their adoration of nature and its manifestations. This is a description of the Dawn in the Rig Veda:   

Usha, the dawn, is often invoked, and is the subject of some of the most beautiful hymns that are to be found in the lyrical poetry of any ancient nation. 

Beautous daughter of the sky!
Hold they ruddy light on high,
Grant us wealth and grant us day,
Bring us food and morning's ray.
White-robed goddess of the morning sky,
Bring us light, let night's deep shadows fly.

This light, most radiant of lights, has come; this gracious one who illumines all things is born. As night is removed by the rising sun, so is this the birthplace of the dawn....We behold her, daughter of the sky, youthful, robed in white, driving forth the darkness. Princess of limitless treasure, shine down upon us throughout the day." - Rig Veda I. 113.

"We gaze upon her as she comes
The shining daughter of the sky
The mighty darkness she uncovers,
And light she makes, the pleasant one that we see."

Usha! (Dawn) Hail, Beautous daughter of the sky!

(source: The Splendour That Was 'Ind'  - By K T Shah).

***

Of the hymns to other deities, the hymns to those to Usha, the Dawn, are especially beautiful. Some of the loveliest nature poetry of this period is dedicated to her, depicted as a young maiden who comes to mankind in the special characteristics of the dawn. Dawn bring a feeling of hope and refreshment, of entering into the activity of the universe. 

The Aryas worshipped Nature. They were fascinated by their natural surroundings. Gods representing the forces of nature are mentioned in the hymns of Rig Veda. Rta was the term used to mean the natural law of the cosmic order and morality. It was the regulator of the whole Universe. The lotus keeps its vigil during the night and opens its heart to the life-giving touch of the sun in the early morn. The bee and flower play a game of hide and seek. All nature, flowers, trees, birds and deer grieve over Shakuntala's departure from her father's hermitage and her leave-taking is one of the most touching scenes in the drama of Kalidasa. The swan paints a poetic picture of Nala on whom Damyanti had set her heart. The bird Jatayu gives a fight to Ravana to rescue Sita as she is being kidnapped to Lanka. Indian literature is suffused with a feeling of tenderness towards all sub-human manifestations of life.

(source: India: A synthesis of cultures – by Kewal Motwani p. 110-111 and 166-167).

Top of Page

Mountains - The Abode of the Gods

"Of the immovable things
     I am the mighty Himalayas". 
                       
                                                                 - The Bhagavad Gita, Tenth Discourse; Shloka 2.5.

***

In the words of the ancient immemorial Indian poet, Kalidasa:

"The Himalaya is a great devatatma, a great spiritual presence, stretching from the west to the eastern sea like a measuring rod to gauge the world's greatness."  

The creativity of this genius was that he was able to see it as a single unity this overwhelmingly powerful image of the mighty Himalayan range.  

A very beautiful and charming description of the Himalayas is contained in the Kumarasambhava, which describes the snow-clad mountain range as the treasure house of innumerable precious stones, minerals, important herbs, trees, plants, creepers with delightful flowers; as the abode of the Siddhas, ascetics, Yakshas, Kinnaras, Kiratas and various types of animals and birds; as the source of the Ganga and several other rivers.

Even the mention of mountains in India brings the word Himalaya immediately to the mind. The Himalayan range as a whole is sacred because it is in the north, which for Hindus is the direction of wisdom and spiritual rebirth. It also includes the highest peaks in the world, which are a sight to inspire awe and wonder in people of any race or creed. Even Mount Olympus in Greek mythology would pale in front of the reverence shown to the Himalayas in the Hindu stories. Neither is Mount Fuji as significant to the Japanese as the Himalayas to Hindus. From times immemorial, the Himalayas have given out speechless invitations to sages, anchorites, yogis, artists, philosophers et al. The western Himalayas teems with esteemed pilgrimages so much so that the entire Kumayun range can be called Tapobhumi or land of spiritual practices. Where else apart from Kailash and Manas-sarovar in the Himalayas could an all-abnegating Shiva roam with his bull? 

"The Himalaya is a great devatatma, a great spiritual presence, stretching from the west to the eastern sea like a measuring rod to gauge the world's greatness."  - wrote Kalidasa, Ancient Indian poet. 

For more on Kalidasa, refer to chapter on Sanskrit.

Western man's dominion over the Earth? when the British scaled earth's highest peak, the exploit was widely hailed as the "conquest of the Mt Everest." 

It was not realized and is often not realized still, that the word "conquest" was totally out of place in the context of the peak which is considered an object of reverence by many. One does not "conquer" nature. Nature humors at times, man's curiosity. Conquest is, therefore, an irreverent word." 

***

From the Himalayas has originated so many life-giving perennial rivers that have sustained such a rich civilization.  

Of these the Ganga is the most respected one. Shankaracharya (788-820), who propounded the Mayavad doctrine, referred to the holy river as the goddess of divine essence, and established one of the four cardinal hermitages in the Garhwal Himalayas.

Scientist J C Bose (1858-1937), also ventured into the Himalayas, as expounded in his sagely philosophical essay Bhagirathir Utsha Sandhane, to explore how the Ganga flows down from the "matted locks of Shiva".

Apart from being a natural heritage, the Himalayas is a spiritual heritage for the Hindus. The most visited places of pilgrimage in India are located in the Himalayas. Prominent among them are the Nath troika of Amarnath, Kedarnath and Badrinath. There are also three seminal Sikh pilgrimage spots in the Uttarakhand Himalayas. All sages and prophets have found the Himalayas best for spiritual pursuits. Swami Vivekananda founded his Mayavati Ashram 50 km from Almora. The Mughul emperor Jehangir said about Kashmir, the westernmost extent of the Himalayas: "If there is a paradise on earth, it's here".

As the loftiest mountains on Earth, the Himalayas have come to embody the highest ideals and aspirations. The sight of their sublime peaks, soaring high and clean above the dusty, congested plains of India, has for centuries inspired visions of transcendent splendor and spiritual liberation.

Invoking such visions, the Puranas, ancient works of Hindu stories, have this to say of Himachal, or the Himalayas: 

"In the space of a hundred ages of the Gods, I could not describe to you the glories of Himachal; that Himachal where Siva dwells and where the Ganga falls like the tendril of a lotus from the foot of Vishnu. There are no other mountains like Himachal, for there are found Mount Kailas and Lake Manasarovar. As the dew is dried up by the morning sun, so are the sins of mankind by the sight of Himachal." 

The Himalayas are sacred for followers of five Asian religions--Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and the indigenous Bon tradition of Tibet. These religions revere the mountains as places of power where many of their most important sages and teachers have attained the heights of spiritual realization. Himalayas are often refered to as devatma or God-souled. Giri-raj or the King of Mountains, as the Himalayas is often called, is also a deity by itself in the Hindu pantheon. Hindus view the Himalayas as supremely sacred, as a corollary to seeing god in every atom of the universe. The mighty altitude of the Himalayas is a constant remembrance to the loftiness of the human soul, its vastness. a prototype for the universality of human consciousness. Mt Everest being the highest spot on earth has been truly recognised as the crowing glory of the Himalayas. It is the mother goddess for Sherpas, who worship it as Chomolungma while the Nepalese call it Sagarmatha. 

Hindus, by far the largest group in India with more than 800 million adherents, regard the entire range as the God Himalaya, father of Parvati, the wife of Siva. 

King of the mountains, Himalaya lives high on a peak with his queen, the Goddess Mena, in a palace ablaze with gold, attended by divine guardians, maidens, scent-eating creatures and other magical beings. His name, composed of the words hima and alaya, means in the Sanskrit language of ancient India the "abode of snow."

As a reservoir of frozen water, the body and home of the God Himalaya is the divine source of sacred rivers, such as the Ganga and Indus, that sustain life on the hot and dusty plains of northern India.

The grandeur of Himalayas 

Dr. Ernest B. Havell has observed: 

“The Himalayas offer equal opportunities for artistic research: they have always been the pivot of Indian religious art…The Indian order of architecture, the design of Indian temples, and the symbolism of the principal figures in Indian iconography, are all focused in the Himalayas.” Take only a cursory survey of Indian literature, he further says, and you will find that all Indian poetry and mythology, point to the Himalayas as the center of the world, and as the throne of the great gods. According to the Vishnu Purana, Brahma has his throne in this region, shaped like the seed-vessel of a lotus. Even in the farthest corners of South India, the Hindu regards the Himalayas, not from the point of view of the mountaineering sportsman, or that of the scientific explorer, but as the Muslim thinks of Mecca and the Christian of Jerusalem.” 

(source: The Himalayas in Indian Art – By E B Havell  v. 4, 6 and Kalidasa: His Art and Culture - By Ram Gopal p. 119 - 129).

For centuries, the mountains, the Himalaya and the Vindhya, and the rivers Ganga, Yamuna, Sindhu, Krishna, Mahanadi and Cauvery, have been the cradles of India's civilisation. 

They have given it the mosaic of its diversity and provided its deep, enduring spiritual strands. Of these again, the Himalaya has, over millennia, commanded a special reverence.

It is the abode of the gods, home to the great pilgrim centres of Amarnath, Kedar, Badrinath, Mount Kailash and Manas Sarovar. It has been a forbidding barrier deterring invaders through the ages and, in its snow-capped heights, abiding reminders of Nature's majesty. Ganga, Yamuna, Sindhu and that other great river of northern India, Brahmaputra, emerge from its folds.

The sensitive return from its slopes chastened and humbled, aware of the forces that-far more powerful than them-control the elements.

(source: Himalayas - By Hiranmay Karlekar - dailypioneer.com - August 5 2004).

W J Grant has written eloquently about scenic India:

"India has stupendous mountains and quiet, village dotted plains. Her rivers sweep majestically on the plains and sing silver songs among the hills. The Himalayas form a great northern battlement with an average height of about 18,000 feet. 

The grandeur of this region outwits description, its scale is so baffling. It is a dwelling place for gods. A throne of stupendous whiteness, mystery, power majesty. But above all, mystery – that mystery which no science can banish and no reason conquer. This is where Supernatural walks with regal feet. At Darjeeling, with the majesty of the Himalayas looking down on one’s littleness. It does one no good. The air is pure and strong. The scenic vastness kills petty conceits…”

(source: The Spirit of India -  By W. J. Grant London published by B. T. Batsford Ltd. 1933 preface and p. 11-13).

E. Kawaguchi, a Japanese Buddhist abbot, was so captivated by the grandeur of the Himalayas near Manosarovar and Mt. Kailas, that he described it as 'unique and sublime.' Mt. Kailas, he says, 'towers so majestically above the peaks around, that I fancied I saw the image of our Mighty Lord Buddha, calmly addressing his five hundred disciples: verily, verily, it was a natural Mandala!'

(source: Our Heritage and Its Significance - By Shripad Rama Sharma p. 15-16).

The ancient poets and sages regarded the range as more than a realm of snow; they saw it as an earthly paradise sparkling with streams and forests set beneath beautiful peaks. Above and beyond the earthly paradise of the Himalayas lie the heights of heaven.

In the Hindu imagination, Kashmir is said to be the abode of gods. Amid these deeply forested hills, Siva is said to have narrated to his consort Parvati, the sacred Amarkatha, the secret of immortality. In ancient times, Kashmir was known as Sarada Peeth, the seat of the goddess of learning. 

Indian thinkers have always seen the world around as a reflection of the beauty of God. It is believed that the feeling of ecstasy upon seeing the beauty of nature or a truly fine work of art is akin to brahmananda (the final bliss of enlightenment) itself. In that moment of bliss, the faithful sense their oneness with the whole of creation and the great beauty of God that is reflected in every aspect of the world

(source: Philosophical and architectural marvels of Kashmir valley - By Benoy K Behl).

1. Mount Kailash: One peak in the Himalayan region stands out above all others as the ultimate sacred mountain for more than half-a-billion people in India, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. Hidden behind the main range of the Himalayas at a high point of the Tibetan Plateau northwest of Nepal, Mount Kailas rises in isolated splendor near the sources of four major rivers of the Indian subcontinent--the Indus, Brahmaputra, Sutlej and Karnali. Hindus also regard Kailash as the place where the divine form of the Ganga, the holiest river of all, cascades from heaven to first touch the Earth and course invisibly through the locks of Siva's hair before spewing forth from a glacier 140 miles to the west.  

At only 22,028 feet, Kailash is thousands of feet lower than Everest and other Himalayan peaks. Yet its extraordinary setting and appearance more than make up for its modest height. Kailash retains its grandeur when viewed from a distance. More than any other peak in the Himalayas, it opens the mind to the cosmos around it, evoking a sense of infinite space that makes one aware of a vaster universe encompassing the limited world of ordinary experience. It has served as an inspiration for numerous Hindu temples and shrines in the distant plains of India.

The sight of the peak has a powerful effect, bringing tears to the eyes of many who behold it, leaving them convinced that they have glimpsed the abode of the Gods beyond the round of life and death. Neither Hindus, Buddhists, nor any Tibetans would ever contemplate trying to climb Kailash.

Hindus view Kailash as the divine dwelling place of God Siva and Goddess Parvati.

  There, as the Supreme Yogi, naked and smeared with ashes, His matted hair coiled on top of His head, He sits on a tiger skin, steeped in the indescribable bliss of meditation. From His position of aloof splendor on the summit, His third eye blazing with supernatur