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Nature reflects our nature
Conservation: A part of Hindu life
No one exactly knows how Hinduism came into ex-
istence but is estimated to date back to 4000 years
and there are about 900 million followers in the world.
Several Hindu mythological books guide its followers
through its sayings. Conservation can be identified
as an essential duty in the life of Hindus directly or
indirectly.
The ancient way of living can be connected to con-
servation and protection through various sayings
from its Vedas. “Only God has absolute sovereignty
over all creatures of the earth; thus, human beings
have no dominion neither in their own lives nor on
any non-human life. Consequently, humanity cannot
act as a governing body of God over the planet nor
assign degrees of relative worth to other species”,
the idea of the Divine Being as the one underlying
power of unity can be found in the Yajurveda (Ya-
jurveda consists of prose mantras for worship rituals
for Hinduism). This can directly be related to conser-
vation of the Earth and all the units either living or
non-living that reside on it.
Another example can be taken from Rigveda (con-
sists of Sanskrit hymns along with associated com-
mentaries on liturgy, ritual and mystical exegesis),
the plants have superpowers, with one entire hymn
devoted to their praise, with reference to their heal-
ing properties. Well, it’s actually true as well because
plants have been used as medicine for several cen-
turies now. It is still popularly believed that every tree
has a Vriksa-devata, or ‘tree god’, who is worshipped
with prayers, offerings like flowers, sweets, and
encircled by sacred threads e.g. Hindus and Bud-
dhists pray at Mahankal temple and encircle threads
around the tree so that Lord Shiva saves them from
bad times. Also, for Hindus, the planting of a tree is
still a religious duty.
This Hindu way of life also talks about the pollution of
the earth. Hindu doctrine has a clear concept of the
ecosystem and it’s functioning. In the Rigveda, it’s
written that ‘The waters in the sky, the waters of riv-
ers, and water in the well whose source is the ocean,
may all these sacred waters protect me’. Sometimes
even the sprinkling of pure water in the body was
supposed to make a soul pure. People that use to
get involved in the exploitation of water used to get
punished according to the laws. Many other books
can be found to support this claim for e.g. in Padam-
puran it is written that ‘A person, who is engaged in
killing life, polluting wells, and ponds and tanks, and
destroying gardens, certainly goes to hell’. This can
verify that pollution was supposed to be a hideous
crime in the past.
Another most important aspect of Hindu theology
associating to the treatment of non-human life is the
belief that the Supreme Being (GOD) was himself in-
carnated in the form of various species of animals
as well. The Supreme Being has himself incarnated
himself in the form of fish, tortoise, boar, man-lion,
etc. Also, Hindus believe that life of humans will be
reincarnated in the form of animals or birds. Hin-
dus believe that Lord Keshava i.e. Lord Vishnu will
be pleased if no life on the planet is harmed (From
Vishnupurana). To not eat meat is another part of the
Hindu way and can be related to not killing and con-
servation of animal life. After Hinduism, when Bud-
dhism and Jainism came to existence the protection
of animal and bird species were boosted as well. The
Buddhist and Jain rulers followed the path of protec-
tion of plants, animals, and birds so they can be an
example to their followers.
In the ancient past Hindus and Buddhists were care-
ful to observe and learn moral teachings and say-
ings of the Vedas regarding the conservation and
protection of nature through various techniques like
producing fewer wastes, not exploiting the natural
ecosystem, less or no pollution water, air, and land,
etc. In their cultures, not only the common person but
also rulers and kings followed those ethical guide-
lines of Vedas and tried to create an example for
others so that others can follow these ethical norms
as well. But since the beginning of the new dawn in
the twentieth century, the materialistic orientation in
the World, particularly from the West has affected the
cultures of the East countries where Hinduism mainly
thrives. These countries have witnessed the exploita-
tion of the environment by their own peoples for the
sake of development, despite the strictures inherent
in their religions and cultures. I believe that religion
as a whole can recall the awareness in people about
the conservation and protection of the environment
in a large scale, it helps people understand that re-
sources are limited and they have less control over
the environment. If this imperious exploitation contin-
ues, nature will backfire.
Injal Bhattarai
B.Sc. Environment Science
3rd year (Batch-2016)
Nature and Social Concern Society
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