What does Hinduism teach about the environment?
Many Hindus understand 'environment' to mean the natural world 鈥 everything around us that is part of the Earth and nature. Key teachings for Hindus include the following.
Ahimsa 鈥 the principle of non-violence. Many Hindus believe that all living things are sacredHoly, related to God. Connected to a religious purpose. because they are part of God, as is the natural world. Many Hindus believe being non-violent means showing respect for all life, human, animal and vegetable.
Karma 鈥 the belief that all actions bring consequences. The Hindu belief in reincarnationThe religious belief that existence is a cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth, and that the soul survives physical death and is reborn in a new body. draws on the idea of karma. The law of karma is not limited to one lifetime but many lifetimes. If people do negative things in this life, they may pay for these in their next reincarnation.
Many Hindus believe that nature cannot be destroyed without humans also being destroyed, because we need the natural world in order to survive, and also because every atmanThe essence of a being. Can refer to body, mind or soul, depending on context, but usually indicates the soul that is reborn. is a part of Supreme Spirit BrahmanHindu belief in one true god, the Supreme Spirit, called Brahman, symbolised by the sacred syllable aum (or om). All beings are a part of Brahman..
Belief in karma should encourage many Hindus to accept responsibility for their actions, including how they treat the environment.
Moksha 鈥 the release from the cycle of reincarnation and the end of all suffering. Many Hindus believe that righteous action is an essential starting point in the quest for moksha.
The Hindu declaration at AssisiTown in Italy, where a meeting of the world's major religions took place in 1986 and produced a declaration on the environment. in 1986 stressed the beliefs that:
- humans are a part of nature, indissolublyIn a way that cannot be destroyed. linked to everything else
- God is revealed through the graded scale of evolutionThe process of change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next., of which humans are just one element, even though they are the highest part at the moment
The Earth is our mother and we are all her children.