Religion And The Environmental Crisi - The Views of Hinduism And Islam

In a memorable lecture delivered a few years ago, Seyyed Hossein Nasr delved deep into the causes of the environmental crisis which has gripped both the developed and the developing world. Seyyed Hossein's piercing and sharp argument takes us through the different approaches of mankind towards nature and the manner in which pure science and technology has been used, to satisfy greed, not need. Comparing and contrasting the world-view of medieval Europe and the changes which were brought about by Renaissance and later, the Industrial Revolution, with Asian and Indian world-views, he points at the core difference between a world-view where all life is sacralized and where the philosophy of religion rises from the higher dicta of revelation and illumination and those others dictated by the notion of the complete supremacy of Man.

Nasr then turns his attention to some key concepts in Hindu and Islamic thought and how these may still help humanity to meet the crisis. One amongst these is the idea of sacrifice of the Purusa as enunciated in the Rgveda: he comprehends this principle in contemporary terms as the concept of interrelatedness and interdependence and interconnection and the relation of the parts and the whole and the necessity of austerity and self- control. Abimsa is another positive concept for not only eschewing violence but also understanding the other. This also demands restraint and Man's resolve not to assault Earth and Nature. Similarly, Nasr reminds us that Islam also created a civilization which always lived in harmony. with its natural ambience. Despite the great scientists and physicists it produced, there was no Scientific Revolution in the Western sense because for the scientists and the Man of religion alike, the phenomenon of nature never ceased to be the signs of God. He alludes to a verse in the Quran which states that "We shall show them. Our signs upon the horizon and upon themselves."