The view of the world in the eyes of a Hindu believer is one that is filled with reverence and interconnectedness with their own well-being. Yet, the necessary means that they apply in order to live off the land (known to be detrimental) are just that, necessary and thus in their eyes the will of god “bhagwaan”. To be human is inherently thought of as a cause of suffering and thus the deeds of the suffering humans not matter how disrespectful they be towards the environment are in the end forgiven by the goddess earth. Being as mother earth “ Bhu Devi” is a forgiving and patient entity, who is in her times of weakness protected by Vishnu, the misdeeds of the humans are in a way thought of as the delinquency of an errant child. The misdeeds are miniscule compared to the power of the mother to forgive and replenish herself, of course with the help of the other gods, not humans. The advent of a western way of life in such a context laden view of the world, is in many ways the reason for the environmental degradation of a sacred mother earth.Even though the common Hindu recognizes deforestation and over hunting as “paap” sins, for the most part issues such as water pollution, unsanitary hygiene practices and improper waste disposal are relatively insignificant in his eyes. The best example of this is in the essay by Nagarajan, the view of the sacred in India isn’t as clear cut as the west, especially the idea that mortals might hurt the gods (river Ganges, ) is almost sacrilegious. The pollution of the river might be obvious and highly visible to the western eye, but to the Indians it’s a matter of faith in the Ganges, to think that it could be polluted would be reducing it to corporeal standards. The respect for these sacred figures is mutable, it’s the context in which the Hindu believer looks at the Devis and Devtas (gods and goddesses) that determine the sacredness at that time...
