Religious Philosophy And Attitude Towards Animals
Whether we are actively religious or not, religious belief permeates the very fabric of our existence. Namely, it influences, if not directly shapes, our personal, economic, social and ethical life. It is then only logical to surmise that religion also influences how we, individually and collectively, treat animals.
What role does religion play in shaping our attitude towards the animal world? One answer was proposed in 1967 by UCLA History Professor Lynn White, Jr., who wrote an article entitled, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis" (Science 155, 1967). In this article, he said that the Western world's attitudes towards animals and nature were shaped by the Judeo-Christian tradition (he also included Islam and Marxism within this overall tradition). This tradition, White wrote, involved the concept of a world created solely for the benefit of man: "God planned all of creation explicitly for man's benefit and rule: no item in the physical creation had any purpose save to serve man's purposes." Along with this, Western Christianity separated humans from nature. 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." White noted that Christianity was a complex faith, and different branches of it differ in their outlook. But in general, he proposed that Christianity, and Western civilization as a whole, held a view of nature that separated humans from the rest of the natural world, and encouraged exploitation of it for our own ends.
The emergence of Christianity, many, like White believe, marked the moment humans broke away from previously common held beliefs that all beings, all forms of life, including plants, had spirits (or souls).
"In Antiquity every tree, every spring, every stream, every hill had its own genius loci, its guardian spirit," he wrote. And Christianity changed all that, he believed. Man was created in God's image, Christians believed, and notably Man was created at the end of Creation and humans therefore inherited the Earth. "By destroying pagan animism," White wrote, "Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects."
There has been much discussion on Lynn White’s articles but in general these questionable ideologies are responsible, atleast in part, for the phenomenal cruelty towards animals we see in the modern world.
Also this misleading religious view has influenced other disciplines like science, ethics, economics, education and public policy.
Bishnoism
How religion influences our dealing with animals and natural world can be seen from the example of Bishnoism. It is a subsect of vedic religion which originated in the desert of Rajasthan, India in the 15th century. Bishnoism emphasizes living in complete harmony with our natural world. It teaches love, peace, kindness, simple life, honesty, compassion and forgiveness.
Living in an inhospitable desert terrain, Bishnois have been fiercely protecting the forests and wild life in their areas to follow the teachings of their Guru Jambheshwarji. For Bishnois, caring for God’s creation is their prime dharma or duty. Time to time, their faith was tested by rulers, poachers and others, but Bishnois always protected the nature, even at the cost of their lives.
In 1730, 363 Bishnois were killed when they opposed cutting of Khejari trees. They hugged the trees and said, “sir santhe runkh rahe to bhi sasto jan”, which means that if a tree can be saved by sacrificing one’s head, even then its a good deal. These trees were being cut at the order of the king, Raja Abhay Singh. The firewood was required to burn lime stone for the construction of his palace.
Even today these people will starve to feed other hungry creatures. Women will breast feed a wild animal calf if its mother dies. These people have so much reverence for God’s creation. In Bishnoi communities, exotic wild animals abound and roam freely. Over the years, hundreds of people have sacrificed life to protect the animals in their area from poachers.
Bishnoism presents a sharp contrast to western way of living with their utter disregard for nature, environment and other life forms.
Communities like Bishnois, once scorned for being ‘backward’ will be hailed for teaching mankind a valuable lesson in harmonious living.
Jainism
The Jain tradition has existed in tandem with Vedic tradition in India since 800 BC. Jains developed their own sacred texts (including the Acaranga Sutra, ca. 300 BC) and follow the authority of itinerant monks and nuns who wander throughout India preaching the essential principles and practices of the faith. Jainism holds some interesting potential for ecological thinking, though its final goal transcends earthly concerns i.e., ascending to the realm above earth and heaven.
At the core of Jain faith lies five vows that dictate the daily life of Jains. These five vows, which inspired and influenced Mahatma Gandhi, are nonviolence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), not stealing (asteya), sexual restraint (brahmacarya), and nonpossession (aparigraha). One adheres to these vows in order to minimize harm to all possible life-forms. For observant Jains, to hurt any being results in the thickening of one’s karma, obstructing advancement toward liberation. To reduce karma and prevent its further accrual, Jains avoid activities associated with violence and follow a vegetarian diet. The advanced monks and nuns will sweep their path to avoid harming insects and also work at not harming even one sensed beings such as bacteria and water.
The worldview of the Jains might be characterized as a biocosmology due to their perception of the “livingness” of the world.
Bhagavata Dharma
Vedic tradition is popularly known as Sanatana dharma, Bhagavata dharma or varnashrama dharma.
Compassion for all living beings forms the basis of Bhagavata dharma, also known as Hinduism. Bhagavata vision of equality is explained in Gita (5.18)
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater.
Bhagavad-gita(6.30) mentions "For one who sees Me everywhere and who sees everything in Me, I am never lost nor is he ever lost to Me." So a follower of Bhagavata dharma perceives the presence of the Supreme Lord in all living beings. Srila Prabhupada explains, “In the Vedic concept of grhastha [householder] life it is recommended that a householder see that even a lizard or a snake living in his house should not starve. Even these lower creatures should be given food, and certainly all humans should be. It is recommended that the grhastha, before taking his lunch, stand on the road and declare, "If anyone is still hungry, please come! Food is ready!" If there is no response, then the proprietor of the household takes his lunch... And these things are explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam, that this world is also God’s kingdom and all living entities, they are God's sons. So everyone has got the right to take advantage of his father's property. This is Bhagavata communism. The communists are thinking in terms of their own country. But a devotee, thinks in terms of all living entities, wherever he is, either in the sky or in the land or in the water.”
We will quote a nice story from Skanda Purana illustrating the Vedic conception of compassion for all living creatures in the next section.
What role does religion play in shaping our attitude towards the animal world? One answer was proposed in 1967 by UCLA History Professor Lynn White, Jr., who wrote an article entitled, "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis" (Science 155, 1967). In this article, he said that the Western world's attitudes towards animals and nature were shaped by the Judeo-Christian tradition (he also included Islam and Marxism within this overall tradition). This tradition, White wrote, involved the concept of a world created solely for the benefit of man: "God planned all of creation explicitly for man's benefit and rule: no item in the physical creation had any purpose save to serve man's purposes." Along with this, Western Christianity separated humans from nature. 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." White noted that Christianity was a complex faith, and different branches of it differ in their outlook. But in general, he proposed that Christianity, and Western civilization as a whole, held a view of nature that separated humans from the rest of the natural world, and encouraged exploitation of it for our own ends.
The emergence of Christianity, many, like White believe, marked the moment humans broke away from previously common held beliefs that all beings, all forms of life, including plants, had spirits (or souls).
"In Antiquity every tree, every spring, every stream, every hill had its own genius loci, its guardian spirit," he wrote. And Christianity changed all that, he believed. Man was created in God's image, Christians believed, and notably Man was created at the end of Creation and humans therefore inherited the Earth. "By destroying pagan animism," White wrote, "Christianity made it possible to exploit nature in a mood of indifference to the feelings of natural objects."
There has been much discussion on Lynn White’s articles but in general these questionable ideologies are responsible, atleast in part, for the phenomenal cruelty towards animals we see in the modern world.
Also this misleading religious view has influenced other disciplines like science, ethics, economics, education and public policy.
Bishnoism
How religion influences our dealing with animals and natural world can be seen from the example of Bishnoism. It is a subsect of vedic religion which originated in the desert of Rajasthan, India in the 15th century. Bishnoism emphasizes living in complete harmony with our natural world. It teaches love, peace, kindness, simple life, honesty, compassion and forgiveness.
Living in an inhospitable desert terrain, Bishnois have been fiercely protecting the forests and wild life in their areas to follow the teachings of their Guru Jambheshwarji. For Bishnois, caring for God’s creation is their prime dharma or duty. Time to time, their faith was tested by rulers, poachers and others, but Bishnois always protected the nature, even at the cost of their lives.
In 1730, 363 Bishnois were killed when they opposed cutting of Khejari trees. They hugged the trees and said, “sir santhe runkh rahe to bhi sasto jan”, which means that if a tree can be saved by sacrificing one’s head, even then its a good deal. These trees were being cut at the order of the king, Raja Abhay Singh. The firewood was required to burn lime stone for the construction of his palace.
Even today these people will starve to feed other hungry creatures. Women will breast feed a wild animal calf if its mother dies. These people have so much reverence for God’s creation. In Bishnoi communities, exotic wild animals abound and roam freely. Over the years, hundreds of people have sacrificed life to protect the animals in their area from poachers.
Bishnoism presents a sharp contrast to western way of living with their utter disregard for nature, environment and other life forms.
Communities like Bishnois, once scorned for being ‘backward’ will be hailed for teaching mankind a valuable lesson in harmonious living.
Jainism
The Jain tradition has existed in tandem with Vedic tradition in India since 800 BC. Jains developed their own sacred texts (including the Acaranga Sutra, ca. 300 BC) and follow the authority of itinerant monks and nuns who wander throughout India preaching the essential principles and practices of the faith. Jainism holds some interesting potential for ecological thinking, though its final goal transcends earthly concerns i.e., ascending to the realm above earth and heaven.
At the core of Jain faith lies five vows that dictate the daily life of Jains. These five vows, which inspired and influenced Mahatma Gandhi, are nonviolence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), not stealing (asteya), sexual restraint (brahmacarya), and nonpossession (aparigraha). One adheres to these vows in order to minimize harm to all possible life-forms. For observant Jains, to hurt any being results in the thickening of one’s karma, obstructing advancement toward liberation. To reduce karma and prevent its further accrual, Jains avoid activities associated with violence and follow a vegetarian diet. The advanced monks and nuns will sweep their path to avoid harming insects and also work at not harming even one sensed beings such as bacteria and water.
The worldview of the Jains might be characterized as a biocosmology due to their perception of the “livingness” of the world.
Bhagavata Dharma
Vedic tradition is popularly known as Sanatana dharma, Bhagavata dharma or varnashrama dharma.
Compassion for all living beings forms the basis of Bhagavata dharma, also known as Hinduism. Bhagavata vision of equality is explained in Gita (5.18)
vidya-vinaya-sampanne
brahmane gavi hastini
suni caiva sva-pake ca
panditah sama-darsinah
The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater.
Bhagavad-gita(6.30) mentions "For one who sees Me everywhere and who sees everything in Me, I am never lost nor is he ever lost to Me." So a follower of Bhagavata dharma perceives the presence of the Supreme Lord in all living beings. Srila Prabhupada explains, “In the Vedic concept of grhastha [householder] life it is recommended that a householder see that even a lizard or a snake living in his house should not starve. Even these lower creatures should be given food, and certainly all humans should be. It is recommended that the grhastha, before taking his lunch, stand on the road and declare, "If anyone is still hungry, please come! Food is ready!" If there is no response, then the proprietor of the household takes his lunch... And these things are explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam, that this world is also God’s kingdom and all living entities, they are God's sons. So everyone has got the right to take advantage of his father's property. This is Bhagavata communism. The communists are thinking in terms of their own country. But a devotee, thinks in terms of all living entities, wherever he is, either in the sky or in the land or in the water.”
We will quote a nice story from Skanda Purana illustrating the Vedic conception of compassion for all living creatures in the next section.