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The Indian View of Nature
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14569 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
3 / 1988 |
3,681 Words |
| Author
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Ravi Ravindra and Priscilla Murray
Ravi Ravindra is professor of comparative religion and of
physics at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. Priscilla
Murray is with the Institute for the Integration of Spirit and
Mind, Halifax |
In the vast body of the thought of India there are many views about Nature, though not a single consistent and invariable one that could be regarded as the Indian view. Nevertheless, there are some features common to most perspectives of Nature that have been influential in India. Furthermore, some of these features are not shared by the mainstreams of the two major non-Indian worldviews and zones of thought, namely, the Western (European and American) and the Sineatic (Chinese, Korean, and Japanese). It can hardly be overemphasized that there is great variety in the outlooks about Nature within each one of the major cultures; furthermore, almost all points of view can be found in each. Still, there are distinctive features of the views about Nature which are noteworthy, for they contribute one of the major ingredients in what makes any culture distinct from the others.
Three Views of Nature
In the West, Nature is almost always viewed as alien to human beings. This alien is hostile and needs to be conquered, subdued, and reduced. In fact, for many centuries Westerners have not referred to Nature as she, but rather as it. There is hostility, or at least competition--Man versus Nature. Man is right and Nature is wrong. This in its turn reflects another duality: that between God and Man. God is right and Man is wrong. In each of these dualities, the lower aspect needs to be controlled and subdued. This requires action: technology (based on the scientific laws to control external Nature, and religion (based on the Law of God) to control human will, Man's inner nature. Nature must be bent to the will, benefit, and use of Man; and Man to those of God. In either case, unruly and wild Nature needs to be tamed for some utilitarian purpose. Post-Renaissance science and technology offer the paradigm for the Western attitude to Nature: Man is separated from Nature, hostile to it, and determined to conquer it. And Nature exists for the use and benefit of Man. There is something very deeply anthropocentric in this attitude--an attitude with a discernible continuity from Genesis to the so-called Anthropic Principle in contemporary physical cosmology.
Control is the main feature of Western Man's relationship with Nature, and it is almost always mental. Whenever this control is called into question, the relational pendulum swings to the sentimental. In general, both the developers and the conservationists subscribe to the same level of spirituality, even though at that level their actions and the consequences of these actions are different and call for appropriate
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