[395-13]. Singh, Rana P.B. 2013. Ecological Cosmology in Hindu Tradition for the 21st Century; in, Sharma, Arvind and Khanna, Madhu (eds.) Asian Perspectives on the World's Religions after September 11. Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, Inc., Santa Barbara CA: pp. 233-250. Hb-ISBN: 978-0-313-37896-6. (original) (raw)

In Indian thought the sense of intrinsic value is posed in the basic quest of knowing the place and role of man with respect to interrelatedness of ecological cosmology, i.e. ecospirituality, receiving more attention today under New Age Movement. The question of moral duty of human being to the community and nature is the subject of imposition of inherent deep thought, i.e., ethical values, since ancient past in Indian thought. Imposition of value appears as human response to the world, in association with nature, and in realization to the cosmic interrelatedness. This is an issue of human duty, a sense of realization, a wish to promote culture and civilisation for human development. The idea of nature and human integrity in Hindu thought depends upon ways in which people see and experience themselves, their sense of attachment to nature, and their ways of maintaining this. It is through symbolism, the main expression of mythological understanding, that one can gain insight into the relationships of humanity to nature. Religion (dharma) plays a vital role in the Hindu quest for understanding and practicing harmony between nature and humanity that result to the formation of a cosmological awakening, i.e. ‘transcending the universe’. The importance and applicability of such new consciousness is a good sign in promoting global humanism in the 21st century. The central monistic philosophy of Hindu tradition, Vedanta, recog¬nizes that ‘fundamentally all life is one, that in essence everything is reality, and that this oneness finds its natural expression in a reverence for all things’. This essay attempts to present ecospiritual contextuality and its vitality concerning environmental sensitivity in India, illustrated with myths, traditions and symbols that evolved in the past and continued in the passage of time, and is on the way to critical appraisal. Keywords: Ecospirituality, Hindu tradition, Gross elements, spirit of place, dharma, new vision.