PURIFYING THE EARTHLY BODY OF GOD:

This book is an excellent reference for teachers or for use in a college course. Although there are nuggets that would be understood and appreciated by high school students - and should be somehow included in their understanding of the issues -- in general, it would be difficult reading for them. This is because it is what it is: a collection of papers by eminent scholars on South Asian issues presented at conferences such as the American Academy of Religion.

Having said that, the material in the book is important because it shows “the negative outcomes of religious teachings that can be used to rationalize environmental neglect are probably greater than the positive influence of those that encourage conservation and protection.” (p5-6) That is necessary information for two reasons. It shows students just how much religious ideas effect behavior in the real world - albeit negatively. It also reminds those of us who want to save the environment that you can't change people's behavior unless you first understand it. This book gives one the insights in both areas.

The book is organized around certain issues and questions that Lance Nelson raises in his introduction. They include:

n Can the ascetic approach be used to foster ecological reform or does it negate concern?
n Can the Hindu understanding of karma be “reformulated to support a positive sense of connection to, and moral responsibility for, the natural universe? (p.7)
n How does the Hindu world view - particularly the idea of Kali Yuga, the age of destruction - “influence environmental activism?” (p.7)
n What effect do ideas such as caste, ritual practice, concepts of purity and impurity have on environmental issues?

Because of the anthropological fieldwork of many of these scholars, we get a good sense of what people really think. It is often surprisingly different than an idealized, theoretical version or, just one not considered before. For example, convincing people to recycle or use recycled goods has been difficult in India because, as Frank Korom explains in “On the Ethics and Aesthetics of Recycling in India”, there is an association of garbage collection with the dalits, the so-called untouchables in the caste structure. And yet, he points out, Bombay alone produces 5,800 tons of garbage each day!

Kelley D. Alley in her essay “Idioms of Degeneracy” points out that while everyone agrees that the Ganges river is dirty, what they mean by that, and thus, the solutions they perceive are quite different. Scientists see it as a consequence of pollution. Religious people see it as a result of ritual impurity. Says Alley: “In the Hindu worldview expressed by Banaras residence, gandgi [filth, dirtiness] is also a metaphor for corrupt religious, social and political relations and generally for the undesirable condition of existence.” (p.304)

Ann Grodzin Gold interviews villagers of different castes about the destruction of trees in their area and their beliefs in the cause and that it detrimentally effects weather patterns. In it she has an interesting quote about Kali Yuga from circa 450 that seems depressingly applicable to today:

“Then property alone will confer rank; wealth will be the only source of dharma; passion will be the sole bond of union between the sexes; falsehood will be the only means of success in litigation; and women will be objects merely of sensual gratification. Earth will be venerated but for its mineral treasures.” (p.185)

There's a lot of good, interesting and provocative material in this scholarly collection of work. It shows the implications and applications of religious ideas - both positive and negative - in everyday life. It is necessary reading for both the ecologist and teacher of Hinduism. But much of the same material appears in the more recent and readable book Hinduism and Ecology, edited by Christopher Chapple and Mary Evelyn Tucker. To use this volume with high school students, one will need to selectively choose segments of the book for reading.

review ©2004 by Jane S. Rechtman and RSiSS
The Masters Schools