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India has been always a country with rich and prosperous civilization. Indus valley civilisation and Vedic civilization are known to be the oldest and developed civilisations. If we observed carefully than we find many examples of sustainability in ancient Indian history .Indian history teaches us how our forefathers and past generations worked for the preservation of nature and worked for keeping this place green and pure. Sustainability is exists everywhere in their efforts. Most of the ancient cultures practises for the preservation of nature i.e. mountain, river and forest, they were treated as sacred and God, Goddess by our ancestors. Hindu religious literature likeVedas, epics and Puranas supports the preservation and protection of nature and stressed on the concept of sarve Bhavantu sukina means All the beings of words be happy . The main aim of the philosophy is that there is unity of all life and existence. The main Hindu saint Adi shankra explain in Mangal Sutra ,the concept of universal well being . Ayurveda Vedic concept of Prana means the concept of Natural balance between complementary opposites. In this paper the researcher want to discuss the various aspects of sustainable development that’s were promoted and supported by Indian philophysy in the past . Today the world is facing many types of crisis and one is related to environment , it affects all aspects of the life of human beings .The ecological harmony is required for the growth of mankind and that is possible only when we follow the principles of Vedic philosophy vasudhaiva kutumbhkam .In this paper an attempt has been made to resolved the sustainability crisis with the help of past practices.

Ancient Indian philosophy is full of knowledge and environment friendly. Our ancestors were very sensitive about nature. But today’s world is facing many problems related to Environment. The teaching of Ancient Hindu literature and of our ancestors are being forgotten by young generation .The main objective of this paper is to aware the young generation about the past practices of saving the nature.

Sustainable Development and Vedas

India tried  many ways to find the target of sustainable development not only in present days although if we look into the history of ancient India then also we can find many examples ofthe efforts for achieving the target of sustainable development. There are so many examples in ancient literatures related to sustainable development in India our forefathers used so many natural things for their lifestyles India is a country of many medical herbs and  Indian had a rich knowledge to use them for their routine lives they used Neem and bamboos for many medicines . They used terracotta pottery for their daily use items and for the storage of grains. During the excavations of Harappa sites in India we found many types of terracotta pots thatwere used for the storage of grains and they also know how to respect nature. During the Vedic period Nature  was regarded as living element and tried  to make relationship between the life and nature .They talked about the oneness and this oneness can experienced by sadhana and yoga .there are three  parts according to Vedic philosophy to achieve the highest ideals , Dharma Bhakti and knowledge. Dharma means the principles of life that is full of purity and according to Vedas, Bhakti means knowledge gained by meditation and Tap.Knowledge means when someone knows themselves with their inner strength and soul and also able to understand what is right and what is wrong? Thus the Vedas are the basic source for moral and economic upliftment in the society and also a true path to develop sustainability in the society. Vedas provides the knowledge for human perfection and happiness.They provide proper guidance to lighten the soul and motivate to preserve a moral value that promotes the care of nature. There are several reference of ecological balance in Vedas. Hindus regarded rivers, mountains animals and many of the trees as divine creations and manifestation of the supreme authority that is God so they had a deep respect towards the nature and there was unquestionable supremacy of nature. The five elements are considered as punch boots: Agni( fire ) , Jal( water) Yavu( air) , prithvi( earth ) and Akash (space). In Rig-Veda text there are many hymns that explained the relationship between nature and earth when it says that earth is my mother and my father is Heaven. in Atharvaveda bhumi sukta explains about the balance with earth plants and peaceful environment .The Athirathram had its objectives to make positive impact on human being and environment  Vrikshayurveda discussed about tree plantation and many other issues related to plants.

Mahabharata parav also defines earth as   Ever yielding cow for providing its resources andturns as father when it protects property.it is essential to use properly and carefully  the earth natural resources  to fulfill the need of sustainability. it is also moral duty to conserve and enhance the natural resources for future generations  .The Rig Veda hymn explains the world as  a place where human beings find a way of enjoy and happiness .it also explain the physical and moral laws that govern and guide the whole universe and no one can be allowed to work against this law of nature. The Vedic philosophy supports all these laws that provides the way for sustainable development .According to Vedic philosophy there are four main aims and objectives of human life. According to the purushasuktam Dharma, Arth, Kama and moksha are the basic values of human life and working according to these principles creates a balanced and satisfied life .

Dharma: means truth  A way of living life according to right way or the way of living life according to ethical basis. Dharma  bring stability in life and guides for a lawful and harmonious life with a feeling of helping others and promotes a  hormonal relations in the society

Arth:  it is also one of the basic requirement of human life and it means to have sufficient resources to fulfill your and your family needswithout being greedy . It means to be  being content with the resources you have and live skillfully in the world without harming others .it includes everything in your environment that allows you to live your life. The Upanishads explains there is no joy in smallness, joy is in the Infinite.

Kama: It relates to pleasure that drives humanbehavior.It is also about music, art ,beauty ,love and kindness. it brings a sense of delight towards life. it is necessary for life when it is according to dharma.

Moksha: it is the final and ultimate goal of human life according to Vedic philosophy when human beings lives their life according to upper three objectives Dharma, Arth  and Kama only then the moksha is possible. Moksha means the liberation ,the Upanishad describe the liberation as  when someone treat others with respect, never harm others life in anyway Only then someone can achieve the final goal of life moksha .Thus according to Vedic philosophy in purushasuktam supports the sustainable development in a proper way. But in today’s world we don’t follow the principles of nature that's why we are facing so many problems.

The Rig Veda explains about the HinduDeities Mitra, varuna, indra, maruth etc. and they are responsible for maintaining balance between earth and heaven the hymns also explainwhen human beings not work properly only then it results in imbalance .They believe every entity of nature as a friend and as kind hearted.

Mitrasyaaham chakshushaa sarvani bhootani smeeksha

All the Vedas, Rig-Veda, Samveda, Yajurveda and Atharveda explain about the power and importance of nature so many hymns are related to nature and environment.  In every Vedas we find the respect for nature there are so many hymns to protect the nature and environment and also many warningsthat, if we do not work according to the principle of nature then we have to face many types of problems. They considered earth as mother and Vedic prayers interventions for blessings and to protect the environment. They describe earth and heaven together And believes that if earth gives us so many things then it is also our moral duty to pay and work for it .  They also have many prayers regarding the excessive exploitation of earth they prays  for the forgiveness and pray for its quick recovery. So during the Vedic era there is a reciprocal approach towards the cosmic existence. Vedas talks about the nature with the feeling of sacrifices and the wealth of nature do not belong to someone and must be shared by all.

 Samudr vasane Devi parvatasthana mandale Vishnu patri namastumbhay pada sparsham k shamasva me

These hymns explain about the reverence and respect to mother earth and pray for forgiveness for stepping on it with the feet.

Shanoostudvipaday shan catuspaddy 

 This hymns for the happiness of all creatures with two legs and four legs because of the believe that every creature is the creation of nature and God and all have equal rights on this earth and also essential for the balance of nature. It’s a good example of tolerance in Veda.

 The concept of Vasudhaiv kutumbakamis found in Upanishad, it means the whole world is one family and its every word has vast meaning like vasudevhaive means the Earth, EV means is and kutumbhkum means family. The phrases compromise in the 6th chapter ofMahaupnishad No. VI.71-73 and belongs to samveda traditions.   it also criticized the  narrow minded people and praise  for the kind hearted people . it explains that, it is mine and this is not mine,  is the work of only these peoples who are narrow minded and ignorant and for the Nobel hearted persons whole world is their family and one family. So approximately 2500 years ago Vedic tradition stressed on the value of oneness in the whole universe and that is most necessary thing in today’s worlds to establish peace and harmony among the different countries.  it also includes the concept of unity in diversity and that is the main feature of Indian society and culture during the ancient times. The philosophy of vasudhaiev kutumbakam also provides guidance to the whole world to adhere to sustainable developments goals and motivates and guides for the works towards the climate change and for the biodiversity. in modern times also our prominent leaders time to time use and follow this phrases of vasudhaiev kutumbakam for universal peace and other human values .Jawaharlal Nehru the first Prime Minister of India use it in a conference and Rajiv Gandhi the former Prime Minister of India in 1989 cited this to revive the idea of one world and put forward for the vague notions and citizenship. Atal Bihari Vajpayee   the former Prime Minister also used this phrases in a speech in 2002 on the occasion of national human rights day and stressed that Indian culture always promoted and advocate  for the human rights and it is  proved by the concept of universal brotherhood that is included in the Vedic knowledge. In 2014 India’s   present Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi also used these phrases for promoting peace and controls the cross border terrorism. so the concept of vasudhaiev kutumbkham   stood for the oneness and treated whole world as one family and supports the sustainable development.

 So after the discussion of Vedic wisdom we found that Vedic composer stressed on the value of nature in human life and Indian humanity relies on the force of awakening for the Environment Protection and preservation. There are many texts in Indian cultural heritage that Proves  the importance of ecological conservation. Our ancestors had proper knowledge how to spread awareness to secure our mother earth and understand the importance and necessity to secure the prosperity of mother earth for the conservation and sustainable development.  The Vedic texts explain about the layer that protects us from the harmful rays of the sun. In modern days the scientists identifies it as the ozone layer. RigVeda indicates that it is the pious duty of rishis and skillful persons to aware the human beings about the protection of nature thus to achieve the goals of sustainable development the learning should be based on Vedas and it is not wrong if we said that even today also we are not developed enough to equal the Vedic thoughts of sustainable development  so Vedas works for proper awareness and inspires all  to save the environment and for establishing the harmony and brotherhood among the human races . In current scenario it is necessary to follow the Vedas they are the basic source of moral and ethical values.

 Buddhism and sustainable development

Buddhist philosophy based on respect, love and concern for all living beings which means it tries to establish good relations in society ,promote equality and protect the environment and this is also the main goals of sustainable development.  According to Buddhist philosophy all living beings  are interrelated and interdependent they believes nature as alive component and conscious .it is also possible to conquered  it because according to them nature is  not considered as perfect and  the deep reality  of nature is not different from The Enlightenment of inner nature of ourselves and we can experience and enjoy the nature when we purify our minds and when the mind is purified  only then  the land is purified because only the purified mind is able to understand  that humans are not separate and superior from the other sentient beings humans can not treat other sentient  as objects for their consumptions. Buddhist believe In enlightenment and considered enlightened onlythose who do not harm others life.Theystressed on self realization and explain that when we understand properly we find that there is no ultimate division between inner and outerand the nature is also same.They talked about the place where there are unspoiled natural locations in forests and ascetics practices are recommended in these forests.

Pratityasamutpadais the principle of Buddhism, it means everything has its interdependency from different cause and it is clearly consistent with. Sustainable development .According to Buddhist nature is meant for everyone benefit and only then we can get benefited by it if we maintain hormonal relations between the all living beings. Jataktexts explain and convey the message properly about it.  Buddha also paidgratitude’s towards the Bodhi tree under which he attend the knowledge. According to Buddhist theory man is only a part of nature. The Van ropa Sukt also support for the protection and development of environment. Buddhist principles and teachings are based on peace, development, happiness and harmony it promotes socio and economic equality in the society.

Arthshastra and Sustainable Development

Arthshastra was   written by kautilya he was the Prime Minister of Chandragupta maurya. It is a important and valuable book of Indian history. It covers all the important subjects related to economics, politics,laws, and duties of kings, rights and duties of publics, ethics and diplomacy. Kautilya Arthshastrais designed to guide the king to enforcing law for the welfare of the society and state. Kautilya describes the duty of king to protect the forest and natural resources by making proper laws and by the appointments of officers for the protection 0f Forest and natural resources .He also advised the state to grow more plants on dry lands. He describes that it is the duty of king to protect forest, mines and water reservoirs. He also advised to protect the animals and describe it is the duty of king to make proper arrangements for themin theparks and forests etc. He also advised king to make proper laws and punishment for them who harms these animals. Arthshastra also defines about the making of houses, cremation sites, roads in proper way according to environment and if someone violates these rules they should be punished according to law. Arthshastra also defines the punishment for them who tried to pollute the environment. The proper fine should be imposed according to the act of violators. He advised that everyone should be aware and careful about the preservation of public property. It also defines about the natural calamities andadvice for proper arrangements to control these types of calamities. He advised as the duty of king and publicboth to maintain the natural resources properly to control these natural hazards. We can say that ecological and environment awareness is found in every chapter of Arthshastra and he was very aware towards the preservation of environment.Many rules and laws were made during the mauryan period to protect the environment and also made provisions for punishment for the violation. We may learn the ways for thepreservation of nature from our ancient text like Vedas and kautilya Arthashastra. Arthshastra also defines about the good governance when he describes about the duties of the king he explains that to maintain peace, security and public infrastructure and other facilities to the public is the main duty of king.  It is also the duty of king to provide fair and caring administration to public.Kautilya also describes about the welfare of state and it is the main duty of administration to make his subjects happy and he proposed ethical and sovereign state.

After the discussion of this topic in we find that there is a lot of knowledge regarding the sustainable developments in our ancient text Vedas, Buddhist literature and Arthsashtra written by kautilya. During the ancient times our higher educational institutes also plays a great role for the preservation and Protection of the nature. There are so many examples that we find and discussed in this paper for the achieving of sustainable developments goals. The concept of “survey bhavantu sukhinah, survey santu niramaya.’’ And many other Vedic hymns shows that our ancestors were more aware and conscious then us and even today also we are not able to understand the value of ancient wisdom. In present days man had started exploitation of natural resources of earth and nature for their own interest and benefits and that is the main causes of many types of problems related to the sustainable developments. Now it is the very important to learn a lot of things from our ancient Indian past and used it for the benefit and achievement of sustainable development goals. Not any one of the culture and religion disregards the nature although they teaches us how to established balance between the nature and human beings. Hindu religion and Buddhist both Teaches us how to protect our environment. Hindu religion talked about how to protect and save the natural resources for the coming generations. Hindu dharma stressed about the principles of sacrifices and growth of everyone. There are some suggestions also for the achieving the sustainable developments goals. Firstly we have to respect the nature completely. Education should be provided to all through educational institutes. As educational institutes plays a great role for the awareness. Higher institutes in ancient India also provide the proper knowledge; the subjects related to environment, Morals, ethics and Dharma were taught in Nalanda and, Takshshila Vishwavidyalaya. Ancient text of Wisdom Vedas also taught by the rishis and they are full of knowledge related to this subject .So for maintaining the natural resources safe and secure in present days it is necessary to aware everyone regarding the value of nature. Through conferences, seminars and by all other channels we can aware people to protect the environment. We should follow the principles of Vedic knowledge because everything is included in it related to the sustainable development.

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