Deakin University
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

Sustainable consumption as a means to self-realization: a Hindu perspective on when enough is enough

journal contribution
posted on 2010-01-01, 00:00 authored by Yamini NarayananYamini Narayanan
In this paper, I investigate the religious notion of self-realization or self-actualization in the context of sustainability, and argue that sustainability is the means to this end. I am particularly interested in Hindu perspectives on self-realization or the Purusharthas. The Purusharthas provide an interesting sustainability critique because they consider the satisfaction of material want as an important step to self-actualization; the reconciliation of want and need is a fundamental sustainability tension. The issue of growing want is doubtless an important one, given the rapidly growing middle classes in the developing world that aspire to Western material dreams, as illustrated by the case of Delhi. The Purusharthas may be seen to give consumption legitimacy; however, I argue that it is the selective understanding and institutionalization of the religious message that causes the sustainability problem. Viewed in their entirety, the Purusharthas provide the correct prescriptions for the sustainable enjoyment of want, and take the adherent beyond sustainability into greater transcendence or self- awareness.

History

Journal

Sustainable development

Volume

18

Issue

5

Pagination

252 - 259

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell Publishing

Location

Chichester, England

ISSN

0968-0802

eISSN

1099-1719

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2010, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing

Usage metrics

    Research Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC