International Journal of Social Science Research (IJSSR)

Importance of Environmental Ethics and Role of the Concept of Ṛṇa and Lokasaṁgraha in Sustaining Environmental Ethics

Environmental Ethics is a branch of ethics that studies the moral relationship between human and nature. It emphasized the moral duties and responsibilities of human in protecting and preserving the natural resources. It is because, without nature human beings cannot survived their life. As we fulfill our needs from environment, in return we should also fulfill our duties to environment. The duties and responsibilities of human beings to nature are very precisely mentioned in the concept of Ṛṇa in the Vedas and the concept of Lokasaṁgraha in the Bhāgawat Gitā. Five kinds of Ṛṇas have been mentioned in the Vedas of which one is called Prakriti Ṛṇa. According to this concept we have some debts to our nature and we have to repay the same. Air, water and foods are essential elements for surviving life and we get these from nature. So, we have some duties towards nature as like we have duties towards our parents. On the other hand Lokasaṁgraha is one of the prominent concepts of Gitā, which means ‘welfare of the world’. As a part of the society every person has some duties to perform for the welfare of the world and the individual welfare is possible only through social welfare. The world is a combination of three elements namely Human Beings, Animals and the Nature. So, the welfare of the world means welfare of these three elements. Key Words: Environmental Ethics, Ṛṇa, Lokasaṁgraha, Social Welfare etc.