The Environmental Acid Test: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Nowhere is the question “Is religion hopelessly anachronistic, or can it actually support the emergence of greater planetary consciousness?” as powerfully played out as it is around the issue of “the environment.” Fresh air, clean water, renewable fire, and fragrant earth are universally desired and desirable. They transcend distinctions between “insiders” and “outsiders,” since everyone has to breathe the same air and drink the same water. The ubiquity of the environment, and the un-deniability of its influence at this present moment of human time, overwhelms long entrenched narratives and their particulars. Can institutional religion (Vaishnavism,
in this case) be an ally in this historical process? The consideration of this question opens a fascinating window onto the potential of tradition to birth a new matrix of practice and perspective so as not to become an increasingly dead weight that makes entrance into the new extremely difficult, if not impossible.