Get our latest staff recommendations, award news and digital catalog links right to your inbox.
Table of Contents
About The Book
The world finds itself in an existential crisis. Climate chaos abounds. Pollution vitiates soil, water, and food. Anxiety and depression press upon human psyches, young and old. Embodied Ecology explores how core ideas and practices of Hinduism and Yoga might help provide hope and help in these troubled times.
The Vedas and early Upanisads signal the centrality of Earth-awareness in early India. The ethics of Yoga provide guidelines for developing a healthy relationship with the modern ills of over-consumption. Meditation practices as described in the Yoga-vasistha help develop a sense of intimacy with one’s body, with other persons, and with the larger ecosphere. In the modern period, Mahatma Gandhi initiated a thoroughgoing economic critique that helped inspire India’s many contemporary eco-activists including Vandana Shiva, M.C. Mehta, the late Anil Agarwal, and Sunderlal Bahuguna as well as communities including Govardhan Ecovillage and Bija Vidyapeeth.
Traversing these topics, Embodied Ecology seeks to discern how Hindu and Yoga ideals can address the pressing problems of global consumerism, the proliferation of plastic waste, species extinctions, and global climate change. It points toward the ways these rich traditions offer resources for fostering much-needed healing, inner and outer.
Product Details
- Publisher: Mandala Publishing (May 6, 2025)
- Length: 320 pages
- ISBN13: 9798887621166
Browse Related Books
Raves and Reviews
“Christopher Chapple is a distinguished scholar of Hinduism and Ecology. This book represents years of scholarly reflection, careful translations, and engaged practice in the rich landscape of Hinduism. It is an invaluable guide into the ways that Hinduism offers insights into nature, ecological ethics, and yogic practices that will illuminate our world.”
– Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-founder and co-director of the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
“In a period where limitless greed and limitless growth is driving collapse of ecosystems and social systems, Embodied Ecology provides insights into making peace with the earth, in society, with the self. Christopher Chapple dives deep into Indian ecophilosophy and practice. Cultivating harmony and interconnectedness is yoga—joining, nonseparation. Embodied Ecology is Yoga of the Earth.”
– Vandana Shiva, environmental activist and anti-globalisation author
“The author has been a leading voice in the study of Hinduism and ecology for decades. Embodied Ecology is a treasure house of wisdom drawn from the ancient Vedas to contemporary environmental activists, many inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. It invites the reader into serious reflection on current environmental perils, a deep love of nature, and consideration of what the vast religious literature and practices within Hinduism have to offer as possible pathways to a healthier human presence on our precious planet.”
– David L. Haberman, professor emeritus of religious studies, University of Indiana Bloomington and author of People Trees: Worship of Trees in Northern India
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Embodied Ecology eBook 9798887621166