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

Yamini Narayanan
Additional contact information
Yamini Narayanan: Politics and Development Studies Program, School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne (Bundoora), Australia, Postal: Politics and Development Studies Program, School of Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne (Bundoora), Australia

Sustainable Development, 2010, vol. 18, issue 5, 252-259

Abstract: 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. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/sd.476 Link to full text; subscription required (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:18:y:2010:i:5:p:252-259

DOI: 10.1002/sd.476

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainable Development is currently edited by Richard Welford

More articles in Sustainable Development from John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().