Natural Resources Development Project

This month saw a very important development in 'Green Rameshwaram' project.

A very happy Ugadi.  This month newsletter concludes the previous month serial on the blue print for a 'Green Rameshwaram.' Mata Sri Amritanandamayi in her message sent on the occassion of the starting function of 'Green Rameshwaram' said "By taking up this work of transforming the ancient island town of Rameshwaram into 'Green Rameshwaram', Vivekananda Kendra is doing a great service to Mother Nature, Indian people and

Vivekananda Kendra-nardep has worked out a detailed holistic blue print for making Rameshwaram a green pilgrimage. This involves discovering the historical, cultural and ecological linkages and reviving them. Apart from linkages we also have to revive the relations at the institutional, social and individual levels. A road map to this has been charted out. Beginning this newsletter we are sharing this with you. You can read it in detail and understand the holistic transformation VK-nardep aims to achieve in Rameshwaram by making it a green pilgrimage model island.

The Vision document in the form of a video documentary in Tamil was released at the function and was screened to the audience. It unveiled a ten-dimensional blueprint for actualizing the green Rameshwaram project.

As part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Swami Vivekananda, VK-nardep has taken up the renovation of the 16 sacred teerthams of Rameshwaram. This is the continuation of the report series of the progress of the project. As the Teerthams are getting revived they are now getting used by the community for both day today use and also for ritual purposes. Many of the Teerthams are also situated near the local village shrines – particularly sacred trees.

This is the first newsletter of 2014 and carries the activities of the last month of 2013. Here in continuation with the  150th year celebrations we present the views of Swami Vivekananda that form the philosophical basis of VK-nardep activities. Here Swami Vivekananda speaks about the organic unity of all life as fellow travellers in a cosmic odyssey.

In continuation with the publishing of the thoughts of Swami Vivekananda which can form the basis of a Indian environmental movement, this month we publish an excerpt from him lecture at New York, 'The Real and Apparent Man'.

This month newsletter brings out how Swami Vivekananda was one of the earliest modern thinker-seer to challenge the man-centric vision of nature that was responsible for the vast destruction of the environment.

This month is the month when Swami Vivekananda proclaimed his message of universal brotherhood at the World Parliament of Religions at Chicago. Underlying this message of universal human brotherhood is the larger message of solidarity with all existence - not just humans. This month we present an excerpt from Swami Vivekananda's lecture at Jaffna.

The veneration for all life is the basis of deep ecology and Swami Vivekananda points to this core aspect of all existence - its innate divinity.