Natural Resources Development 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.

Even as we share this month newsletter with you, we are also sharing the pain and grief of all those who lost their dear ones in the Uttarakhand tragedy. This immense human tragedy has made us realize that our pilgrimages are meant to be green pilgrimages as well. They should have in them an in-built institutional respect for the grandness of nature. In fact the immense temple that stands at Kedarnath has been meeting such natural ravages from time immemorial and has withstood them all because those who envisioned this shrine also built it in tune with nature.

VK-Nardep Annual Report 2012-13