Vk Nardep Newsletter May 2013

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Echoes of EcoThe Nature and Mind: One Continuum In this issue:

The Nature and Mind: OneContinuum

Rameshwaram Project :SahadevaTeertham

The Happenings 1

Summer: its Camp Time! Our Publication: Village system

Visions of Wisdom: Eco-spirituality

Your flavors, O Food, arespread throughout space, high

like the breezes they arescattered.Those who share

your sweetness with others are

truly your friends. Those whokeep your fine taste tothemselves are stiff-necked

wretches! ...From waters and plants weimbibe the choicest portion.

Therefore, O Body, thrive; attainfull stature.

-Rig Veda I-187:4,5,7

Meditating on Food

May, 2013 Vivekananda Kendra- nardep Newsletter Vol:5 No:3

The external and internal natures arenot two different things; they are reallyone. Nature is the sum total of allphenomena. "Nature" means all that is,all that moves. We make a tremendousdistinction between matter and mind;we think that the mind is entirelydifferent from matter. Actually, they arebut one nature, half of which iscontinually acting on the other half.Matter is pressing upon the mind in theform of various sensations. Thesesensations are nothing but force. Theforce from the outside evokes the forcewithin.

From the will to respond to or get awayfrom the outer force, the inner forcebecomes what we call thought. Bothmatter and mind are really nothing butforces; and if you analyse them farenough, you will find that at root theyare one. The very fact that the externalforce can somehow evoke the internalforce shows that somewhere they joineach other they must be continuousand, therefore, basically the same

force. When you get to the root ofthings, they become simple andgeneral.

Since the same force appears in oneform as matter and in another form asmind, there is no reason to think matterand mind are different.

Mind is changed into matter, matter ischanged into mind. Thought forcebecomes nerve force, muscular force;muscular and nerve force becomethought force. Nature is all this force,whether expressed as matter or mind.

The difference between the subtlestmind and the grossest matter is onlyone of degree. Therefore the wholeuniverse may be called either mind ormatter, it does not matter which. Youmay call the mind refined matter, or thebody concretised mind; it makes littledifference by which name you call. Allthe troubles arising from the conflictbetween materialism and spirituality aredue to wrong thinking. Actually, there isno difference between the two. I and thelowest pig differ only in degree. It is lessmanifested, I am more. Sometimes I amworse, the pig is better.

[Excerpt from the lecture of Swami

Vivekananda]

Service to humanity is the highest form of worship Swami Vivekananda


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We must have friendship for all; we must be merciful toward those that are in misery; whenpeople are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked we must be indifferent. These

attitudes will make the mind peaceful. -Swami Vivekananda

The thorny bushes were removed. All the outgrowths were cutoff and thus the teertham started becoming visible. Then thelaborious process of desilting started. The water which hasbecome stagnant and completely polluted was removedmechanically. As the renovation work started it could be seenthat water was oozing in like bore water. The existing wall whichhas been crumbling under the heavy bush growth has beenraised by 2 to avoid pollution in the future. An ancient well whichhas been dug inside the teertham is now visible. And nowpillars have been constructed for gates. The whole teerthamstructure has been white washed. Now pure water starts to fill inthe teertham.

For more information about the project and how you cancontribute, contact: Secretary, VK-nardep, Vivekanandapuram,Kanyakumari-629702

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, May 2013, Vol. 5 No: 3

ThirdTeertham : Sahadeva Teertham

Swami Vivekanandas 150th

birth anniversarycelebrations are making ecological footprints in the sandsof Rameshwaram. Even as the work on HanumanTeertham and Draupadi Teertham are progressingwonderfully, the work at Sahadeva Teertham has beentaken up by Kendra. This is the third teertham that isgetting renovated

The teertham is named after Sahadeva the famous

Pandava prince. There is a staunch belief of desiresgetting fulfilled and hurdles removed by visiting here.This makes the teertham, when renovated, becoming animportant place of eco-pilgrimage to the local as well asvisiting populations. The teertham is located 4 kilometersfrom the temple.

As the renovation work commenced and the Kendraworkers entered the Sahadeva Teertham, they found thatas with the previous two teerthams this too was stronglypolluted. The water was putrid and stagnant. Layers ofpollution accumulated for decades covered thesacredness of the teertham. Further it was full of thorny

shrubs and bushes. The wall surrounding the teerthamwas so dilapidated that it was no more able to preventany pollution entering the teertham and was crumblingslowly. The teertham was in a state worse thanforgotten. There is a crematorium nearby. And the onlyreason this teertham has not completely collapsed isbecause some ritual water is taken from this pollutedwaters during the last rites of passage. In other wordsthe ritual use of this polluted water continued withouttaking care of maintaining the teertham.

The holistic purpose of the ritual has been thus forgotten.Hence the need for renovating the teertham becomes an

important work for reviving the water body and makingthe local ritual as well as over all pilgrimage anexperience more meaningful and pleasant.

Hanuman Teertham Now: From pollution to Purity


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This Month

Come out into the universe of Light. Everything in the universe is yours, stretch out your arms andembrace it with love. If you every felt you wanted to do that, you have felt God.

This is no world. It is God Himself.-Swami Vivekananda

Workshop on Training programme onAzolla Cultivation Technology as broadspectrum feed was held at VivekanandaKendra NARDEP, TRC, Kalluvilaion 18

thand Smt. Premlatha was the

resource person. 8 persons receivedintensive training.

Done with DST core support

Water was tested from 14 wells inKanyakumari Dist programme of Central

Ground Water Board, Chennai.

Green Health Home in 7 days treated 105patients and offered them indigenous healthsolutions.

This Month

Holistic Health

In a seminar on Water Conservation inTamilnadu, Engagement with Corporates& Civil Society Organisations organisedby Unicef, Chennai at the Unicef Office,on 7

thof this month a paper on

Renovation of Rameshwaram Teerthamswas presented by Shri.G.Vasudeo. 15delegates attended the programme.

Water: Paper

Presentation

Exposure visit of 200 farmers was

arranged by District WatershedDevelopment Agency, Virudhunagar. Theyvisited Gramodaya Park on 30

thand learnt

Bio-methanation, Rain water harvestingandOrganic farming technologies.

VK-nardep organized workshop onAwareness and Documentation of Ethno-Medical Science (Nadi Chiksha) on 10

thof

this month at Technology Resource CentreKalluvillai. 69 persons attended andDr.Ganapathy was the resource person.

Refresher camp for Family Members was heldat the TRC of VK-nardep at, Kalluvilai, from28

thApril to 1

stMay. 73 family members

attended the camp and enjoyed variousactivities. The resource persons wereSri.V.Ramakrishnan, Sister. V. Saraswathi,

Dr.Umaiyoor Bhagan and others.

One day Workshop on Kitchen Wastebased Bio-Methanation Plant (ShaktiSurabhi) was conducted at TRC,Kalluvillai on 18

th. Shri.V.Ramakrishnan

was the main resource person. 6persons attended the workshop.

Biogas Plants Installed:

Shakthi Surabhi 4 cum: 1Shakthi Surabhi 1 cum: 1

Shakthi Surabhi 2 cum: 1[Fixed Model]

Two camps to create scientific temperin the minds of school children wereheld at TRC-Kalluvillai on 3

rdto 7

thand

12th

to 16th

of this month. The programmewas under the auspices of DST, NewDelhi. Dr.Usha Raja Nandini,Sri.V.Ramakrishnan, Sis.V.Saraswathi

and others served as resource persons.Totally 141 children attended both thecamps

Renewable Energy

This Month

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, May 2013, Vol. 5 No: 3

Side by side, in the

child, should be

developed the power of

concentration and

detachment.

Swami Vivekananda

Networking:

Refresher camp for

famil members

Next Page: Summer is here

and so are the camps!

Networking: This

month


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Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, May 2013 Vol. 5 No: 3

Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigestedall your life.

We must have life-building, man-making, character-making, assimilation of ideas.-Swami Vivekananda

Different sessions at the Family camp at VK-nardep. The camp increases the family bonds. Camp activities caterto the physical, emotional, vital, intellectual and inner well being.

Students are engaging themselves in various indoor and outdoor activities, learning science, feeling nature andstudying life first hand. Two camps on inculcating scientific spirit in children were conducted at VK-nardep TRC.


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Integrated Rural Systems:India has through a long period of history has evolved a rural system which is a veryinterconnected system. However the excessive urbanization and degradation ofagriculture and natural environment are destroying it. Can we save the system andrevive it back to healthy vibrant life? This is an excerpt from our publication: AkshayaVikas Sustainable Development

From ourPublications

Do not pity anyone. Look upon all as your own Self, as your equal. Cleanse yourself of the primal sinof inequality. We are all equal and one must not think I am good and your are bad, so let me reclaimyou. Equality is the sign of the free.

Swami Vivekananda



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You live inside us, beings of thefuture. In the spiral ribbons of ourcells, you are here. In our rage forthe burning forests, the poisonedfields, the oil-drowned seals, you arehere. You beat in our hearts throughlate-night meetings. You accompanyus to clear-cuts and toxic dumps andthe halls of the lawmakers. It is youwho drive our dogged labors to savewhat is left. O You who will walk this

Earth when we are gone, stir usawake. Behold through our eyes thebeauty of this world. Let us feel yourbreath in our lungs, your cry in ourthroat. Let us see you in the poor,the homeless, the sick. Haunt us withyour hunger; hound us with yourclaims, that we may honour the lifethat links us. You have as yet nofaces we can see, no names we cansay. But we need only hold you inour mind, and you teach us patience.You attune us to measures of time

where healing can happen, where soiland souls can mend. You revealcourage within us we had notsuspected, love we had not owned. OYou who come after, help usremember: we are your ancestors.Fill us with gladness for the work thatmust be done.

In Trivandrum when Amma was servingdinner as Prasadam a discipleBrahmachari came to Amma with aplastic plate. Seeing this Amma askedhim where his personal food vessel was.When he said he had not brought it,Amma asked him to remove the shirtand said that she would serve thedinner in that. Many laughed even asthe Brahmachari stood embarassed.

After a few moments Amma said thatthere were empty coconut shells behindthe hall. Amma told the Brahmachari tobring one of them. When he returnedwith a coconut shell Amma served himPrasad dinner in that shell. Thus Ammacommunicated the strict greendiscipline not only to the Brahmacharibut also to those who were watching theencounter as well.

On a similar note during the dinner stopen route to Kanyakumari Amma asked

how many in the tour group had usedpaper plates or cups at least onceduring the tour. Quite a few hands wentup. Seeing this she sternly asked everyone to take a vow to stop using suchproducts. For Amma practicing greenway of living and living in earthawareness is integral to the Sadhana ofinner harmony.

Feeling theMother Universe Prayer to FutureBein sPracticing Eco-Spiritual Discipline

Joanna MacyBuddhist

Philosopher

The clear, unbounded life-energy of theMother Universe is present in all materialforms as well as in seemingly emptyspace. The Mother Universe is notseparate from us, nor is it other than the"ordinary" reality that is continuouslypresent around us. The MotherUniverse is also not limited to containingonly our universe; there likely are a vastnumber of other universes growing in

other dimensions of her unimaginablespaciousness.The Mother Universe is aliving presence out of which all thingsemerge, but it is not itself filled or limitedby these things. Not only are all thingsin it; it is in all things. There is mutual

interpenetration without obstruction. The

Mother Universe allows all things to beexactly what they are withoutinterference. We have immensefreedom to create either suffering or joy.The power and reach of the MotherUniverse is so vast that it cannot be

grasped by our thinking mind. As thesource of our existence, the MotherUniverse is forever beyond the ability ofour limited mental faculties to captureconceptually. Boundless compassion isits essence. To experience the subtleand refined resonance of the MotherUniverse is to experience unconditionallove.

-Duane ElgineEducationist -Amritanandamayi

Spiritual Master

Real existence, real knowledge and real love are eternally connected with one another, the three in one:where one of them is the other also must be there: they are the three aspects of the One without the second

the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss. When the Existence becomes relative we see it as the world.-Swami Vivekananda


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Vk Nardep Newsletter May 2013