vknardep jan 2012

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Echoes of EcoBuilding a Sustainable Society In this issue:

Building a Sustainable Society

The Happenings I

The Happenings-II

Murugan Kuntram Work

Societal Innovaton Award Visions of Wisdom

Speech is, verily, greater than aname. Speech makes one

understand the inner and outersciences, as also righteousnessand unrighteousness, the trueand the false, the good and the

bad, the pleasant and theunpleasant. Verily, if there were

no speech, neither righteousnessnor unrighteousness would be

known, neither the true nor thefalse, neither the pleasant nor theunpleasant. Speech, verily, makes

us know all this. Meditate uponspeech.

-Sama Veda

Meditate upon Speech

January, 2012 Vivekananda Kendra- nardep Newsletter Vol:3 No:11

Service to humanity is the highest form of worship Swami Vivekananda

A sustainable world must be basedon visions of what sustainability is,and our experiments with it aroundthe world are helping us createit. If we accept the notion of theliving Earth, and the body ofhumanity as an integral part of it,then we have no choice but toimplement a healthy win/win worldthat can continue indefinitely,which means a sustainable world.As long as you are healthy andavoid accidents, you aresustainable for a natural lifetime .In the same sense, a healthy worldis a sustainable world.Manypeople wonder how long we haveto turn things around. It is really nota question of some critical turningpoint, but of nurturing more viablesystems even as the old ones

decay.

One metaphor for our changingworld is Norie Huddle's story of acaterpillar's metamorphosis into abutterfly. After consuminghundreds of times its own weightdaily as it munches its way throughits ecosystem, the bloatedcaterpillar forms its chrysalis.Inside its body, new biologicalentities called imaginal discs arise,at first destroyed by its immune

system. But as they grow more innumber and begin to link up, theybegin to survive.

Eventually the caterpillar's immunesystem fails, its body goes intomeltdown and the imaginal discsbecome the cells that build thebutterfly from the spent materials thathad held the blueprint for thebutterfly all along. In just this way, ahealthy new world, based on theprinciples of living systems, canemerge through today's chaotictransformation. There are as manyways to build a new world of livingsystems as there are creative peoplewho want to do it!

Remember that we have seen allevolution as an improvisationaldance. the healthy features of livingsystems at their best. From there weneed only the will and the love tocreate a better future for all living

beings. Each person, as an imaginaldisc, can contribute to the process oftoday's metamorphosis in someunique way. What matters is that weall understand the Earthdance andthe healthy features of living systemsat their best. From there we needonly the will and the love to create abetter future for all living beings.

Excerpt from Elisabet Sahtourisbook Earth dance. Elisabet

Sahtouris is a Greek EvolutionaryBiologist and a popular lecturer onecology and sustainable future. .


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This Month This month

Green Health Home at Vivekanandapuram functioned for 7 days andtreated 161 patients.

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, January 2012, Vol. 3 No: 11

At bottom, the whole concernof religion is with the manner of our acceptance

of the universe. William James

Dr.Pillai honored at Dairy Mela

Dept. of Dairy Development, Govt.of Kerala conducted the Dairy Melaat Indira Community Hall,Chirayinkal Taluk, Trivandrum Dist.This was held on 20

thand 425

persons attended it. Dr.Pillai gave apower point presentation on Azollaas a Bio-feed. Minister K.C.Josephhonoured him for getting SocietalInnovation Award from NRDC, NewDelhi.Workshop on Propagation ofAzolla Technology was heldunder the auspices of Dept. of DairyDevelopment, Thiruvalla Dist., Govt.of Kerala. It was conducted at theTechnology Resource Center ofVK-nardep at, Kalluvillai on 26

thand

27th

and the participants numbered50. They also visited and studiedthe Gramodaya Park for right livingand learnt the various technologies.Dr.P.Kamalasanan Pillai was theresource person.

Pawnee Native American

Prayer Song

Water was tested from 14 wells inKanyakumari Dist programme of Central

Ground Water Board, Chennai.

Working Group meeting on RuralDevelopment and Poverty Alleviation for

12

th

Five year plan, Planning Commision,Govt. of Tamilnadu was held at thePWD Conference Hall, Secretariat,Chennai on 10

th. Shri.G.Vasudeo attended

Dr.Ganapathi is now in the facebook andyou can follow him for keeping track of hisvaluable programmes at :

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?

id=1108936657

Remember, remember thecircle of the sky

the stars and the browneagle

the supernatural winds-breathing night and dayfrom the four directions.

Remember, remember the

sacredness of thingsrunning streams anddwellings

the young within the nesta hearth for sacred firethe holy flame of fire.

This Month

Participants of Azolla camp viewingthe Gramodaya panels.

Networking

Activities

Participant in Dairy Mela with Azolla kit.


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Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, January 2012 Vol. 3 No: 11

The battle we have fought, and are still fighting, for the forests is part of the eternal conflict betweenright and wrong, and we cannot expect to see the end of it...So we must count on watching and strivingfor these trees, and should always be glad to find anything so surely good and noble to strive for.

- John Muir

100 cubic metre Shakti Surabhi Bio-Methanation Plant

constructed by VK-nardep at Anna University Chennai

Dr. Ganapathi providing Varma treatment to apatient suffering from back pain due to IVDP.

Venue: Green Health Home, Vivekananda KendraKanyakumari.

Inter-vertebral Disc Prolapsed, Lumbago-Sciatica is oneof the common most causes for the severe acute backache. Varma Foot Massage therapy provides veryeffective relief. For this the healer physician uses theKeel Suzhiyadi Varmam, Ellu Kalam, Naayuruppu allthese Varma points are harnessed properly andprofessionally by the healer and the patient is relievedin 20 minutes.

Happenings: This month

Young Scientists Programme 2011-12 was conducted byKumari Arivial Peravai at the Gramodaya Park on 8

thand

Sis.V.Saraswathi gave a talk on Environment Protection. 50students attended the ro ramme

Among the environmental trends undermining our futureare shrinking forests, expanding deserts, falling watertables, collapsing fisheries, disappearing species, and

rising temperatures. The temperature increases bring crop-withering heat waves, more-destructive storms, more-intense droughts, more forest fires, and, of course, ice

melting. We are crossing natural thresholds that we cannot

see and violating deadlines that we do not recognize.-Lester Brown



Sri.Munneswaran is explaining Shakti Surabhitechnology to the participants of the training

session.

Green talk by Sis. Saraswathi on the Green lawns of

Gramodaya Park Kanyakumari: Students listening

Intensive Training and workshop on Kitchen Waste(Shakti Surabhi) Biogas Plant with the DST, Core Supportwas held at TRC, Kalluvilai on 21

stand the resource

person was Shri.V.Muneeswaran. 2 persons attended andbenefitted.

100 cum Bio-methanation plant based on Kitchen andVegetable waste was installed at Anna University, ChennaiIt was inaugurated by the Vice Chancellor of AnnaUniversity on Friday, 20

thJanuary.


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Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, January 2012 Vol. 3 No: 11

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not towalk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle whichwe don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black curious eyes of a child --our own two eyes. All is a miracle. Thich Naht Hanh

The rain water around the hillockwas channelised to the tank and for

that channels were made and alsostructures, in the form of 4 PVCpipes (left) have been embedded inthe walls of temple tank. Deepened,ready with proper infrastructureconstructed and alignedtopographically to receive rain water,now the structure started expectingthe monsoons to fill it with water andtransform the landscape with theprecious resource for life.

A sacred structure to harvest rain water

Murugan Kuntram is a small hillock with a temple for Deity Murugan, Skanda a very popular Tamil Deity, at its top. Itsproximity to the popular pilgrimage center Kanyakumari. A good water body by the side of the hillock temple in that rocky areahas been a long time wish of the devotees as well as local community. Hence, with the support of Sri. R.G.Keswani, Mumbaiand also the participation of local communities, VK-nardep started the work of construction of a rain water harvestingstructure. The proposed tank site was in a rocky terrain. It was deepened with explosives (after getting due permission fromauthorities) and layers of accumulated silt was removed with JPC. Then the loving physical labour was provided by localcommunities, students, Kendra volunteers and the pond started getting shape. Temple ponds have a traditional structure. Thispond too was created with the same traditional features including an elaborate form of steps for people to come and take bathas well as do ritual oblations.

Murugan Kuntram Water Harvesting

Structure

Murugan Kuntam rain water harvesting structure as it is today with the monsoon rain water held in it; A beautiful garden is

also coming up by its side. In a major ceremony VK-nardep handed over the rain water harvesting structure to the localcommunity.

From the unyielding outer surface of a rocky terrain, slowly and definitely a temple pond takes shape. JPC is removingthe silt and Kendra volunteers are participating in providing labour for the deepening of the pond by removing tons ofstones.


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R dec

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, April 2009 Vol. I No: 2

God forbid that India should ever take to industrialism after the manner of the west... keeping theworld in chains. If [our nation] took to similar economic exploitation, it would strip the world barelike locusts.

- Mahatma Gandhi

Echoes of Eco - Newsletter, Vivekananda Kendra nardep, January 2012, Vol. 3 No: 11

Societal Innovation

AwardTo be awarded to

Dr.Kamalasannan Pillai inFebruary 2012

For decades our Senior Scientist,Dr.Kamalasannan Pillai has beenworking on Azolla as a bio-feedthrough a backyard cultivationtechnology.

Dr.Pillai, identified a stress resistanthigh bio-mass producing Azollastrain, He further continuouslyworked on strain improvement and

selection over the period of morethan a decade.

Today he offers Azolla as an organicbio-nitrogen production system, bio-protein production system and acarbon-di-oxide sink. He also hasfound Azolla to be an Oxygengenerator and a synthesizer of avariety of vital amines and mineralproteins. Though the nitrogen fixingcapacity of Azolla was known earlier,there was no fool-proof technology

acka e for its mass roduction and

He also developed a technology forhigh value Azolla production for feedpellet production. This technologyallows further harnessing of itspotentials as a nutraceutical. Dr.Pillaiswork transcends the walls of researchlab and has been taken to the peopleand has had revolutionary impact onthe ground. The production technologyis not only easily adaptable but alsocan be efficiently integrated with theagro-eco system of the farmer.Thousands of farmers from Kerala,Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh took

up the backyard Azolla cultivation tofeed their livestock with good results,increasing the milk, meat and eggproduction and significantly reducingthe external inputs.

Azolla technology has arrived in timefor rural India. Today one of the majorproblems is the deficiency inbiologically fixed Nitrogen in the agro-eco system. This is compensatedtoday by chemical fertilizer, the excessapplication of which makes the soil

almost biologically dead. Further thechemical residue in food andenvironment leads to a variety of newgeneration diseases in both humansand also human domesticatedanimals. The deficiency of protein inlivestock and humans is compensatedby industrially produced chemicalprotein analogues like urea andmelamine in feed and food. Needlessto say this also has dangerous side-effects. Now, one can understand howcrucial and vital the Azolla innovationoffered by Dr.Pillai and his team.

Ever humble Dr.Pillai sees this

award as yet another opportunity tomake more farmers get to knowAzolla. His aim is to see Azolla bedin the backyard of every farmer inIndia. Ultimately Azolla shouldbecome an integral part of Indianrural householdalmost like afamily member, that is his target.

All these hard work of VK-Nardephas borne fruit in the form oftechnology being accepted by dairyfarmers from across the nation.Today livestock farmers of Kerala,Tamil Nadu and even Bihar use the

backyard technology developed byDr.Pillai and his team to cultivateAzolla and use it as bio-feed. Allprogressive farmers in Kerala todayhave Azolla in their backyard. Milkco-operatives and poultry unitsacross the states show interest inAzolla. The green fern is causing awhite revolution of not just milk butalso eggs.

The one and a half decade work ofDr.Kamalasanan Pillai, in not only

innovative research but alsozealously taking the technology tothe people, received recognition thisyear by way of Societal InnovationAward 2010 from NationalResearch DevelopmentCorporation, New Delhi (Ministry ofScience and Technology). Theaward carries a certificate and prizemoney of Rs.3 lakhs which will begiven at a public function sometimein February, 2012.


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Schrdinge

Vivekananda Kendra nardep, Kanyakumari-629702 Phone:91-4652-246296www.vknardep.org

Human consciousness arose but a minute before midnight on the geological clock. Yet we mayflies tryto bend an ancient world to our purposes, ignorant perhaps of the messages buried in its long history.Let us hope that we are still in the early morning of our April day.

- Stephen Jay Gould

Each life form has a beginning, anarc of a life story, and then anending. Most of our internal and

external attention andcommunication circle around theparticulars of how we defineourselves as collective life and howwe define ourselves, or others, asparticular life. We all come from life-giving energy, are infused andanimated by life energy to becomea particular life-form, and we all endin returning to formless life. Alongthe way there are small and greatdramas, crossroads of destiny andsurprises both wondrous and

horrific. Some life stories end veryquickly and some go on and on.There are countless dramas withinthis bigger, incomprehensibleuniversal story. Stories are sung,put into sacred books, memorized,dramatized and consultedgeneration after generation. Ourcollective cosmic story is a teemingtheater of lifeforms appearing anddisappearing. Forms are born, livethrough many stories and then die.Before any form appears, life is

here. During the lifetime of anyform, life is animating that form.After any particular form dies, life --while withdrawn from that form --remains here. Life is true. It isalways here.

We are absolutely one; we arephysically one, we are mentally one,and as spirit, it goes without saying,

that we are one, if we believe in spiritat all. This oneness is the one fact thatis being proved every day by modernscience. To proud man it is told: Youare the same as that little worm there;think not that you are somethingenormously different from it; you arethe same. You have been that in aprevious incarnation, and the wormhas crawled up to this man state, ofwhich you are so proud. This grandpreaching, the oneness of things,making us one with everything that

exists, is the great lesson to learn, formost of us are very glad to be madeone with higher beings, but nobodywants to be made one with lowerbeings. That is exactly the teachingof the Advaita, about which I amlecturing to you. The Self is theessence of this universe, the essenceof all souls; He is the essence of yourown life, nay, Thou art That. You areone with this universe. He, who says,he is different from others, even by ahairs breadth, immediately becomes

miserable. Happiness belongs to himwho knows this oneness, who knowshe is one with this universe.

Story of Oneness Oneness of All Oneness of Forms

GangajiSpiritual Master

Our story tells us of the sacredness oflife, of the astonishing complexity ofcells and organisms, of the vast

lengths of time it took to generatetheir splendid diversity, of theenormous improbability that any of ithappened at all. Reverence is thereligious emotion elicited when weperceive the sacred. We are called torevere the whole enterprise ofplanetary existence, the whole and allof its myriad parts as they catalyzeand secrete and replicate and mutateand evolve. Ralph Waldo Emersoninvites us to express our reverence inthe form of a prayer. "Prayer," he

writes, "is the contemplation of thefacts of life from the highest point ofview. It is the soliloquy of a beholdingand jubilant soul." I profess myFaith. For me, the existence of all thiscomplexity and awareness and intentand beauty, and my ability toapprehend it, serves as the ultimatemeaning and the ultimate value. Thecontinuation of life reaches around,grabs its own tail, and forms a sacredcircle that requires no furtherjustification. ... If religious emotions

can be elicited by natural reality and I believe that they can thenthe story of Nature has the potentialto serve as the cosmos for the globalethos that we need to articulate.

- Swami Vivekananda

Ursula GoodenoughCell Biologist

vknardep jan 2012

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