The Shiksharties were taken to Vivekananda Rock Memorial early morning before the Sunrise. All had Darshan of the Sripadam of Devi Kanyakumari in Sripad Mandapam. Here Swami Vivekananda had mediated in 1892. All assembled near the Dhwaj Sthambha (flag post) where the Bhagava Dwaj (saffron flag) with the inscription of Omkar on it was hoisted with the Sunrise at 06.25 a.m. This saffron flag is hoisted every day with rising of the sun and lowered at the time of sunset. This tradition continues since the Man-Making mission – Vivekananda Kendra was launched on 7 January 1972.
It ended with Kendra Prarthana. All returned after having Dharshan and taking blessings of Devi Kanyakumari at Kanyakumari, Ekakshar Maha Ganapati and Mananeeya Eknathji at Gangotri in Vivekanandapuram
For more information about various Activities & Camps at Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari please visit drop an email to info[at]vkendra.org or call at (04652)247012.
With the help of the Department of AYUSH, New Delhi, VK-nardep has started documentation on “Traditional Visha Vaidya Practices (TVVP)" in Southern parts of Tamilnadu. We (Dr.V. Ganapathy and VK- nardep technicians along with healer Ramachandran Nair and Suresh Kumar) documented indigenous traditions at Madichal near Kaliiyakkavilai in Kanyakumari District.
Take for example, traditional Visha Vaidya Thiru. Kolappan. Now his age is 81, his experience spans six decades. His son K.Suresh Kumar (age 39) has now an experience of 20 years. Both are rendering service to the community through their K.S.K. Siddha Visha Vaidya Salai near Madichal. Healer Kolappan’s whole generation is doing Visha Vaidya healing for more than 200 years. Per month he is treating an average of 10 – 15 cases. He is treating a range of poisonous bites: the Aranai bite, Cobra bite, Analai bite, Rat bite, Scorpion bite etc. and also non poisonous snake bite and Cat bite etc. But he is not giving treatment for poisonous materials intake.
After giving this herbal formulation, the healer uses Vizha Kal (A kind of herbo-mineral medicine stone like substance) on the affected place. This formulation get applied (by pressing) for a minimum of 15 minutes to 1.30 hrs at the bite place. During that time the rubbing of the stone generates a Heat. So thehealer repeatedly changes his finger. If the venom is inside the body, the stone will stick on the place; if not it will drop. After the application is over, the physician takens the stone and puts it into the milk. The milk changes its colour to blue.
The healer advises the patient to intake only satwic food. The patient is also advised to avoide sleep for the next 24 hrs to 36 hrs. For the next one or two days the healer keeps the patient under observation and advises the patient to take Vizha Kudineer for 3 days. Now he advises non-vegetarian food: particularly chicken. The healer avoids completely the conventional first aid treatments for the poisonous bites. His charges are usually a minimum of Rs.300- 700/ and in rare cases upto Rs.2,000/-.
He is following “Vizha naraneeyam” a Vizha Vaidya book more than 20 years back, but now he is following “Malanguravan Vazhi” – a Vizha Vaidya literature in Malayalam. He is also often refers Karuida panchatram, Agasthiiyar Vizha Vaidya nool. During our interaction he stressed the importance of Prana and Amirtha nilai pulli (traditionally considered as a point of body’s holistic Vital energy). He shared the experiences of how he encountered and cured some of the challengable poisonous bite cases and how he arrived at the treatment and some medicines preparation also. He shared the experiences of his father and father-in-law who were also healers.
He also gives treatment to chronic poisonous bite oedematous ulcer and skin diseases. He is now very much worried about his current and future practise having become endangered. He attributes this to lack of awareness and neglect by Govt policy. We expressed our gratitude for his heart to heart interaction and appreciated the challeneges he faces in practicing this life saving healing system even during the changing times. We collected the sample medicines and documented the interaction in the form of video as well as through the prepared performa.
Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalaya, Kanyakumari celebrated the sports day on 19th February 2011. Shri. C.K. Velu, B.E. (Scientist, ISRO,Mehenragiri) was the chief guest. Children expressed their physical strength in connection with the above said celebration.For the ref. I have enclosed two stills . Kindly look into it.
February sees Darwin's birthday. Here Russian philosopher and biologist Peter Kroptokin shows how to understand evolution in a holistic manner. We present an excerpt from his famous lecture on 'Mutual Aid' and not competition as the basis of evolution.
We talk of sustainable development. What is it that makes a technology sustainable? Taking construction technology as an example we explore the idea of embedded energy and see how it can be used as a criterion for estimating how much sustainable a technology is. Do not miss the table of embedded energy for various building components given here.
A Varma workshop for Siddha physicians and students held at Vivekananda Kendra, Azolla training, a 100 Cubic meter bio-methanation plant constructed at PSG college Coimbatore and many other interesting events that happened last month at VK-nardep are presented for your view.
It is called Indian Jinseng. It is a herbal plant that has a great market potential. Its Sanskrit name is Aswagandha and Tamil name is Amukkra. Its botanicalname is Vitania sominifera. How to cultivate it in your own backyard as both a cash crop and also a medical herb for home use? Vk-nardep has published a book on this herbal plant as part of its efforts to conserve the indigenous medical knowledge. This newsletter gives a review of that book.
Visions of wisdom from J.C.Kumarappa on how to evolve institutions that have permanance. He says: In studying human institutions we should never lose sight of that great teacher, mother Nature. J.C.Bose the famous Indian scientist speaks of an indigenous understanding of science where intuition and meditation are held in concordance in the understanding of truth. He points out that in India this burning imaginationextract new order out of a mass of apparently contradictory facts, is also held in check by the habit of meditation. Carl Sagan speaks of how it is the birthright of every child to encounter the cosmos anew in every culture in every age.