Sri Lanka Peace Pad Yatra Launched by Lankan President with Fanfare
NEW DELHI and COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, March 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
Live to Love and the Gyalwang Drukpa work to further peace in Sri Lanka
The President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksha, launched the Sri Lanka Peace Pad Yatra with enthusiastic fanfare at the Kirivehera temple premises in Kataragama. The President and Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksha participated in the Pad Yatra for a couple of kilometres along with the Gyalwang Drukpa and a posse of approximately 500 monks, nuns and general participants from India, Nepal, Bhutan, and 16 other countries apart from Sri Lanka. Parliamentarians, Provincial and Local Council members including Mayors and Urban Council chairmen in Sri Lanka will continue to join the Pad Yatra as it reaches their respective areas.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130314/601417-a )
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130314/601417-b )
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130314/601417-c )
Spearheaded by Live to Love, a global humanitarian initiative, the Peace Pad Yatra or Foot Journey in Sri Lanka enjoys the full-fledged support of the organising committee comprising Presidential Secretariat, National Youth Services Council (NYSC), Tharunyata Hetak, and Youth Social Federation. The Pad Yatra will traverse from south to north, covering a distance of about 500 kilometres and visiting holy sites like Sri Pada, Kandy, Matale, Dambulla, Sigiriya, Polannaruwa, and Anuradhapura before concluding at Jaffna in the north of Sri Lanka on 6th April 2013.
The Gyalwang Drukpa, a recipient of the United Nations Millennium Develop Goals Honour and of the NDTV-Toyota Green Hero Award in India, is leading the Pad Yatra which aims to promote peace and harmony, as well as an eco-friendly living. The Gyalwang Drukpa stated, "In order to promote peace in the world, we must first find peace within ourselves. In order to promote an eco-friendly way of living, we must first connect ourselves with nature. We live in a fast-moving world that focuses too much on material success and I believe we've become disconnected with our own environment. I feel that in modern times, a Pad Yatra or 'Foot Journey' is one of the most effective methods to restore the ecological balance and the peaceful state of mind, through reconnecting with our experiential understanding of nature."
This is the 6th Pad Yatra that the Gyalwang Drukpa is undertaking and his first, outside of India. Since 2006, the Gyalwang Drukpa has taken hundreds of environmentally concerned participants on foot journeys through various parts of India - Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Ladakh, Manali, Sikkim and Darjeeling, each time the participants picked up more than one ton of non-biodegradable waste and educated populace in the remote areas about the importance of keeping the environment clean and green for future generations.
Arjun Pandey, Head of Live to Love India, said, "After years of strife, peace is now settling in the region. The Pad Yatra is our tribune to the peace-loving nation and its people and to humanity around the world. We will continue to draw out the love and respect for humanity in our continuous effort to create an even better and everlasting world."
More information on the Pad Yatra is available here: http://www.walking.drukpa.com
Follow the Gyalwang Drukpa in action during the Pad Yatra on Facebook and for more photographs of the Pad Yatra, go to http://www.facebook.com/LiveToLoveInternational
About Live to Love
Live to Love, a global humanitarian initiative founded by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Award-winning philanthropist, the Gyalwang Drukpa, focuses on 5 directions to improve the world: Education, Medical Services, Relief Aid, Heritage Preservation and Environmental Sustainability. It supports regional activities in Brazil, France, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Peru, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Vietnam, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Live to Love has been at the forefront of various initiatives
- Ashoka Stupa restoration in Nangchen, China in July 2012
- Ladakh International Film Festival in June 2012
- 5 yearly Pad Yatras since 2006 to promote environment awareness
- The 2nd Guinness World Record for "Most Trees Planted Simultaneously" in 2012 for planting 99,103 trees in 55 minutes
- The first Guinness World Record for "Most Trees Planted Simultaneously" in 2010 for planting 55,000 trees
- Relief mission to Ladakh post flash floods in August 2010
- Relief mission to China's Yushu region post earthquake in April 2010
More about Live to Love at http://www.LiveToLove.org
About the Gyalwang Drukpa
The India-born Buddhist spiritual leader, the Gyalwang Drukpa, is an active proponent of peace and harmony through putting compassion into action. He is most lauded for promoting gender equality and awareness on environmental issues. He is the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Award recipient and Green Hero of India. His Kung Fu Nuns (an example of female empowered community leaders) were featured on the Life Series broadcasted by BBC World News in September 2011. He also led Ladakh in breaking the Guinness World Records for "Most Trees Planted" category on 10th October 2010, and again in October 2012. He is also the founder of the school in Ladakh which was featured in the popular movie "The 3 Idiots" and is now more popularly known as "Rancho's School".
More details are available on http://www.drukpa.org
Contact: Shreeya Roy, [email protected], +91-9350335761
SOURCE Live to Love
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