Sri Lankan President Launches Peace Pad Yatra
In a move to foster peace across the region, Live to Love and the Gyalwang Drukpa organised a Peace Pad Yatra in Sri Lanka with Mahinda Rajapaksha, President of Sri Lanka.
The Peace Pad Yatra aims to encourage peace and cooperation among the government, civil society, charities and the citizens of Sri Lanka.
The Gyalwang Drukpa and an entourage of approximately 500 monks, nuns and general participants from India, Nepal, Bhutan, and 16 other countries apart from Sri Lanka are undertaking the Pad Yatra that also saw the participation of the President and Parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksha.
[ Also Read: 10 Simple Reasons I Love My Country India ]Spearheaded by Live to Love, a global humanitarian initiative, the Peace Pad Yatra or Foot Journey in Sri Lanka enjoys the support of the organising committee comprising Presidential Secretariat, National Youth Services Council (NYSC), Tharunyata Hetak, and Youth Social Federation.
The Pad Yatra traverses 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 April 6, 2013.
[ Also Read: South Africa Must Tackle Sexual Violence: UN ]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 tribute to the peace loving nation and its people and to humanity around the world.”
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, 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, 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.”
The Gyalwang Drukpa, belonging to Tibetan Buddhism, is a title for the head of the Drukpa school.
In the picture above: The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksha and the Gyalwang Drukpa lead the Peace Pad Yatra as it starts off from Kataragama in Sri Lanka
