21st of September, United Nations World Peace Day, was celebrated with great passion and enthusiasm in Amritapuri. After weeks of preparation, AYUDH and GreenFriends put together a grand event welcoming all. The focus of the day was to spread awareness of the current environmental issues to the students of Amma’s various colleges in the Amritapuri campus. The theme being Peace with Nature, emphasized the need to reconnect with and protect our Mother Earth.
Swami Ramakrishna addressed the gathering by highlighting the differences between our relationship towards nature now and in the past. He said that we have to regain an attitude of worship and respect towards nature in order to restore the lost harmony of life. Several videos were shown to highlight Amma’s teachings on environmental protection and the various projects that her devotees have undertaken in this respect all around the world, ranging from a house made out of beehives to trash cleanup and tree planning activities by AYUDH.

Dr. Murali Valabhan, a leading advisor and lecturer on sustainable development and eco-spirituality in Kerala, spoke on internal peace and external harmony in the context of the man-nature relationship.
As a symbol of peace between people of different cultures as well as and man and nature Swami Poornamritananda Puri handed over a peace tree to the international AYUDH and Greenfriends members. He then led everyone in chanting the peace prayer ‘Lokah Samastah Sukino Bhavantu’ 18 times. Swamiji addressed the gathering with a beautiful message on how we should connect with our Self and become peaceful internally before trying to spread the peace in all directions.

Dr. Diana Weis, an environmental activist from UK, concluded the morning session with a very uplifting talk about social entrepreneurship and green solutions to medicate the environmental crisis. She gave great examples of how to live efficiently with green alternative resources, ranging from zero-waste communities in the Arizona desert to whole cities in China who cultivate their own food on their rooftops, watered and fertilized by the drainage water of the household. At the end, the audience was convinced that with our sincere desire to change and the guidance of our beloved Amma, each one of us can start today to counter global warming.

In the afternoon, different workshops were conducted to get the students and guests active and participating in the ashrams ongoing green projects. There was a recycled plastic weaving workshop, where they would make their own little box out of waste plastic. A herbal, organic, and natural body care product workshop, which showed how to make 100% natural products in order to avoid the harmful chemicals which are contained in most beauty products. At the ashrams composting site a group of people were taught how to make compost from scratch.

A gardening workshop at one of the ashrams tulasi and vegetable gardens invited everyone to get their hands into the soil and grown their own organic vegetables. Finally, there was an art work workshop where they collected and compared natural and man-made items to create beautiful mandalas. In the late afternoon the Amrita students of Social Work put on a skit about the tree-hugging movement in Kerala.
World Peace Day was not only celebrated in Amritapuri: AYUDH USA used the occasion to inaugurate a new youth-run organic vegetable garden at M.A. Center, California. In Ireland and Germany the youth went to schools to keep a minute of silence and reflect on the importance of peace.

The day was a great success, raising awareness about the importance of environmental protection and igniting the passion to work towards practical solutions. As Amma says: “It is our supreme duty to protect and preserve nature. If we protect nature, she, in turn, will protect us.”
The Amritapuri peace tree was taken to Amma to bless and she gave it a gentle kiss. It will soon be planted at the Amrita college as a reminder of “Peace with Nature”.