LEARNING FROM NATURE REMEMBERING TAGORE
India International Center, New Delhi
1st October, 2011
Let us all return to the soil
That lays the corners of its garments
And waits for us.
Life rears itself from her breast,
Flowers bloom from her smiles
Her call is the sweetest music;
Her lap stretches from one corner to the other,
She controls the strings of life.
Her warbling waters bring
The murmur of life from all eternity.
- Rabindranath Tagore (Palliprakiti, i)
10:00 -10:10 – Invocation to Mother Earth Rabindra sangeet school choir)
10:10 – 10:20 – Opening statement by Dr Vandana Shiva
10:20 – 11:20 – Panel One: Tagore’s Vision of Nature and Reverence for the Earth
11:20- 11:30 - Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth, Signing of the declaration and Diya
Lighting Ceremony
10:00 -10:10 – Invocation to Mother Earth Rabindra sangeet school choir)
10:10 – 10:20 – Opening statement by Dr Vandana Shiva
10:20 – 11:20 – Panel One: Tagore’s Vision of Nature and Reverence for the Earth
11:20- 11:30 - Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth, Signing of the declaration and Diya
Lighting Ceremony
Session Two: Robbery of the Soil
“The temptation of an inordinately high level of living, which was once confined only to a small section of the community, becomes widespread. The blindness is sure to prove fatal to the civilization which puts no restraint upon the emulation of self indulgence………
When they had reduced the limited store of material in their immediate surroundings, they proceeded to wage various wars among their different sections, each wanting his own special allotment of the lion’s share. In their scramble for the right to self-indulgence, they laughed at moral law and took it to be a sign of superiority to be ruthless in the satisfaction each of his own desire. They exhausted the water, cut down the trees, reduced the surface of the planet to a desert, riddled it with enormous pits and made its interior a rifled pocket, emptied of its valuables.”
- Rabindranath Tagore
The Robbery of The Soil in EWRT, Vol. III, 866 (870)
11:30 – 11:45- The Robbery of The Soil: Puppet Montage
11:45 – 12:30 - Panel One : Robbing the Earth- The Fight for Bhu Swaraj
12:30 – 1:15 – Panel Two : Rejuvenating the Soil
1:15 – 2:00 LUNCH
Session Three: Education as Poetry in Motion Empowering the Future Generation for Building an Earth Democracy
2:00 – 2:15 Reading of Tagore’s “The Parrot’s Story” and book release
2:15 – 3:15 Panel Three : Education as Poetry in Motion: Tagore’s Legacy for Empowering the Future Generations for Building an Earth Democracy
3:15 – 4:15 Screening of the moving “Harmony”
Session Four: The Champa and the Cherry Blossom: A Cross Culture Dialogue on Beauty as Harmony between Nature and Living Beings
“The language of Nature is the eternal language of creation. It penetrates reality to reach the deepest layers of our consciousness, it draws upon a language that has survived thousands of years with the human … it is the musical instrument of nature; it replicates the rhythm inherent in life itself. If we listen carefully we will be able to trace within them the murmurs of eternity where the spirit of liberation, peace and beauty lurk, it reminds us of the sea that is santam, shivam, advaitam … it reminds us of our bond with the world … if we can accept this music of the wild within us, we can perceive the great music of oneness …”
- Rabindranath Tagore
"Introduction", to Bonobani, Rabindra Rachanavali, Vol. 8, 87
4:15 – 5:00 The Champa and the Cherry Blossom: A Cross Culture Dialogue on Beauty as Harmony between Nature and Living Beings
5:00 – 5:20 TEA Break
Session Five: Learning from Tagore: Strengthening the Green Movement
“Your mission is proving that a love for the earth, and for the things of the earth, is possible without materialism, a love without greed... I entreat you not to be turned by the call of vulgar strength, of stupendous size, by the spirit of storage, by the multiplication of millions, without meaning and without end. Cherish the ideal of perfection, and to that, relate all your work and all your movements. Though you love the material things of earth, they will not hurt you and you will bring heaven to earth and soul into things.”
- Rabindranath Tagore
5:20 - 6:20 Tagore Play by Neil Chaudhary and the Tadpoles
6:30 – 7:30 Panel Four : Learning from Tagore: Strengthening the Green Movement
7:30 – 8:15 Concert by Vidya Rao : A Tribute to Bhoomi
 bhoomi |
