Srinagar

A three-day international conference “saving the Himalayas through science and spirituality” has started in Leh on Sunday. The conference will be formally inaugurated today by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the founder of the Art of living foundation.

The conference will address “the effects of climate change, developing renewable and clean solar energy, and promoting responsible, sustainable, environmental-friendly, and spiritual tourism. At the end of the conference, a roadmap will be drafted for the conservation of the environment.”

A Delhi based NGO ‘Save the Himalayas foundation (SHF)’ has initiated this conference in collaboration with DLF Ltd, WWF-India, WII,  UNESCO, UNDP, Swiss Embassy, Schneider  Electric, HESCO and Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).

Other than Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the conference will be attended by HH Pujya Swami Chidananda Saraswati, President, Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh, Dr Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, President, All India Imam Association, Acharya Dr Lokesh Muni, President, Ahimsa Vishwa Bharti, (Jain Muni) and Dr Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, President, Divine Shakti Foundation, New Delhi.

SHF was founded by Venerable Bhikkhu Sanghasena to preserve and promote the values, nature, land, environment, culture, and local communities of the Himalayas. A local of Ladakh region, Sanghasena, an ex-army personnel left his job and became a monk. Soon he left his hometown and shifted his base to Bangalore where he became a committed disciple of the Buddhist scholar and monk, Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita Mahathera, the abbot of the Mahabodhi Society Vihara, Bangalore.

It was in 1986, when Sanghasena founded the Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre (MIMC) in Ladakh. Started from a rented room, the MIMC’s main Devachan campus is in Choglamsar on 250 acres land. Presently the campus has become home and refuge for thousands of deserving people.

Bhikkhu Sanghasena is also the Founder of Save the Himalaya Foundation (SHF), New Delhi which according to his website has been dedicated to the beautiful Himalaya Foundation of Indian Buddhists (FIB) New Delhi.

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