A rath yatra will be flagged off in Coimbatore on April 13 to commemorate the 150 birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
After covering 13,000 km in the State, it will culminate in Chennai on January 8, 2014.
Addressing a gathering of volunteers, the Tamil Nadu Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Bhava Prachar Parishad President Swami Kamalatmananda said on Saturday that the aim was to take the values and ideals of Swami Vivekananda to the youth, who are the future of the nation, through this rath yatra.
The rath will be flagged off by “Chandrayaan” Project Director Mylswamy Annadurai at the Indoor Stadium of the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyalaya.
On the occasion, a DVD by name — Sri Ramakrishna Dharsanam (Tamil) — would be released in the presence of Adhyaksha of Ramakrishna Math Swami Gautamanandaji.
The Principal-Secretary for Art and Culture S.S. Jawahar among others would participate in it. The rath yatra (2013-14) would cover all districts, major towns and village panchayats in the State.
Around 30 volunteers would accompany the rath and the highlight is a photo-expo of Swami Vivekananda and his books would also be available for public.
This would a good opportunity to disseminate knowledge to the general public on the great saint, Swami Kamalatmananda said.
Utilising the occasion of the rath yatra, the Ramakrishna Math had extensively identified locations where the public could assemble and have a glimpse of it and get benefited.
The volunteers should ensure that the opportunity was well utilised by students, he said.
Arrival dates
The rath, which is expected to arrive in Dindigul on June 23, would tour the district for 11 days until July 3. Then, it would proceed to Theni for nine days (July 4-12), Madurai 22 days (July 13-Aug 3), Virudhunagar 12 days (August 4-15), Tirunelveli six days (August 16-21), Kanyakumari six days (August 22-27), Tuticorin six days (August 28-Sept 2), Ramanathapuram six days (September 3-8) and Sivaganga nine days (September 9-17), Swami Kamalatmananda said.
