THE RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARDS 2008

THE RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARDS 2008

Acceptance Speech by
Krishnammal Jagannathan
Dec 8th, 2008

Krishnammal spontaneously decided to speak freely during the Award Ceremony.Listen to mp3

The following is the speech Krishnammal had prepared.

At the outset, I would like to thank the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, particularly Mr. Ole von Uexkull for visiting us in the Nagapattinam area of Tamil Nadu in South India, understanding our work and conferring this rare honor on Shri. Jagannathan, my life partner, and myself. I also wish to thank Mr. David Albert, our long-time family friend and well-wisher of Land for Tillers' Freedom, for nominating me for this most prestigious award. On this occasion, I reminisce with gratitude all the men and women in the LAFTI villages and the tireless staff of LAFTI who stand together in our mission to build a new, just and compassionate, Sarvodaya (welfare of all) community.

When I think of Right Livelihood, the following three aspects come to my mind: Right Vision, Right Thinking, and Right Action. This also reminds me of Lord Buddha who emphasized Right Thought, Right Speech, and Right Action, and also Swami Ramalinga, my spiritual mentor and guide, whose philosophy of love and compassion to all beings and the unity of all religious paths, has continued to inspire me since early in life.