Organization background
Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam (Kanchi Mutt) is one of the five (Badrinath in the north, Jagannath Puri in the east, Dwaraka in the west, and Sringeri and Kanchipuram in the south) centres established by Sri Adisankaracharya many centuries ago. It follows the Advaita philosophy, which is based on the oneness of God (A-dvaita means not-two), i.e. there is only one supreme power which is worshipped in many forms. Further, the life force which animates living beings is no different from this supreme power. In this respect, the philosophy differs from Dvaita which also teaches the oneness of God, but makes a distinction between the life force that animates living beings and the supreme God (hence Dvaita, which means two). Visishtadvaita is yet another philosophical idea which bridges Dvaita and Advaita.

The Kanchi Mutt was established, according to legend, over 2500 years ago, during the time of Sri Adisankaracharya, who is supposed to have been the first Peetathipathi. Since his time, the organization traces its history through 70 Peetathipathis. The current Peetahipathis are Sri Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal and Sri Vijayendra Saraswati Swamigal, aso referred to as Perivaas. For more details on the history of the Kanchi Mutt, see here .

The Kanchi Mutt head quarters is in Kanchipuram, Tamilnadu. Sri Adisankaracharya's purpose in establishing these Mutts was to preserve the traditional Hindu way of life and serve as a reminder to people of their Vedic heritage. In consonance with this goal, daily poojas and rituals are conducted at the Mutt by the Peivaas. In addition, they also sponsor numerous other activities with the goal of preserving and propagating Hindu culture and ideals. Such activities include renovation of old temples, building of new temples, establishment of Sanksrit Patasalas where the Vedas/Sastras/Prabandas/Agamas are taught, establishing Ayerveda study centres, where Ayurveda is taught and practiced, thus ensuring that such knowledge is not lost to future generations.

In addition to religious activities, the Mutt is also involved in upliftment of the economically and socially backward social classes, and conducts activities to improve their lot, such as providing them with financial help, running educational institutions that subsidize their expenses, providing subsidized or free medical care, etc.

Project background
One of the best recognized aspects of Indian religious thought is the "Bhagavad Gita". This is a fundamental treatise of philosophical thought presented in the form of a conversation between Lord Krishna (considered to be an incarnation of God), and his disciple Arjuna. The Gita is an all-encompassing philosophy that touches on all aspects of life, including its purpose and its priorities. It is one of the bedrocks of Hinduism and many of the Hindu religious ideas that floursih today can trace their roots back to it. It is also well known outside Hinduism because of the universality of its message - the human life problems that it addresses are common to all religious faiths, and are as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago.

Though the Gita is a well known book in India, the history and life of its author, Lord Krishna is less well known. Also, the pressures of modern life are unfortunately contributing to the decreasing importance in people's (especially youth) lives of being aware of their cultural heritage. In the interests of re-acquainting the general populace with their heritage and history, the Shankaracharya's of Kanchipuram were interested in setting up a project of "spiritual tourism", that would cover places in the neighbourhood of Delhi-Mathura and would inform people of the life and history of Lord Krishna. (According to legend, Lord Krishna was born in Mathura (a city near Delhi) and several of his lifetime exploits (Krishna-Leela) were carried out in nearby places.)

Project description
The various phases of the spiritual tourism project are (i) procure a bus (with around 15 people seating capacity), (ii) appropriately outfit it with multi-media presentation capability, that explain to the travellers the context of the places that they would visit, (iii) subsidise the cost of running the tours. As the project is intended to promote knowledge of Hindu culture, in line with GKF's charter, GKF will pick up the cost of various phases of the project.

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