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Surya Narayana Health Village will be located along the Puri Konarak Marine Drive, a main road covering the 30 kms between Puri and Konarak.
Both Puri and Konarak are connected to Bhubaneswar with about 60 kms. main road. Puri can be reached by train -- every day there are two direct trains from Calcutta who leave in the early hours of the night ad reach Puri in the early morning, beside the day trains. From Bhubaneswar, Puri can also be reached by bus or car. About mid way between Puri and Konarak, a heliport and small local airport have been already provided and are functioning connecting with Bhubaneswar national and international airport.
Other main features of the area are several educational institutions which are gradually developing.
A regular bus service connects Puri, Konarak and Bhubaneswara on the main road.
Inside the Village, only non-fuel vehicles are allowed (except for emergencies).

Besides the convenient location, the most important feature is the completely natural environment and the total absence of pollution of any kind in the whole area (contrarily to the tendency of the developed areas in Puri).
The state government has also a natural reserve park belt several hundreds meters wide, along the coast from Puri to Konarak and directly on the sea beach, in order to protect the area from cyclonic winds and to preserve the natural environment and forest.
A good portion of this reserve park, corresponding to the width of the facing plot, will be protected and maintained by the Village in its pristine beauty, with reforestation where necessary.

The other fundamental feature of the Village will be the spiritual orientation. The Village will be a spiritual oasis for visitors and trainees, and for those who will choose to be a direct part of the project, on the example of other famous spiritual eco-villages like Auroville (www.auroville.org) and Findhorn (www.findhorn.org).

In the last fifty years, a large number of Western people have come in contact with the teachings of the Vedas and started to follow them. This has been happening according to a Divine Plan, because in India vedic culture has been steadily disappearing, for a number of reasons, mainly insufficient education.
In all Western cities, hundreds of yoga centers have opened. Several millions of books on yoga, reincarnation, and other spiritual techniques have been sold, including classic vedic literature like Bhagavad gita, Puranas, Sutras, etc.
After reading these books, after learning meditation, yoga and even ayurvedic medicine, these Western born practitioners and teachers feel a natural desire to visit India and get some special inspiration from the ancient holy places. They expect to find a sattvic place, full of knowledge and beauty, extremely conducive to spiritual development, peace and elevated thinking.

Unfortunately, they almost regularly become frustrated and disappointed because of the serious lack of proper infrastructures, and above all because of the lack of proper culture and because of several bad habits in local people, which we are not going to discuss here in detail. For more explicit references, please note the section "Local problems".
However, it must be said that, in order to get more high class tourists to visit the area and remain longer, it is extremely important to provide a clean environment, a genuine spiritual atmosphere and suitable care (respectful attitude, privacy, healthy vegetarian and sattvic foods, quiet and peace, etc.)

At present, such places are conspicuous by their absence in the area.

Most guesthouses are situated in congested areas, without access to private or protected beach, and those luxury hotels which do have some greenery around are not fulfilling the requirements for natural and healthy life.

Regarding the natural health care, in spite of its ancient traditions, the area is almost completely devoid of such infrastructures. To better understand natural health care, please consult the website of the Institute for Yoga and Naturopathy www.naturecure-inys.org
Many more examples of natural and holistic health centers will be found in South India, especially in Kerala, where the Mata Amritanandamayi is going to open a 250 crore project with the Government of Kerala for an "Holistic Health Village".
In the section "Natural Health Care" we will explain more about our services in Surya Narayana Village.

Another important feature is permaculture. To better understand the meaning of permaculture, please consult the websites of the main permaculture societies, such as www.permaculture.co.uk , www.permaculture.co.au , www.gaia.org
More information can be gathered through a general web search on environment protection and sustainable development, including the United Nations official site (especially for the Agenda 21 document).
In brief, we can say that organic agriculture, self sufficiency, bioarchitecture, renewable and non polluting energy sources, recycling, native traditional knowledge, forest gardening and integrated human presence in the environment can guarantee a better development with a very high quality of life and full protection of the environment.
The Surya Narayana Village is founded on such principles and intends to constitute an example of their practical application both for Indian people and for the rest of the world.
Courses and seminars will be organized with International experts on regular basis.