New Talavan & New Orleans Situation Report

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharajas, GBCs, Temple Presidents, Web & Magazine Editors and

Devotees,

 

Hare Krsna! Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila

Prabhupada!

 

The power of the Lord's external energy is inconceivable. How one storm can

destroy the social structure of an area ranging from 50 miles west of New

Orleans all the way to Mobile, Alabama is stunning. In Mississippi,

everything from Jackson on south is devastated. There are no commerce,

transportation or other normal activities going on.

 

Despite our good fortune to have our temples in both New Orleans and New

Talavan emerge relatively unscathed, the harsh reality is that there is no

functioning society around us. The devotees in New Orleans are virtually

trapped. Although they have supplies, there is no power, running water or

cooking gas. The sanitation system is nonexistent. There is no water

pressure in case of a fire, and water is till rising in the city from a

500-foot break in the river levee. This just came in this morning's news:

 

NEW ORLEANS - The governor of Louisiana says everyone needs to leave New

Orleans due to flooding from Hurricane Katrina. "We've sent buses in. We

will be either loading them by boat, helicopter, anything that is

necessary," Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. Army engineers struggled without

success to plug New Orleans' breached levees with sandbags, and Blanco said

Wednesday the situation was worsening, leaving no choice but to evacuate.

 

HYPERLINK

"http://bc.us./b?P=bVLfjkSOwhX8hQCVQwdzrAGoQlIJU0MVtsMACzAF&T=17s4e

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%3d%2fF%3d3978931455%2fH%3dY2FjaGVoaW50PSJuZXdzIiBjb250ZW50PSJIdXJyaWNh

bmU7QW1lcmljYTtpdDtzZWN1cml0eTtJdDtob21lO2hvdXNlO2Zsb29kO2NhcnJpZXI7dG9ybmFk

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5366.7080446.7994833.1414694%2fD%3dLREC%2fB%3d2950900"

 

"The challenge is an engineering nightmare," Blanco said on ABC's "Good

Morning America.The National Guard has been dropping sandbags into it,

but it's like dropping it into a black hole."

 

As the waters continued to rise in New Orleans, four Navy ships raced toward

the Gulf Coast with drinking water and other emergency supplies, and Red

Cross workers from across the country converged on the devastated region.

The Red Cross reported it had about 40,000 people in 200 shelters across the

area in one of the biggest urban disasters the nation has ever seen.

 

The death toll from Hurricane Katrina reached at least 110 in Mississippi

alone, while Louisiana put aside the counting of the dead to concentrate on

rescuing the living, many of whom were still trapped on rooftops and in

attics.

 

A full day after the city thought it had escaped Katrina's full fury, two

levees broke and spilled water into the streets of New Orleans on Tuesday,

swamping an estimated 80 percent of the bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city,

inundating miles and miles of homes and rendering much of New Orleans

uninhabitable for weeks or months.

 

"We are looking at 12 to 16 weeks before people can come in," New Orleans

Mayor Ray Nagin said on ABC's "Good Morning America, "and the other issue

that's concerning me is have dead bodies in the water. At some point in time

the dead bodies are going to start to create a serious disease issue."

 

Perhaps when civil and governmental authorities find the New Orleans

devotees, they will ship them to New Talavan or engage them in cooking and

serving meals to the other storm refugees. If anyone reading this has the

ability to communicate by phone, please inform the New Orleans emergency

authorities that there are at least 15 Hare Krsna devotees, including the

devotees hurt in the recent accident, in urgent need of evacuation at 2936

Esplanade Ave., and if possible they need to get to New Talavan in Carriere,

Mississippi, where our community can care for them.

 

New Talavan is a different situation. Although we have well water, LP

cooking gas and some bhoga, supplies such as LP gas, gasoline, diesel fuel,

dahl, rice, oats, cash etc. are running low and need to be rationed. There

is no phone service, and the electricity will be out for at least two

months. If we don't start our own massive cleanup operation, it will be

months before the local government can clear the county roads. The devotees

have already cleared the roads on the farm itself, but we are still cut off

from the surrounding area.

 

Our need and request is to please contact FEMA administrators (601 960-9999)

and the Red Cross (800 GET-HELP). Inform them about our community in NW

Hancock County, north of Leetown at 31492 Anner Road, We are providing water

and meals for locals and 23 devotees on the temple property. If they can

supply us with LP gas, rice, oats, beans, corn, canned tomatoes, butter and

sugar, gasoline and diesel fuel to run our generator, etc., we can supply

meals to many people from the surrounding community.

 

It is stunning and shocking to have your entire social system stripped down

naked. There are some here who have lost their mental equilibrium, perhaps

the greatest danger of such a disaster. All of our books distributors and

Food for Life collectors worked the New Orleans tourist district, which is

under water and will not reopen for months. We cannot even send or receive

mail, which was another important source of income. All the banks and ATMs

are closed and inoperative. Thus the only for us to receive funds is

electronically. If you read this and want to send a donation, the only way

at present is through PayPal.com. At least we can collect donations now and

use them to purchase things online as soon as the postal system is

functional again. The email addresses for dominations are HYPERLINK

"adoptacow (AT) newtalavana (DOT) org"adoptacow (AT) newtalavana (DOT) org for New Talavan,

and HYPERLINK

"devotee_relief (AT) iskcon-nola (DOT) us"devotee_relief (AT) iskcon-nola (DOT) us for the

New Orleans devotees.

 

For the time being, our schedule revolves around the sun coming up and going

down. We have altered our sadhana and Deity schedules to accommodate the

lack of lighting and water. Mangal-arati will continue to be at 4:30 but we

are offering only burfy and milk. Afterwards, the devotees just chant japa.

At sunup around 7 AM, the devotees can bathe and dress the Deities. Then we

cook and offer breakfast around 10 AM. Then again around 3 PM we can cook

and offer about 6 PM, have arati, class and distribute prasadam. The daily

temperatures are still in the 90s, so the devotees welcome and relish the

cool mornings and evenings.

 

Please send us your prayers and let's not forget the two seriously injured

boys in the ICU in El Paso. Lalita-pranesvara Prabhu is there alone caring

for them. His cell phone number is 504 638-4874. Please call him, since we

cannot, and inspire him to continue his difficult service.

 

Although we are down, we are far from out; so with your prayers and

blessings we will be back stronger than ever. Hoping this finds y'all

relishing the mercy of Guru and Gauranga,

 

your servant,

Yogindra Vandana das Adhikari

 

_____

 

 

ISKCON New Talavan Community

 

Founder-Acharya: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 

Temple President: His Grace Yogindra Vandana das Adhikari

 

31492 Anner Rd. • Carriere MS 39426 • 601 749-9460

 

HYPERLINK "http://www.newtalavana.org/"http://www.newtalavana.org/

 

Please always chant:

 

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

 

 

 

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