South Indian Tidal Wave, Tsunamai

[Guest guest]

> Dear Maharaj's / devotees,

>

> Hare Krishna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila

> Prabhupada. All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga.

>

> As you may all be aware, the tsunami that occurred yesterday at the

> Sumatra island, has killed several thousands people across Asia and

> several in our city here in Chennai (Capital city of Tamil Nadu, South

> India).

>

> Many devotees have been calling me to enquire about our safety and express

> their concern. I am grateful to them for their thought.

>

> As the power supply was cut off yesterday as a preacautionary measure, I

> could not reach out to our world wide community of devotees who may be

> much worried through e-mail.

>

> Thanks to the mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga, their temple and devotees

> are safe.And our extension centres in Pondicherry are safe.Since other

> centers like Madurai ,Coimbatore,Kumbakonam Salem,Vellore are far away

> from the coast they are not affected .

>

> We haven't received any info from Mahakartha das ( TP Colombo -

> ISKCON).Srilanka is also badly affected.

>

> On Sunday(26th dec),in the morning at 6.20 am, when the devotees were

> dressing the deities, they had to hold the deities tight as They were

> shaking due to the earthquake. Offering prayers to Nrsimha, the devotees

> prayed for the safety of our newly constructed building and people.

>

> The temple is about 2 kms. from the beach and the water from the sea came

> inland to only about 500 metres. People near the coastal area have

> suffered greatly. After the largest wave attack, devotees went to the

> beach (which had now receeded farther than before and where several people

> were gathered) and did a small kirtan till the waves again slightly rose

> threateningly.

>

> As devotees meet people with Bhagavad-gita books in the dry parts of the

> city, continuing with the marathon, they are asking, "can you avert such

> disasters?" and our devotees are telling them to read the book and follow

> the path of sanatana dharma.

>

>

> Today we are preparing prasadam for 5000 people who have taken shelter in

> several common buildings a little away from the ocean. I would like to

> thank the devotees who called me and offered donations for FOOD FOR LIFE.

>

> If you are in India, and would like to make a donation, you can deposit

> into our ICICI account No.603301107599 (ISKCON).

>

> Soon, there will also be a drive to donate old clothes to the homeless. If

> you are geographically close to Chennai, you can send old

> clothes/blankets/kitchen wares or anything to our address:

>

> ISKCON

> Hare Krishna Land

> Bhaktivedanta Swami Road,

> Injambakkam,

> Chennai-41.

> Ph: 2449 1253.

> My Mobile: 938 106 3234.

>

> Thanking you for your prayers, concern, and cooperation,

>

> Sumithra Krishna das

> Temple President.

 

Thank you Sumithra Pr for the report.

 

In keeping with the spirit of Sumithra s report and action I like to moot a

discussion on the topic of ISKCON doing something about the massive large

scale sufferring of the people in these coastal areas. The calamity as usual

is far more serious than what is reported in the media.

Almost all organisations are rising to the ocassion and giving a helping

hand . Many are also expecting ISKCON to do something. We plan to do some

relief in the nearest area of Kanyakumari on the New Year. These activities

can go on on the side but people are expecting the larger ISKCON all over

the world to do something too ! . . . and thats natural.

How are we going to respond to this ?

 

Rather than be marked as a charity organisation that does predominantly

religious stuff we can utilise this opportunity to do some 'pure charity'

and get some mileage for our records. So that later we could atleast

say " we also ran . . . "

 

Maybe some doctors (also from the Bhaktivedanta hospital ) some clothes,

grains and food items etc could be sent down here and we can make a joint

effort. I would therefore request the leaders to respond to my note to form

a national or ad hoc committee for immediate action in this matter,

 

I am sure the Mumbai and Delhi wallas can bring in something useful quite

easily .

 

Once again I feel we should come together and join hands in doing something

for this calamity and we can go down on record with these activiites as Basu

Ghosh Pr did successfully with the Gujarath Quake calamity.

 

These are my immediate random thoughts as we are busy preparing for the

Ratha Yatra on the 8 th Jan. In the mean time if anyone wants to send in

some contribution in cash or kind please send it payable to ISKCON

Trivandrum a/c IOB 2141 or call me up at 98422 16108.

Its purely for the "ISKCON tsunami fund".

 

Your 'tsunami' Servant,

 

 

Sarva Aishvarya Dasa