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

> I second the proposal of Sarvaisvarya to be there to do something like we

> did in Latur and Orissa. I was talking to Brajahari prabhu who was leading

> both operations of Latur and Orissa. The following is what he said - it

> is already 4 days late. There is lot of relief material as well as

> contributions come in from different parts of the world. Whole situation

> is under Army. In Latur operations devotees got beaten and thrown when the

> then PM visited the place. There are many helplines being set to help the

> people.

>

> In spite of this if Sarvaisvarya prabhu can get permission that we can go

> in that area and distribute the relief material, than he should organise a

> group mainly wfrom South India or from other parts to go immediately and

> start some service rightaway. I dont think there will be any problem for

> funds or other relief materials. Let us find out first if we will be

> allowed to do the service.

>

> Your Servant,

> Devakinandan Das

 

There should also be a concerted effort for large numbers of devotee to be

there and minister to those people. Simply doing relief work is not enough,

as there are lots of organisations doing that already, but people need to

know that the material world itself is a place of miseries, and this

disaster is just a reminder that we do not really belong here. Devotees need

to be equiped with this weapon of the Bhagavad-gita message, and with

sincerity and compassion, try to relief the grief of the affected people in

the disaster. So in addition to our food relief and other relief programs,

large scale harinams and preachings need to be also implemented.

 

your servant,

 

Isvara dasa.