Please Help ISKCON in Mississippi

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhu,

please accept my most humble obeisances.

All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

After 30min on the phone, I (finally /images/graemlins/smile.gif talked with someone in NOLA search and rescue, and gave them the address of ISKCON NOLA; They asked when was last contact with anyone there; I told them last contact was likely yesterday, before water started rising, but since then there has been no contact. they said they will give it to the search and rescue operations and they will take it from there.

 

Regarding the donation to New Talavan, will there be a joint account for NOLA and New Talavan? Are there other methods other than paypal? will the donations be tax-deductible?

 

Hare Krishna!

 

 

[Guest guest]

There are more updated informations here:

 

ISKCON New Talavan/New Orleans Disaster Relief Website: http://www.newtalavana.org/

[Guest guest]

Dear Sir,

any more news on the devotees at NOLA and New Talavan?

Hare Krishna

[kcp1982]

Dear Devotees,

Hare Krsna! The latest pictures and video of the farm are on our website at http://www.newtalavana.org/albums/hurricane/index.htm

http://www.newtalavana.org/hurricane2.wmv

(This link may take some time to become active)

Thank you for all your concern and help. We are overwhelmed and cannot always answer your emails. But that doesn't mean we don't care; we just have a lot of pressing concerns right now to manage our community. Tomorrow Ramakeli Prabhu is going to Jackson to arrange for supplies for the devotees. We are getting some help from Food For Life also. So by Krsna's grace everything is working out.

Everyone on the farm is safe and unhurt. Please don't worry. We just heard that Mohanasini and Mahendranath are OK, and the boat is safe. They are in Memphis. So by Krsna's mercy, everything is turning out well for the devotees. For many others the news is not so good.

People who are not here cannot properly appreciate the scale of this disaster. It is the biggest in the US since the 1906 SF earthquake—maybe bigger. The final death toll may be 50,000 or more. The Gulf Coast community is completely shattered. People in Picayune are having gunfights over water and gasoline. Heavily armed gangs are looting everything in sight in New Orleans, and FEMA has halted evacuations until the National Guard can restore order—they don't want to jeopardize their men.

So we remain your humble servants in New Talavan,

Dasanudas Vanacari

Secretary,

[kcp1982]

 

"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 adoptacow@newtalavana.org for New Talavan, and devotee_relief@iskcon-nola.us for the New Orleans devotees."

 

By check:

 

"We have set up an account for donations to this most important cause. You can send your donations to:"

 

Checks (made out to ISKCON-disaster relief program)

 

ISKCON-disaster relief program

PO Box 897

Hillsborough, NC 27278

 

 

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhu...

there is more depressing news that in many parts of the city, search and rescue operations are being halted. Has anyone made contact with the 15 devotees at the New Orleans temple?

 

[kcp1982]

(I got the below message from chakra.org)

 

Addendum by HH Bir Krsna Goswami:

 

The devotees are fine in New Orleans. I just spoke to them last night after the hurricane was over and the temple building was untouched as was the residential building next to the temple. Today there is some flooding but the devotees are continuing their service and have plenty of Prasad. The Deities are accepting Their regular offerings and arotis.

 

 

[Guest guest]

this letter was written before the flood, since then there has been no contact

[kcp1982]

I got the following message on them from New Talavan.

 

"They are being evacuated to Texas."

 

 

[kcp1982]

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.

 

"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 adoptacow@newtalavana.org for New Talavan, and devotee_relief@iskcon-nola.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

 

http://www.newtalavana.org/

 

Please always chant:

 

Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

 

(I got the above message from them)

[Guest guest]

by Dasanudas Vanacari

 

Posted September 4, 2005

 

*New Orleans Yatra evacuated*

 

Today a team of devotees from Dallas and Houston somehow or other got through the numerous blockades and checkpoints sealing off the flooded city, and rescued all the New Orleans Temple devotees, the Deities and all Their transcendental paraphernalia. They will be relocated to Dallas, where facility will be provided by Nityananda Prabhu and the Dallas Temple for Their extended stay and uninterrupted worship until the normal operation of New Orleans *yatra* can be restored.

 

The New Orleans devotees, all disciples of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami, are in good health and consciousness. Of course it helps that most of them are from Bengal and Bangladesh, and are veterans of flood survival. Nevertheless their courage and dedication to Their Lordships Sri-Sri Radha-Radhakanta, Sri-Sri Gaur-Nitai and Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra are exemplary, and certain to be rewarded by advancement in devotional service to the Lord.

 

Massive Food for Life Mobilization Meanwhile, courageous New Talavan devotees are already venturing into the hardest-hit areas of the Gulf Coast, braving fields of debris, vast stretches of noxious quickmud, and crazed gas-hungry locals to distribute Lord Krsna's mercy in the form of sanctified vegetarian food. The devotees journeyed to Gulfport and Biloxi to bring hot meals of red beans and rice, chapattis and lemonade to the starving residents.

 

New Orleans devotee Ramakeli Prabhu, who lost everything in the hurricane, is collecting supplies in Memphis and transporting them to New Talavan, while New Talavan devotee Dvibhuja Prabhu, whose rental property lost its roof in the storm, is devoting full time to prasadam distribution in the Gulf Coast area.

 

They reported a scene of almost total devastation with very little help for the victims. The aged and infirm are hardest hit, often immobilized with no one to help them. The devotees went door-to-door in the affected areas near the coast, bringing back striking tales of devastation and woe.

 

Meanwhile, Priyavrata Prabhu of Food for Life International and New Talavan GBC Bir Krsna Gosvami are organizing a massive food relief program. Teams of devotees from Washington DC, New Vrndavan and other volunteers are cooperating to bring tons of food, outdoor cooking gear, temporary tent shelters and other needed equipment to New Talavan, which will serve as a base for expanded prasadam distribution throughout the devastated Gulf Coast area.

 

Just before the storm hit, Krsna provided a state-of-the-art satellite Internet system for the farm. Who knew that it would have to serve as the sole communications link for an entire community, cut off from the rest of the world by this tragic disaster! Just see Krsna's hand and careful planning to protect His devotees in this miraculous occurrence.

 

To contribute to rebuilding New Talavan, please contact His Holiness Bir Krsna Gosvami bkgoswami@earthlink.net. To contribute to, or volunteer for the Gulf Coast Food for Life project, please contact Priyavrata Prabhu priyavrata@ffl.org.

 

Thank you very much for your kind well wishes, generous donations and prayers.

 

your servant,

Dasanudas Vanacari

*Secretary,*

ISKCON New Talavan Community