Please Help ISKCON in Mississippi

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus:

 

Hare Krishna. I have spoken with Bir Krishna Maharaja, the GBC for our temple in New Orleans, and he reports that the situation is deteriorating in the city. The devotees are still safe but now it looks like the city will be flooded and without services for weeks or longer. Given that they cannot hold out that long, the devotees need to be evacuated now. They are already under great hardship and have sent out the message to the devotee community to please send out this signal.

 

We need you to please call the governor of Louisiana's office at 866-366-1121 and let them know that there are people at 2936 Esplanade that want and need to be evacuated. You may well get an answering machine. Go ahead and let them know that there is a church / temple with about 25 people in need of evacuation urgently. It will only take a few minutes and will help get the devotees out of there as soon as possible. On behalf of the New Orleans prabhus, thank you.

 

Your servant,

Badrinarayan dasa

[Guest guest]

I believe 866 is a toll free number (like 1-800)

[Guest guest]

Prabhus

 

I am in the UK as of now.

 

Has anyone called the governer yet from the USA ??

 

Please anyone in the USA call the Governer ASAP !!! Devotees life is in danger....

 

--------------

We need you to please call the governor of Louisiana's office at 866-366-1121 and let them know that there are people at 2936 Esplanade that want and need to be evacuated. You may well get an answering machine. Go ahead and let them know that there is a church / temple with about 25 people in need of evacuation urgently. It will only take a few minutes and will help get the devotees out of there as soon as possible. On behalf of the New Orleans prabhus, thank you.

 

Your servant,

Badrinarayan dasa

--------------

[Guest guest]

A certain man named Miles said that there are people evacuating people in that area. I gave the address and described that it is the Hare Krishna temple.

 

Krishna will see fit.

 

Hare krishna

Myrla ocfemia

[Guest guest]

Jai

 

Thank you dear prabhuji from australia

 

Now we have some info and also a very good hope that they will be safe soon.

 

Again thank you for this wonderfull seva.

 

[Guest guest]

 

 

There are more updated informations here:

 

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

 

 

 

 

[gHari]

Try a kirtan on the roof.

 

Based on what I've seen on CNN.com videos, that is what attracts the choppers. The devotees must realize that many helpless are only a few feet from being completely covered in water, so the choppers will look for the most needy first. The temple as I recall is a two storey structure so they may have to wait a while longer. People are being bussed to Houston from the Superdome, if that is close to the temple. [but note that there is no water or food at the dome and it seems like the buses are not showing up - 25,000 people are there in desperate hellish Baghdad conditions]

 

Think of this as a very special fast. Japa can shorten the hours. I pray that an auspicious end comes soon for the New Orleans temple flood adventure. I am sure the transcendental devotees realize that their anguish is nothing compared to the mundane folks starving, trapped in their attics across the city, only a few feet from drowning as the water continues to rise over their rooftops.

 

gHari

 

[gHari]

<center><img src=http://canoeparts.ca/KINGDOM/CAP0007.jpg>

 

<img src=http://canoeparts.ca/KINGDOM/New_Orleans_Levee_System.gif>

</center>

 

Looking at these pictures I conclude that the temple is in the safer area (i.e. not as far below the lake level) and therefore the water should only be a few feet deep there, with few if any dead bodies floating around. The chances that they will ever be submerged is virtually zero. That is a relief. (See Esplanade written at bottom of diagram - they are about half way to Dillard University; therefore placing the temple somewhere under the words "Gentilly Ridge"). The worse case scenario (i.e. if the levees cannot be repaired in a week - very very unlikely possibility), would see the temple in no more than six feet of water (revised figures say the lake is only 4.5 feet above sea level now).

 

Get that roof kirtan rockin', my sweet friends.

 

gHari

 

 

[Guest guest]

I think it is worst than what we think

 

This is a salutary reminder than we are not in control!

[Guest guest]

As of 4pm pacific time, we heard from the authorities in LA that the devotees in New Orleans were evacuated. Don't know about the deities.

[jayagauranitai]

I think. I was watching Fox news last night and I swear that I saw a devotee in the footage for a brief second. It was from behind and I saw a sika (sp?). I never saw that shot again, but the person I saw was loading up one of those bins everyone is pushing around in the water.

I was wondering about the deities. From the looks of it, they are made out of marble? I don't know how they could get them out of there? They must be So heavy and they are wading through sometimes more than waist deep water.

My thoughts and prayers are with the devotees and deities ofNew Orleans.

[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.

 

"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]

ISKCON temple school building destroyed

[gHari]

 

Of purifiers I am the wind, of the wielders of weapons I am RAma, of fishes I am the shark, and of flowing rivers I am the Ganges. [BG 10.31]

[Guest guest]

looks like the neighborhood of "2936 esplanade ave, new orleans" is flooded.

 

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/storms/katrina/24426991.jpg

(Its in the middle left of the above picture, just above the 'L' shaped building)

 

google maps has the satellite view of flooded new orleans.

http://maps.google.com/

 

Does any one know the status? The deities are in the basement.

[gHari]

 

From the picture on the webpage in the first post, it would appear that the temple is on some sort of mound. I was there in '79 but now can't remember what that lower level is about. If they were not allowed to take the Deities with them then likely some brave soul stayed behind with Them.

 

I would imagine that because of Their attachment to the devotees, the Deities have moved upstairs with them during this flood pastime.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Would devotees actually risk there lives to save the deities? Are they treated the same as humans?

[jayagauranitai]

Is that a serious question?

 

[gHari]

That area is on relatively high ground. It will never be submerged unless the Polar caps melt. They have food and drinking liquid. Disease is the only danger, but that will take weeks. Fire they can run from. Certainly I would stay, and I imagine most devotees would prefer to stay with the Deities.

 

[gHari]

This seems to leave our other input suspect (maybe the same spurious guest who bogusly reported 'New Orleans would not be rebuilt'), but it is good news, better news, nonetheless:<blockquote>September 4, 2005, 9:00 a.m. - New Orleans Yatra evacuated. (Reported by Dasanudas Vanacari of New Talavana.) 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.</blockquote>

Of course, it could be that the rescue happened two days ago but the website only published this message today at 9:00AM.

 

[Vanguard]

Jai, thanks for your update, gHari prabhu. Blockades and checkpoints and floods and roving gangs of looters can't keep the devotees away from Radha Krsna murti and other devotees. Please send more details if anything notable is found by you.

 

Dallas and New Orleans Yatra KI JAYA!

[Guest guest]

Dear Maharajas and Prabhus:

 

Hare Krishna. I thought you would like to hear the latest news of the devotees in New Orleans. It is quite blissful actually.

 

The local emergency agencies sent both boats and a helicopter to rescue the devotees but they would not leave without the Deities and the rescue agencies said that they could not carry out "large marble statues". After consultation with Bir Krishna Maharaja (the GBC / regional director of our New Orleans temple) our temple president in Dallas, Nityananda prabhu, sent a truck and a van to try to somehow or other get the devotees and the Deities out of the temple and to safety. Of course, the city is cordoned off and no private citizens are allowed in but the devotees contacted the largest local paper and several radio and TV stations saying that they were coming on a rescue mission for Vaisnava monks who would not leave their temple without their "sacred icons". The reporters liked the story and met the Dallas devotees on the outskirts of the city. Together they made a caravan and headed for the temple. They encountered numerous police barricades but at each point, when they were told they had to turn back, the reporters would challenge the police "Do you want us to report in the news how you abandoned these monks and would not let us rescue them?" Somehow or other (Krishna in the hearts of all living entities and giving them inspiration) it worked. The water in that part of the city has receded enough that the caravan, after a long and perilous journey, made it to walking distance of the temple. The Deities were carried out and reverentially placed in the truck, the devotees piled into the van, and off they drove to Dallas.

 

The Deities are now on the altar of our temple in Dallas and the New Orleans devotees are safe, showered, rested, and well feed with Krishna prasadam. The Dallas devotees have happily offered to host the devotees and Deities for as long as it takes until we can re-open the New Orleans temple.

 

To add the final crowning touch, a number of devotees in the South have gathered at our farm in Mississippi where they are organizing a massive relief effort. They have already sent their first caravan to the Mississippi gulf coast with a portable kitchen and cooking supplies. Their aim is to send out multiple teams and serve out thousands of hot prasadam meals daily. All glories to the stalwart Vaisnavas for their dedication to the Deities and compassion for the suffering conditioned souls.

 

Your servant,

Badrinarayan dasa

[gHari]

Now there's a politically acceptable term. We'll have to remember that one.

[Guest guest]

"Their Lordships and the devotees arrived at Dallas temple near midnight, and all the resident devotees there we awake, carrying on an ecstatic kirtan to welcome the Deities. At midnight they performed a glorious arotik, offering all personalities from the New Orleans yatra prasadam, comfortable facility, and the loving association of the Vaisnavas. We are sure that a blissful and transcendental welcome was also extended by Sri Sri Radha-Kalachandaji to all the residents of the New Orleans yatra.

 

All 16 of the devotees currently remain at Dallas, and will stay there until Saturday, when Bir Krishna dasa Goswami is scheduled to arrive for a visit. Afterwards, some of the devotees, particularly the grhastas, will move on to other places, where they will stay until the New Orleans temple can reopen.

 

The Deities and pujaris will also stay at Dallas mandir, where the devotees are now making them a new altar. For the time being, they are residing in Srila Prabhupada's room."

 

http://harekrsna.com/sun/

[Krsnanatha]

How did the devotees pass through all those multiple armed check points?

Somehow I can see the devotee driving the van waving his hand at the Cop/National Guardsman/Fema Lackey and saying,

"We are the people who you are supposed to allow in." (Translation: "These are not the Droids you are looking for.")

The response...

Cop/National Guardsman/Fema Lackey, "Uh...of course you are. Hey, men! Move those Barriers and let these people in!"

 

Krsna the Mystic of all Mystics!