From Risking Life To Organizing ‘Yajnas & Prayers’ – ISKCON’s Devotees, are #All Out There# to Mitigate Ongoing Russian-Ukraine War Repercussions

Manor devotees front-line on Ukraine’s border

As a result of the generous donations in response to the joint campaign by Bhaktivedanta Manor and the Lotus Trust, Temple Manager Premaniketana das, security man Lila Jagannath das and now Congregational Care officer Kanhaiya das have traveled to Hungary to help the devotee community there to distribute vegetarian food (prasad) as well as practical supplies to the needy. The same team are now active on the Polish and Romanian borders and are even entering into Ukraine itself.  

23rd March 2022

Steve Gordon, a humanitarian adviser, spoke on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme just as he left the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. In his interview he said “There’s a Hare Krishna temple in Kharhiv where they have started cooking and feeding up to 1000 people a day. “Sanjiv Agarwal of the Lotus Trust said “[The devotees] have sent 7000 kgs of bhoga (food) to two different cities in Ukraine. One was Kharkiv, to where they delivered two tonnes”.

“There is bombing in Harkiv,” explained Premaketana das. “They are distributing the food we delivered in bunkers, subways and the Metro Underground.”

18th March 2022

After a long journey from Budapest, the team reached the border between Romania and south-west Ukraine, with a delivery of 2 tonnes of food provisions. However they had to make an important decision at the border because the local authorities did not let the Ukrainian devotees come near because of the growing presence of NATO armed forces there. By night time the devotees decided to take the brave decision to cross over Romanian border into Ukraine. Some way in, they met the Food for Life devotees there to make the delivery.“The devotees were very happy to receive it,” explained Prema. “They said it is a big need there. Tens of thousands of people of Ukranains are hungry. Some are begining to starve.” 

14th March 2022

Bhaktivedanta Manor’s Congregational Care officer Kanhaiya das has now joined his colleagues to help feed and provide for the needy. Recently they left Budapest on an 8 hour journey to Poland to delivered 5 tonnes of food provisions to the Ukrainian border there. At the border they met devotees who collected the delivery and took it to Kiev and Harkiw, where people are cooking underground. Tomorrow they will be travelling to Romania with another 5 tonnes of food.  

11th March 2022

By Premaniketana das:“Today we travelled to the Ukrainian border. The experience is shocking. People walk out from their country tired and hungry. They have nothing left. Four months old baby in hand in the freezing cold. Today it was -2 Celsius. People don’t see a future. They have lost everything. They were very grateful for our help…” 

10th March 2002  (report from ISKCON Hungary Food for Life):

“The devotees [from Bhaktivedanta Manor, supported by The Lotus Trust] started to make an impact immediately. They have been visiting wholesalers to collect fruits, vegetables and other food items. They then supported in cooking the meals. They distributed meals at the main train station of Budapest where the trains full of refugees were arriving frequently.. There were 2 Ukrainian devotees in the team so communication was not a problem at all.

The people arriving from Ukraine were very tired, some of them having traveled for 5 days. They were very pleased with the prasadam we gave them. The stories they told us were very deep and touching. Our aim is to continue to serve prasadam every day to the refugees, and also scale up this activity to serve up to 10,000 meals per day”.

Statement of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness on Ukraine

ISKCON Ministry of Communications

February 25, 2022  As members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), we offer our prayers for all persons who are victims of the evolving situation in Ukraine. We earnestly pray that no more innocent people may suffer and that peace will soon return to that region. We are especially heartbroken that thousands of devotees of Lord Krishna are living in the areas in conflict. Members of our communities live in both Ukraine and Russia and we fear that great pain is being borne by them, and their extended families and friends, both spiritual and secular. May Lord Krishna protect one and all. The saints of our tradition teach us that as long as human society claims proprietorship over the Earth and forgets that we are all children of God, we will continue to suffer conflicts between us. This recognition of universal brotherhood and sisterhood extends to the victims on all sides of any hostility. We earnestly pray for that day when Russians, Ukrainians, Americans, Chinese, Indians, Africans, Europeans, and all peoples will come together under the banner of affection for each other and for God. True peace, true security, and true fulfillment cannot be achieved by economic or political gains. They are found by knowing that we are all God’s children and that all people, indeed all living beings, deserve our respect, protection, and affection. Hare Krishna.—

Candle vigil

Bhaktivedanta Manor devotees joined members of the local community, together with Councillors and other faith representatives, who gathered in unity to light candles of hope during a vigil for peace at the SRMD London Spiritual Centre in Bushey.

A variety of seniors and local representatives were asked to speak.

Published onThursday, March 3rd, 2022

Global Puja (Yajna & Kirtan) for Ukraine

Welcome to Global Puja for Ukraine, a virtual prayer event, connecting participants from devotional and yogic communities around the world.

A global event to raise awareness; collectively pray for peace in Ukraine and the world; and support aid initiatives.

At the heart of the event lie three powerful, traditional pujas to Sri Narasimha, the deity of divine protection.

When: April 3, 2022
Where: LIVE at youtube.com…. (here we will insert the youtube link)

The event will span 3 distinct parts, corresponding to 3 continents:

Part I Ahobhilam/Asia: 6.30pm IS
Part II Simhachalam/Europe: 8pm CET
Part III New Vrindaban/North America: 8pm EDT


HOSTS

His Holiness Sacidanandan Swami

GUEST SPEAKERS AND KIRTAN ARTISTS

Radhanath Swami
His Holiness Radhanath Swami
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His Holiness Niranjana Swami
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Lord Narasimha Dev
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His Holiness Krsna Kshetra Swami
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Her Grace Acyuta Gopi Devi Dasi
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LORD NARASIMHA

Narasimha, half-man half-lion, is the divine protector. He evokes a mood of wonder, awe, and divine strength. Culturally, the worship of Narasimha permeates South Asia (and now the world) and crosses regional, linguistic, and sect-specific lines. His worship is central to the four orthodox Vaishnava lineages, but also to other Hindus and some Buddhists. Adi Shankaracharya, the seminal theologian of the Advaita traditions, enshrined Narasimha as the central deity in his monastery. Yogi traditions have also enjoyed a connection to the form of Yoga Narasimha, widening His appeal even further.


A POWERFUL NARASIMHA PUJA to invoke blessings of the Divine Protector

Join us on April 3, 2022 for 3 Pujas:
Puja 1: Ahobhilam (India) 6:30pm IST
Puja 2: Simhachalam (Germany) 8pm CET
Puja 3: New Vrindaban (USA) 8pm EDT
Pray for Ukraine and the world invoke auspiciousness receive blessings

Hosts:
@sacinandanaswamiofficial and @thegodofyoga

Esteemed Guests:
@radhanathswami @krishnadasmusic @eddiestern @krishnakshetraswami_official @madhavanaidoo @govindagirl_acyutagopi @cambridgeuniversity

With this event we wish to raise awareness and concentrate our collective wishes and prayers for peace in Ukraine and the world.

In addition to the three pujas, the also event includes messages of renowned thought leaders, prayerful kirtans, a peace song, and a santi meditation. We are thus honored to welcome HH Radhanath Swami, HH Krishna Ksetra Swami (Dr. Kenneth Valpey), Krishna das, Eddie Stern, Dr. James Biddulph, Madhava, Acyuta Gopi, and others. HH Sacinandana Swami will host the event and offer opening and closing remarks to help inspire us to be present in a meditative and intentional way. As the rituals are conducted, author, researcher, and Narasimha devotee Dhruva Gorrick will guide us along with explanations and commentary.

More information about the event can be found at globalpujaforukraine.com

Help for Ukraine – ISKCON Poland Yatra

Assisting The Ukrainian Refugee Devotees and Their Families

  • – By Gaurangi dasi
Week 3 of Helping the Ukrainian refugee devotees and their families
Gaurangi dasi
Warsaw has been busy as always. Every day we have had groups of adults and children, approximately 60 daily transiting or staying in our temple or at the temporary...
Week 3 of Helping the Ukrainian refugee devotees and their families Gaurangi dasi
Warsaw has been busy as always. Every day we have had groups of adults and children, approximately 60 daily transiting or staying in our temple or at the temporary rented house. Devotees who are only transiting through Poland are being supported by Ksenya and her husband, a lovely Ukrainian couple who live in Warsaw. They help them with further connections, checking the best routes, getting tickets as even though the travel is free, you still need to get a free ticket personally, not online and I’m sure you can imagine how long the queues are!In the middle of the week we had another exchange of guests, so we had to say goodbye to a few of our favourite groups (60 devotees all together) who
travelled on to Germany, Switzerland, Finland and Spain.

The house and the temple was filled up again quickly, 36 in the house and 20 in the temple so our Gaura Purnima celebration was very ecstatic and busy.Unfortunately we also had a Rota virus outbreak, 17 of our little devotees and a few older ones are all unwell, fever and vomiting. One toddler had to go to hospital and was put on a drip and one 14 year old also ended up in intensive care with what we thought was the same issue, but unfortunately it was an inflammation of the bowel and inflamed appendix, he might have to go into surgery this weekend.Apart from hospital cases, the rest are recovering quickly now they are being nicely looked after by our Warsaw team, Rasikendra, Padma, Mathuranath, Karuna, Ksenya and the Warsaw temple devotees.

We were also incredibly blessed by the presence of our dear friend Amara Prabhu, who came over from Germany for 10 days to help. He was an invaluable support, caring for the devotees in our temporary house, picking up families from the border, sorting them out in the house, shopping, doing all what was needed and he even managed to do one of his famous fire yajnas on Gaura Purnima! We are so extremely grateful for his association and will be super sad to see him go, partly because we are so short staffed with so much to do, but mostly because he is such good company.Rasana in Wroclaw has also been very busy, sorting out documents for all her devotees, managing to find work for some as well, that makes them feel very settled and safe. She spent 3 hours waiting in the office for a National Insurance number, on Gaura Purnima, missing out on all the celebrations but knowing service to the devotees is what we are all about.

In Wroclaw two of our new guests got initiated online by Radhanath Swami, it was an amazing experience for all.We’ve noticed an increase in the number of devotees who want to stay in Poland and wait out the war. We want to keep them in Warsaw and in Walbrzych in our temporary accommodation there. There is a lot to do helping people to settle in a new country; legal documents, CVs, applications, finding work etc. This week for example we have one Pediatrician and a psychologist that we are helping with settling in. The lease on our house in Warsaw will be coming to an end soon, as the owner had an offer on the house, so Rasikendra is looking into other solutions.In Walbrzych all devotees in our temporary house accommodation have been brought to New Santipur (about 1.5 hours away) for the Gaura Purnima celebrations. One of our Ukrainian devotees, Laksmikantha, was asked to help with the abhkishek for Sri Sri Panca Tattva, that made him extremely joyful, as it did for all of us.

The next day the Walbrzych devotees Krsnasambandha, Madhumati and their daughters had a little birthday celebration for a 13 years old guest. She was in tears for ages, happy
tears of course. It takes quite a lot of energy to do these little “normal” things but it is so important for the lovely devotees from Ukraine and makes them feel welcome and they forget, just for those few moments, what the reality of the situation is and what they have been through.This week we sent more devotees to Germany, it’s been such a pleasure to work with the German yatra, Sadasiva Prabhu and Kanupriya have been incredible. When we lost touch with our group of ten who were on their way to Berlin, when all trains in Poland stopped due to an electrical fault, within minutes Kanupriya arranged transport from the border. Devotees from the Poznan nama hatta — Madhuri and Kamini found this lovely polish driver, Adam, who just wanted to help so he took them to the border (a 4 hours drive) for no charge.We are getting some help from external organisations, Radek Araszkiewicz and his foundation donated 10,000 vegan bars to our Food for Life project. Rasikendra is working on linking in with a few more, as we need all the help we can get!

Mar 23rd, 2022

Prayers for UkraineKirtan & Fundraiser

We are deeply saddened to see the suffering faced by people who are victims of the escalating war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. The Ukrainian people are in need of our sincere prayers. While we are staying warm and comfortable in our homes with...

We are deeply saddened to see the suffering faced by people who are victims of the escalating war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. The Ukrainian people are in need of our sincere prayers. While we are staying warm and comfortable in our homes with our families, in Ukraine it is getting harder and harder for people to get hot food, shelter, medications, and in some places, even drinking water.
We are doing all we can to support the humanitarian aid efforts of The Lotus Trust UK team who are committed to helping the impacted people of Ukraine with food and medical supplies. We are raising an initial amount of £1.2m to support all this activity.
Please join in this collective prayer and donate generously when you book your ticket to help us provide essential humanitarian aid in this unimaginable war.
If you are unable to come to this event, you can still donate via The Lotus Trust website: bit.ly/prayersforukraine
When?
Sunday, 27th March, 4-9pm

Where?
Sri Krishna Haveli kirtan hall, Bhaktivedanta Manor, WD25 8EZ

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