Serving the hungry, struck in Ukraine

ISKCON has been around for more than 50 years now. ISKCON was incorporated in New York City on July 13, 1966 and it completed its 50 years of incorporation in 2016. Any mention of ISKCON is incomplete without the mention of it's founder - His Divine Grace A.C. Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada came to USA at an advanced age of 70 years with a mission to give Krishna Consciousness to the west and then propagate it worldwide.

As tensions escalate in Ukraine, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has opened the temple doors for the people of the war-torn country. Radharamn Das, the Vice-President of ISKCON, on Saturday said the ISKCON temples all over Ukraine are ready to serve people in need. “Our devotees and temples are committed to serving those in distress. Our temple doors are open for service”, Radharamn Das said in a tweet.

When life gives you lemons make lemonade. Our ISKCON devotees in Ukraine are, in fact one step ahead. When life throws lemons at them, they make lemonade and share it with others. In these difficult times, our devotees are busy serving others, risking their own lives”. Raju Gopal Das, a devotee of Kyiv’s Hare Krishna temple, who says, “The situation among the devotees is stable. Everyone is afraid and disturbed. We have prepared the temple for devotees.”?

“In the past also, during the Chechnya war, our devotees served those in distress, especially old people who are stranded in their flats and no one is there to take care of them. Risking their life, the ISCKON devotees have reached out to people. Many have even died serving during the Chechnya war. The same spirit is there during these difficult times, and the devotees are working out how best they can serve people stranded in war zones in Ukraine”, informed Radharamn Das.

Heartwarming gesture by ISKCON members have begun a massive food relief effort in Hungary at the request of the Indian Embassy to provide fresh food and water for the students coming home. ISKCON will be expanding this for the Ukrainian refugees coming in very soon. Radharamn Das also informed that along with Ukraine, ISKCON in Hungary too has started food relief for Indian students. The Indian Embassy in Hungary has sought ISKCON’s help to provide for food to the Indian students stranded in the war-torn country.

Operation Ganga: India evacuates 710 students from Ukraine. Meanwhile, the Indian government successfully evacuated 710 Indian students from war-torn Ukraine through the Romanian border. Despite multiple advisories by the government to Indians to leave Ukraine in the lead-up to the full-scale invasion by Russia, about 18,000 students are still stranded in the Eastern European country. As per reports, the Government of India has launched “Operation Ganga” to bring back stranded students from Ukraine.

The first evacuation flight of Air India, AIC 1944, touched down at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on Saturday night. The aircraft had taken off from the Henri Coanda International Airport, Bucharest, Romania, brought home 219 passengers, mostly students from India. On Saturday, the second flight from Bucharest took off for Delhi carrying 250 Indian nationals, External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar said. Cheers!