{"id":85640,"date":"2020-05-14T06:23:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-14T04:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=85513"},"modified":"2020-05-14T06:23:15","modified_gmt":"2020-05-14T04:23:15","slug":"iskcon-wales-covid-19-outreach-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=85640","title":{"rendered":"ISKCON Wales&#8217; COVID-19 outreach success"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dear devotees,<\/p>\n<p>To inspire you that Lord Caitanya&#8217;s Harinam Sankirtan cannot be stopped under any circumstance, I wanted to share with you all the incredible success which ISKCON Wales&#8217; has had with its COVID-19 response. <\/p>\n<p>Check out this inspirational video message from ISKCON Wales&#8217; Temple President, His Grace Tarakanatha Dasa:<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XVbc2A3PlOg\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As you are all well aware, due to current restrictions there is no opportunity to distribute Srila Prabhupada&#8217;s literature on the street or door-to-door and practically all of our centres are closed to the public effectively stopping all outreach events. Here are some measures which have been taken in ISKCON Wales to circumvent these obstacles.<\/p>\n<p>All their outreach events have been transformed into live stream webinars. They are free of charge, are promoted through social media platforms and appeal to the innumerable lost souls who are now locked inside and spending all their precious time online. The average attendance to the online programmes is 50% higher than the previous physical attendance. People who are attending these introductory webinars are then encouraged to take part in a 5-day online Bhakti Yoga at Home course in which they become acquainted with all the core principles of Krishna-consciousness, such as chanting, prasadam, association, guidance and the importance of reading spiritual literature. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/slil1C7.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>They have also launched a Meditation Care Package campaign (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.tykrishna.cymru\/mcp\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.tykrishna.cymru\/mcp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1589513209875000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHJh_mrE4MrhLRGjMr2tT-DGNyuTw\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.tykrishna.cymru\/mcp<\/a>) through which they have distributed 120 packages which include a set of beads, basic instructions for chanting and a small book to anyone who is experiencing stress and anxiety in these difficult and confusing times. Many of these have been well-received by nurses and other frontline workers who are under tremendous pressure.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/yGKbrTX.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>But what has truly transformed ISKCON Wales&#8217; outreach efforts is the Food For Life project. With the cafe closed and the kitchen largely unused, a large scale prasadam distribution service was commenced simply by door-to-door distribution of leaflets offering to deliver a hot, nutritious, plant-based meal. The first delivery on 20th March consisted of 30 meals to approximately 20 households. Today, on 12th May, ISKCON Wales is distributing 800 meals. Since that first delivery ISKCON Wales has delivered over 15,000 meals to vulnerable, at-risk individuals, low-income families, hospitals, GP surgeries and emergency service stations all over South Wales. Over 30 people who were previously unaware of Krishna Consciousness have been engaged as volunteers and thousands of people are using their spiritual tastebuds for the very first time!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/pGonkEV.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I hope ISKCON Wales&#8217; example can help inspire other centres to adapt to the current situation and continue their service to Sri Sri Radha Krishna. If you would like to support ISKCON Wales&#8217; activities, please consider making a donation on their GoFundMe fundraiser: https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/m6beck-food-for-life-wales-campaign-during-covid19<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading and watching.<\/p>\n<p>Your servant,<br \/>\nMantriraja Dasa<\/p>\n<p>For more information please visit ISKCON Wales&#8217; website <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tykrishna.cymru\" target=\"_blank\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.tykrishna.cymru&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1589513209867000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHjYF3mywKlD8BwaM5OzdY6Axkq7w\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">www.tykrishna.cymru<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.imgur.com\/slil1C7.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As you are all well aware, due to current restrictions there is no opportunity to distribute Srila Prabhupada&#8217;s literature on the street or door-to-door and practically all of our centres are closed to the public effectively stopping all outreach events. Here are some measures which have been taken in ISKCON Wales to circumvent these obstacles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recent-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}