Help Devotees Breathe

Dear Vaishnava family and friends,

Mayapur and  Bangladesh are in urgent need of emergency COVID relief.

India has been hit hard and our devotee family are feeling the effects. They are in need of immediate medical aid and food. 

The GBC body, representing our worldwide ISKCON family, have stepped up to help. Collectively, they are raising $800,000 to help our devotees breathe. 

His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami has committed to contributing $20,000 to the $800,000 needed. 

Please help! If we all come together, we can do this! 

Please help Bir Krishna Goswami fulfill his pledge. Please join hands to care for our family in Mayapur and Bangladesh.

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The following is a letter from His Holiness Bir Krishna Goswami...

Dear Disciples/Devotees/Leaders/Friends,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

As you are aware, India and Bangladesh have been hit hard over the last few weeks by the Covid pandemic. Hundreds of devotees are, or have been, seriously ill; many beloved leaders, family members, and friends have passed away. In addition, the economic impact of the pandemic is a major threat to Vaishnava families and others through loss of income, financial insecurity, and food insecurity. Some children and their parents are literally going hungry due to the pandemic.   

ISKCON’s Governing Body Commission (GBC) is reaching out to devotees around the world to ask you to help. We are especially asking for prayers and support for the Mayapur community, and members of our ISKCON communities across Bangladesh.

As followers of Lord Caitanya and Srila Prabhupada, we know how important is the quality of mercy, and service to the Vaishnavas. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura wrote of this in his Tattva Sutra (35): “…all the types of beneficence to others, like kindness, friendliness, forgiveness, charity, respect, and so on, are included in bhakti. . . . charity of medicines, clothes, food, water, etc., shelter during adversities…are the activities included in the devotional culture.”

I’m writing to you today to ask your help for the devotees in Mayapur and Bangladesh. The GBC has pledged to raise $800,000 for them and I am trying to do my part. I have committed to seek $20,000 among our temples and my disciples and friends.

Can you please help me relieve the suffering of the devotees and others in the Mayapur and Bangladesh regions? Funds collected will go to provide medical care, improved medical facilities, prasada distribution and more. Systems have been put in place to assure that the funds we raise will reach those in need and are utilized as efficiently as possible.

In Bangladesh, the Vaishnava community is particularly vulnerable, and there is little or no government assistance available. There, ISKCON is giving a quantity of dahl, rice, potatoes and cooking oil to provide for one hot meal each day for a month for thousands of families. The cost: just $24 per family of four. Just $24 assures a needy family can have at least one hot meal a day for a month.

In Mayapur, devotees are also providing medical care and supplies. Part of the Vamsi Bhavan building was converted into a Covid-ward, and efforts are underway to build a larger Covid ward in anticipation of a third wave of Covid later this year.


With the support of international funding, starting June 1, 10,000 prasada meals a day will be fed across the surrounding Mayapur area at 20 different locations.

Can you please help us assure these efforts continue? I ask for your prayers, and your financial support. Our goal, per the request of leaders in both areas, is to raise $100,000 for Bangladesh and $700,000 for the Mayapur region. 

Thank you for your prayers, your service to the Vaishnavas, and your generosity.

Your servant,
Bir Krishna das Goswami

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Please see the video below for more details about this effort...