Rupanuga Bhajan Ashram Flood

I wanted to write an update regarding our situation in Rupanuga Bhajan Ashram. As you may or may not have heard there have been record high floods in Vrindavan and many parts of North India. The Yamuna River rose to levels not seen in 45 years. Due to heavy rains in the mountains there has been massive flooding all through Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and other regions.

 

The ashram was also heavily effected, with the flood water filling the ground level rooms 4ft deep and the back of the ashram with the gardens being submerged in 6ft of water or more. A large portion of the ashram boundary wall collapsed on the first night due to the weight of flood waters pushing on the other side. Once it collapsed, the ashram was quickly inundated over the course of the morning as the waters of the Yamuna rose. The temple was evacuated and the deities were moved to a second floor room. The cows were also evacuated to higher ground and many things were rescued before the water rose too high. Electricity was cut for almost a week as the flood water did not recede immediately, and drinking water had to be brought in since our wells were contaminated and there was no electricity to operate the pump.

 

The flood waters have finally receded, but the Yamuna River remains quite high and there is still a danger of further flooding. In the meantime we have pumped out a lot of the excess water and restored our electricity.

 

There has been a lot of damage to the ground floor buildings and rooms in the way of sunken foundations, cracked walls and general water damage.

 

Needless to say we have not been posting regular articles, videos, updates etc., due to all this.

 

Through all the flooding our small group of sevaites along with Swami B.K. Aranya Maharaja are all safe and have stayed in the ashram to prevent further damage and continue taking care of the deities, cows and other services. We did setup a GoFundMe fundraiser and have already received so many generous donations towards the repair and restoration of the ashram. If anyone else would like to contribute then please visit the fundraiser. You can also send donations via PayPal directly to: [email protected]

 

As things return to some form of normalcy we will continue posting articles, videos and ashram updates.

 

Resident Sevaite,

Gaura Gopala Dasa