I received this in email.

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Namarespected and dear Vaisnavas and Vasnavis,

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

You may all have heard about the horrible news of the recent earthquake in my country Iran, which cause death of about 30000 people! Here in Tehran we tried to send them some Prasadam and tommorrow,4th Jan, 2004, we have a Nama Yajna. So I want to humbly ask all of you to chant with us in your heart and help us to glorify the Lord. We are very weak and seeking your mercy and blessings!

Your servant,
Bhn.Fariba

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I hope no one reads this passively. This letter is an active request. Anyone can chant Hare Krishna with them in mind for a moment (and Krishna of course!), or else anyone can put two hands together and pray to Krishna for them for a moment. Or mentally put it on your schedule for the next time you chant japa, etc. And it doesn't have to be limited to the one day they asked. After all, that earthquake did a lot of damage and they could use the help any day! -- Well, what kind of response did you expect from someone who runs a Krishna Prayer egroup. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

actually this vaishnava (bhaktin fariba) has done a valuable service to us making us chanting hare krishna...

so let's execute her instruction and let's chant

I admire any kind of devotee who can inside Iran, let alone do it for the sake of others. Everyone should dedicate at least a round to the people who suffered in this catastrophe

i know wery well a devotee who goes very often in iran, he has harinama from srila prabhupada and diksa from my gurudeva.. he's an university teacher in ancient languages and in some way he's specialized in iran and middle east.

he goes very often, he's very appreciative of that people, his religion and customs, he finds interesting parallelism between iranic and vedic culture.. he has found somewhat a way to make public conferences in iran and to have a relationships with same religious leaders.. it was very surprising and incredible for us... but he has shown the newspaper with the picture of him making the conference!

very interesting

But, why did the All Merciful Lord mete out such a devastating catastrophe on the poor souls of Bam,Iran?What did they do to deserve this calamity on their heads?WHY?

From my limited perspective I can only say karma. I can't see what they may have done in the past anymore then I can see why someone gets hit by a truck in the street or captured,raped and murdered by knife point.

Or why a 97 year old woman was found alive after 9 days. Her first words "Can I have a cup of tea?" still blow my mind.

But we can see these large scale catastrophes as service oppurtunities. A time to put political animosities behind us and offer aid without condition.

We should always be chanting and keeping the welfare of others in our hearts.

But we can see Bam, Iran as an everyday occurance in this world of death. Everyone destined to be ground up in the teeth of the universal form. There is no safe place here.

May the Lord show mercy as He will and may He please increase the sankirtana among us.

Thank you Thiest for that intelligent reply.

Oftentimes we dont like to accept the cause of anything as karma, but that too is because we often do not understand what karma is. Its not a blanket excuse used to make catastrophie, big or small, acceptable. I suspect this is the misunderstanding. So no, that is not karma. I don't have time to give a lengthy explanation of the laws of karma, but I feel you have helped make the point that whether one is killed in large numbers such as earthquake or war, or else killed in the streets by knifepoint, they are still killed, and it is the result of karma. We may not be able at first to comprehend this cruelty with our human brains. Karma is a material law really. The material energy is not always so nice. It is only through spiriutal life that we can get free of karma. So everyone, please chant Hare Krishna! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Very nice answer, Theist, philosophical while also compassionate. I was struck not only by the immensity of this tragedy, but because the place was actually named Bam. Different meaning in Iran, I guess, but it seemed to me like adding insult to injury. Now it's bitterly cold outside here. While I sit comfortably chanting, thoughts of the tiny wild creatures struggling to survive another winter persist.

Yes, this world is certainly a place of suffering, to think otherwise would surely be "ignorance is bliss". Naturally we prefer pleasure to pain, but feeling for others can help us focus on the real motivation behind our devotonal service -- compassion, not personal liberation. How can I allow myself to enjoy under such circumstances?