NHAI chief officer at BBSR: STOP TEMPLE DEMOLITION AND HARASSMENT OF DEVOTEES IN ISKCON BHUBANESWAR
Signatures
1,099 out of 100,000Petitioning
- NHAI chief officer at BBSR (+ 4 others)
The ISKCON temple in Bhubaneswar is one of the main Hare Krishna temples not just in India but in the whole world. Why? It houses a memorial hut where the world renowned saint and founder acharya of ISKCON, His Divine Grace Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, personally performed worship and engaged in his writings and scripture classes. Secondly, it is the location of the Samadhi chapel of the great saint Srila Gour Govinda Swami, one of the genuine successors of His Divine Grace. Thus it is one of the main points in the itinerary of many western devotees from all over the world. Daily thousands of local devotees visit this temple. Therefore it is one of Odisha's world famous temples.
Unfortunately this temple is a target of demolition due to its location in regards to the road widening project of the NHAI in Bhubaneswar. The Government of India has made many exceptions in building national highways in the past. It is a very reasonable request to include this temple as an exception, for indeed it is a historic place of worship for millions of people who come not just from India but from countries across the globe.
On the 6th of August, 2012 the NHAI, with the protection of the local police, successfully demolished the historical and sacred hut of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami. This brought so much pain to millions of unaware devotees worldwide, but especially because this took place just a few days before His Divine Grace's appearance day and Sri Krishna Janmastami day. At present the next target for demolition is the holy samadhi chapel of Srila Gour Govinda Swami.
We had one building, this one, one go-down, and that was it at the time. They tore down the temple room we had, but not yet our room for living in,where Gour Govinda Swami translated Srila Prabhupada's books, where his samahi is situated. Disturbing this samadhi is gravelly sinful, will result in great bad karma for the Bhubaneswara people if allowed. - Tamohara dasa acbssp, resident.
THIS HAS TO STOP!
This damage will remain a big stain on the reputation of the Indian government. Please help to stop further physical damage that will scar the hearts of millions of devotees worldwide. There has to be a way that the NHAI can implement their road widening while at the same time protecting this historical and sacred place. They must be saved from committing a grave offense that will be remembered in history by generations of devotees around the world.
Why People Are Signing
2 days ago5 people like this reasonPlease do not destroy your ancient culture what makes your country what it really is. Build streets to temples, not over them. Thank you for your understanding.
- 2 days ago5 people like this reason
Every civilized nation protects its historical and cultural places of interest such as temples, special residences, and monuments at all costs, knowing full well their significance to the accumulation of historical assets. INDIA produced a commemorative stamp of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in honor of his collective contribution to the export of Indian Culture that opened the door to India's growing prosperity. What took place on August 6, 2012 at Bhubaneswar defiled and destroyed an important landmark of this most beloved international Acarya and has therefore put an ominous black eye on INDIA and those responsible. Please, therefore, avail yourself of this opportunity for damage control and a return to sanity. Surely Sri Krishna and the gods are not pleased by this act of vandalism. Our legacy is defined by the integrity of our decisions.
- 1 day ago4 people like this reason
ISKCON is representing Hindus around the world. Odisha is a spiritual abode of the Lord and it's really ridiculous to see the government itself demolishing the samadhi mandir of HH Gour Govinda Swami. This is not done. By doing this you will shatter the hearts of millions of souls, and will bring very grave negative effects to the country.
I have been working in Moscow and we came across recently the ban on Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavat Gita by the prosecutors of the Omck province which we won at the end. We won on the strong ground that it was authentic and ISKCON represents the whole Indian " Hindu" community around the world. It's a known fact. Because of ISKCON today every man in the world knows Lord Krishna. Please stop this immediately. PLEASE!!! - 2 days ago4 people like this reason
Dear Sir/Madam, Please Before Widening Road First Widen your Views
- 2 days ago4 people like this reason
Dear officials,
The foundation stone for the temple was personally laid by Srila Swami Prabhupada and the temple was built under the most watchful eye of one of his most beloved disciples Srila Gour Govinda Swami,please do not incur the wrath of our Lord by trying to desecrate the Most Holy Paraphernalia of His Most Beloved Devotees.Devotees are devastated after Government officials entered the ISKCON Bhubaneswar Temple grounds and destroyed Śrīla Prabhupāda's Bhajan Kutir to widen the National Highway. Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda travelled to Bhubaneswar in 1977 to found his 108th and last project. Śrīla Prabhupāda had said, "I will build a temple in Bhubaneswar like Jagannātha's temple in Purī, because my Western disciples are not allowed to enter that temple. Lord Jagannātha will come and stay in Bhubaneswar, then all my disciples can go there and have His darśana."
Srila Prabhupada in BBSR 1977
During his visit Śrīla Prabhupāda laid the foundation stone for the Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Balaram Mandir on the auspicious occasion of the holy appearance day of Lord Nityanada. Śrīla Prabhupāda stayed for 17 days in the mud hut (pictured below), which was erected on his instruction by his dear disciple Gour Govinda Swami, who lived in the same hut while overseeing the construction of the Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Balaram Mandir and where he later was placed in samadhi in 1996.
Srila Prabhupada's Monument
The Government officials have threatened to come back and demolish also the Samadhi of our most beloved spiritual master Śrī Srimad Gour Govinda Swami.
This is a desperate cry for help from all followers, admirers and disciples of Gour Govinda Swami to all devotees, especially the ISKCON leaders and disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda, to stop, with a worldwide uproar, the demolition of this ISKCON monument.
ISKCON Sri Sri Krsna_Balaram Mandir Bhubaneswar India
(The following is an excerpt from a darshan with Gour Govinda Swami, which was posted by Mahashakti dasi on face-book.)
Gour Govinda Swami: Temporary mud hut, still existing.
Gokuldas dasa: It has become eternal.
Gour Govinda Swami: Temporary mud hut. That was when I first came here to occupy the land, just erected it, made a temporary residence, stayed here, and we will construct a building. After construction is finished then that will be demolished. But Prabhupāda came and stayed there. We didn't demolish it. Look at it now, it is like a monument, Prabhupāda's monument. He stayed there so we keep it. Sometimes when the government people came and said, "We will demolish this, we will destroy this structure. Why have you built this thing? This is not in line." In the beginning they came because the land was donated to us, and Prabhupāda came and Prabhupāda sent me here: "Go, stay there. Build a hut, occupy. Then start a centre." Prabhupāda told me, so I came and I erected that mud hut. I didn't approach this government authority and get some permission from them, so they came like that. I said, "Alright, if you are powerful government officials, you may do it, but I am staying here. You come and break it, as you like, I am here." Then they didn't come. Just threatening, threatening. We are not doing anything for our own enjoyment, own purposes. We are doing everything for Krishna, Krishna's service, Krishna's enjoyment. Krishna is there. He is our only protector and maintainer. If Krishna wants, He can break it. If He doesn't want, nobody can break it. Krishna will give protection, we have this strong faith. They didn't come. . . . that time they didn't come.
(More images of this shocking event are available on Facebook by Anjali dasi)
Please everyone contact the persons involved in this humiliation of Srila Prabhupada's last founded project. Their contact details are below. Please inundate them with so much correspondence/emails that they will not be able to think of anything else but this and how to rectify this enormous sin.
You can go to the web-site of National Highways Authority of India, department of Transport and Highways.
You can go to the minster of the department.
The Chairman of NHAI, New Delhi is Mr. Rajiv Yadav. Mail: rajivyadav@nhai.org
Planning and Information- Mr. Atul kumar. Mail: atulkumar@nhai.org
Land Aquisition dept.- Mr. V.K Sharma. Mail: vksharma@nhai.orgAditya Kumar Ray who is chief officer at BBSR. Mail:bhu@nhai.org
Mob. +919437000964
Land: 0674-2392720Mr. A.K Upadhyay, Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Govt. of India. Please send this information to one and all. And start a big campaigning against the Govt. of India.
For more information please visit TVPBooks.com.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION NHAI chief officer at BBSR: STOP TEMPLE DEMOLITION AND HARASSMENT OF DEVOTEES IN ISKCON BHUBANESWAR
The ISKCON temple in Bhubaneswar is one of the main Hare Krishna temples not just in India but in the whole world. Why? It houses a memorial hut where the world renowned saint and founder acharya of ISKCON, His Divine Grace Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, personally performed worship and engaged in his writings and scripture classes. Secondly, it is the location of the Samadhi chapel of the great saint Srila Gour Govinda Swami, one of the genuine successors of His Divine Grace. Thus it is one of the main points in the itinerary of many western devotees from all over the world. Daily thousands of local devotees visit this temple. Therefore it is one of Odisha's world famous temples.
Unfortunately this temple is a target of demolition due to its location in regards to the road widening project of the NHAI in Bhubaneswar. The Government of India has made many exceptions in building national highways in the past. It is a very reasonable request to include this temple as an exception, for indeed it is a historic place of worship for millions of people who come not just from India but from countries across the globe.
On the 6th of August, 2012 the NHAI, with the protection of the local police, successfully demolished the historical and sacred hut of His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami. This brought so much pain to millions of unaware devotees worldwide, but especially because this took place just a few days before His Divine Grace's appearance day and Sri Krishna Janmastami day. At present the next target for demolition is the holy samadhi chapel of Srila Gour Govinda Swami.
THIS HAS TO STOP!
This damage will remain a big stain on the reputation of the Indian government. Please help to stop further physical damage that will scar the hearts of millions of devotees worldwide. There has to be a way that the NHAI can implement their road widening while at the same time protecting this historical and sacred place. They must be saved from committing a grave offense that will be remembered in history by generations of devotees around the world.
Please sign the petition here.
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