(photo credit: Ashwani Diwedi) Selfless service by devotees at ISKCON Ayodhya

ISKCON Ayodhya distributes prasadam to over a hundred thousand people. Vinay Bhushan Chaitanya Das, the director of ‘Food for Life,’ cited Srila Prabhupada’s words that no one within 10 miles of an ISKCON Temple must sleep hungry.

The distribution happened in over 11 places in one day. The director of ISKCON Ayodhya, Dev Shekhar Vishnu Das, organized this ritually virtuous prasadam distribution last year as well. With many challenges in hand, he spoke, ”To gather the groceries and other items for this herculean effort, a group of devotees from the Temples ventured to gather grains in the main market of Ayodhya, to their utter surprise, most of the shopkeepers agreed to sponsor grains as small as 1 kg to 100 Kg. So this way the grocery was arranged.’’

Swati Shrivastava Khare a local Ayodhya and Mass media student who was part of the volunteer group affirms “I have never seen anything like this in my whole life. The amount of food being distributed is Phenomenal.’’ Continuous Hare Krishna chants in the background set the ambiance for this wonderful day.

‘Makara’ means ‘Capricorn’. The sun’s movement into the zodiac of ‘Capricorn’ is called Makar Sankranti. This festival is celebrated in honor of the Sun God to pay tribute for the grace of his energy that has enabled life and food on earth.