ISKCON NewsThe News Agency of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness

Vaishnava Website Offers Online Prayers for Ill Devotees

Image: vaisnavascare.com

Some members of the Houston Vaisnavas Care Team

When a Vaishnava is sick or terminally ill, it has long been a natural response of other devotees to pray to Krishna for their wellbeing. But now, courtesy of Vaishnavas C.A.R.E, a non-profit organization that offers Counseling, Assistance, Resources, and Education to those who are on their final journey, the recipient can hear every one of those prayers—online.

C.A.R.E. Co-founder Jusaniya Dasi, a registered nurse who works at hospices, came up with the idea when she came across a Christian group who were already implementing it. “When devotees volunteer on our website as Prayer Partners,” she explains, “They read prayer requests submitted for ill and dying Vaishnavas from around the world, and post comments on our Prayer Request Forum.”

Each Prayer Partner also gives a daily or weekly gift of prayer and offering of an artika, or other spiritual activity in the name of the Vaishnava in need.

“Offering a prayer is a service that is so easy—it takes just a few minutes to offer a sincere prayer and send it on its way,” says Prayer Partner Sridevi Dasi. “Yet these prayers mean so much to those who receive them. It tells them that they are surrounded by loving devotees who care. And many times, we learn that they feel strengthened, uplifted, out of or in decreased pain, simply by our prayers.”

When, for example, ISKCON guru Subhag Swami underwent surgery for a blood clot in his brain last November, prayers flooded onto the Vaishnavas C.A.R.E website and he was discharged from hospital a week later.

“Dear Sri Sri Gaur Nitai, I pray for Your divine mercy for Subhag Swami Maharaj who has done much service to spread Your mission,” read a prayer from Jusaniya Dasi. “He has given up so much in his own life in order to serve You. Please keep him in the cooling shade of Your lotus feet. Kindly allow him to always keep You fixed in his mind. Please give him complete healing if it be Your will.”

As well as its prayer service, Vaishnavas C.A.R.E. also provides educational seminars for both volunteer caregivers and healthcare professionals who are interested in its mission and wish to provide emotional and spiritual support to the terminally-ill and their families. A basic Caregiver Course is offered for free at vaisnavascare.com, while the organization also holds seminars at temples around North America. A DVD of one of these—a four-hour Hospice Seminar presented by registered nurse and C.A.R.E co-founder Sangita Dasi in Houston, Texas—has recently been released, while Sangita’s book “The Final Journey: Complete Hospice Care for Departing Vaisnavas,” is still available on the website.

“We are also beginning to encourage the development of Vaisnavas Care Teams in various temples,” Jusaniya says. “Currently there are V-Care Teams in Philadelphia, Houston, Winston-Salem, and Port Royal. These teams have monthly meetings and offer their support to devotees in need in their communities by visiting them in hospitals, giving spiritual support, and bringing them prasadam [sanctified food].”

 

The worldwide network of volunteer devotees that make up Vaishnavas C.A.R.E is growing, creating a feeling of security and warmth in our ISKCON family—a feeling that there will be friends there to help us when we most need it.

To become a C.A.R.E volunteer, please click here.

To read requests and offer your prayers, click here.

To become a Prayer Partner, please click here.