Corona Super-spreader at the Manor in UK

Recently a grave error was committed by the management of the Bhaktivedanta Manor towards its devotee community. About a week back or so devotees may have seen a video circulating on social media of H.H. Bhakti Purushottama Swami speaking in the Mayapur temple about how scores of devotees contracted the corona virus after a funeral and a series of programs held in the UK for a departed Vaisnava.

After he passed away several programs were arranged for H.G. Sruti Dharma Das with many devotees attending on 12^th March as follows; 11:30am to 1:45pm at the Sri Krishna Haveli at Bhaktivedanta Manor, was Antima-sraddhanjali, or kirtan, offering flowers and final respects. The second, from 3 to 4pm at Saint Marylebone Crematorium in London, was the Antyeṣṭi-kriyā, or Ceremony of Cremation and lastly kirtan, from 7 to 9pm at the Sri Krishna Haveli. Further evenings of kirtan were planned at the same time for Friday, and Saturday, after and from 4 to 9pm on Sunday.

This means that there were 3 public programs held on that day and I am not sure if programs on the other days went ahead also. In order to put things in proper perspective regarding the Corona virus pandemic at the time, the timeline for the spread of the virus in the UK is given below:

31^st January – first case of Corona in the UK

Early Feb – more cases

28^th Feb – Transmission of Corona within UK

1 March – England, Wales, N. Ireland, Scotland had cases

3^rd March – Declared as a level 4 emergency, which means coordinated at national level

11^th March – WHO declared Corona a PANDEMIC. Some schools choose to close. A number of flight cancellations announced by airlines. Some retail outlets announce unusually large orders (hoarding).

12^th March – The level of risk was raised in the UK from moderate to HIGH.

From January 2020 Vishakha Devi Dasi took over as the temple president. So she either planned or approved the programs held. Based on the progression of events above, how could anyone have organized public programs on 12^th March in this dangerous circumstance and risk the lives of the lotus-like devotees? Devotees are not cheap but are very rare in this material world and dear to Krishna. We are meant to serve them and honour them, not risk their lives like this. The ISKCON NEWS site reported in this regard;

“The spread of the virus amongst the UK devotee community can be traced back largely to the March 12th funeral and March 15th memorial of Bhaktivedanta Manor temple president Srutidharma Das – the former of which drew about 1,000 people.”

               ISKCON NEWS 3^rd April 2020

To put it plainly Vishakha Devi Dasi is responsible for the so far 5 deaths relating to Corona that took place and the 21 confirmed (maybe more now) infection cases. How many more will have to leave us?

The management or she may argue that it was before the restrictions on movement and social and religious gatherings were imposed by the UK govt, but the point here is lack of proper care and concern for devotees. We don’t need the government to tell us whether to risk the lives of the devotees. She most definitely would have known the situation concerning the corona virus and yet had no qualms putting all those children, women and old people, and the preaching mission at great risk by arranging or allowing the gatherings.

The devotee community has been engaged in preaching and they have made great achievements over the years holding phenomenal programs, bringing in new devotees and distributing books etc. Among the devotees who left due to corona infection related deaths were some exceptional devotees who did tremendous service for the Manor community.

The temple president’s role is not a light one just for prestige or fame, it has a very big responsibility attached with it. The whole congregation is in his, or in this case, her charge. The senior leaders of the UK yatra now owe it to the devotees to remove Vishakha Devi Dasi from the post of Temple President. This is for the safety of the lives of the congregation and the future of the Manor preaching mission. The temple President must be in tune with the goings on in the area and the world and have genuine concern for the devotees or it can lead to disaster. These incidents and their fallout has shown that she does not have the qualities to lead this great community and we cannot risk any further issues. We still don’t know how many more will end up leaving us. Actually in karmi society such a case of loss of lives would most certainly lead to litigation and perhaps this will need to be done if they do not agree to replace her.