{"id":1607,"date":"2013-07-31T10:42:09","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T08:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.karitativ.hu\/?p=1607"},"modified":"2013-07-31T10:42:09","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T08:42:09","slug":"the-tradition-is-dead-and-we-have-thousands-of-people-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karitativ.hu\/en\/uncategorized\/elhalt-a-hagyomany-ezreket-etkeztetunk-indiaban\/","title":{"rendered":"A dead tradition - we feed thousands in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Krishna Centre in Mumbai provides lunch for thousands of children every day. According to the organisers, the secret ingredient in the recipes is love, devotion and compassion, which gives the food an unparalleled taste of purity. The distribution of this spiritual nourishment is an effort to help victims of exploitation around the world, and thus to bring balance to the world's food supply.<\/em><\/p>\n

Although the Food for Life programme dates back only to the early 1970s, it has in fact institutionalised an ancient Eastern custom. Since then, it has provided the largest number of poor people in India, not only with fresh hot meals, but also with hospital care in some towns, education, drinking water, trees and even protection of the sacred cow.<\/p>\n

In the ancient Indian tradition, it has always been the responsibility of families to feed all those sections of society - pilgrims, spiritual teachers and the poor - who did not earn a living by bread-winning. As long as this custom was alive, there were no hungry people in the country. The local society, the small communities, left virtually no room for squalor and impoverishment, despite the fact that life and its necessities were conceived as basically simpler than in any of the Western countries. The situation in the country changed a lot after colonialism - social divisions and differences were also exacerbated by the struggle for property. In 1972, for example, the founder of the International Organisation of Krishna Consciousness, Srila Prabhupada, noticed Bengali children scavenging for food in garbage. Jaiyapataka Swami, the then head of the Krishna centre that was being built in Mayapura, recalls the incident: \u201eI remember, just the day after we moved into the first building that was completed, Srila Prabhupada was sitting in his room on the second floor. That day we had just arranged a big feast for a few hundred guests. After the meal, banana leaves used as plates were thrown into a large garbage bin next to the main building. After a while there was a big commotion downstairs, so Srila Prabhupada looked out of the window. He could see children from the village standing in the garbage and licking the crumbs off the leaves. Prabhupada's eyes welled up with tears and he said, \u2019How hungry these people are - they have to struggle so much to get some scraps. This is God's house, Krishna's house - whoever comes here, to the Father's house, must get some food.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Prabhupada\"
\nPrabhupada asked his disciples that wherever there was a Krishna temple, there should be no starving person within a radius of ten kilometres. The first Food for Life centre was therefore opened in Mayapur, West Bengal, the very site of the event. Villagers from miles around came to the food distributions, where they received fresh, hot, nutritious meals. \u201eThat's when we decided to build a huge canteen where up to 1,500 people can have lunch at the same time.\u201d<\/em> - says Jaiyapataka Swami - \u201eSince then, food distribution has continued on a regular basis. In an average month we feed around 20,000 people, but on special holidays we can eat up to 15,000 meals in a day.\u201d<\/em> In addition, thanks to government and NGO partnerships, nearly 2,000 mothers with many children are also fed.<\/p>\n\n

In Mumbai, one of India's most populous cities, the Temple of Krishna in Juhu is organising the distribution of more than a million bowls of food and 600,000 cups of halava (Indian sweets) in one year. Here, too, they mainly support the underprivileged through various events, temple celebrations and other activities. They do not receive ordinary food, but prasada - a vegetarian meal prepared with great dedication by the chef and sanctified at the altar, which not only satisfies hunger but also brings spiritual growth.<\/p>\n

Mumbai also has a special child feeding programme, as it has the highest rate of child deaths from hunger, ahead of Congo, Nigeria and Pakistan. The last survey measuring child hunger was conducted in 2005 and found that 46% of children, or 31 million children under 3 years of age, were undernourished - a figure that represents almost the entire population of Canada. The country's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, himself drew attention to this in a public speech: \u201eThe problem of malnutrition is a national disgrace. Although the GDP indicator is rising at an impressive rate, the level of malnutrition in the country is unacceptably high.\u201d<\/em> In 2011, the government spent $11 billion on programmes that provided food for people officially considered poor, and under the auspices of the Mid Day Meal Scheme, this is still going on today.<\/p>\n

The Krishna devotees of Mumbai have joined the government's programme and have rightly named the initiative \u201eAnnamrita\u201d or 'Nectar Grain', as they use 4.5 tonnes of rice in their kitchens every day. Radha Krishna Das, Programme Director, focuses on feeding children, as the opportunity of a good lunch attracts thousands of children to school, providing them not only with food but also with education, which is a big word in today's India. \u201eThe majority of the country's population cannot afford a decent meal a day.<\/em> menu, unable to escape the vicious circle of poverty and illiteracy. From <\/em>\u2019Annamrita programme\u2019, preparing sanctified food in modern kitchens with a spiritual environment <\/em>food nourishes the mind, body and soul. The secret ingredient of food is love, love <\/em>devotion and compassion that gives the food an unparalleled taste of purity.\u201d<\/em> - states the Director.<\/p>\n