Help us Rise from Survive to Thrive
Who are we?
Hi! My name is Prema dhana das, an active member of ISKCON and follower of Srila Prabhupada. I live here in Lebanon with my family and we lead a small but enthusiastic community of bhakti yogis. After spending our first eight years gathering for kirtans in our homes and various locations around the country, we are currently settled into our own cozy little space in Zalka, called “Bhakti Beirut”.
What do we do?
Our center is a place where we gather together to support, encourage, and inspire each other along this uplifting path of bhakti. All are welcome, whether they are new, curious, inquisitive, or a seasoned practitioner. We have kirtans, philosophy discussions, books, meditations, food, and most importantly a warm welcome for anyone who steps inside.
Why are we reaching out?
Well, when you ask someone in Lebanon how they are doing, a common answer that you will get is:
“We’re surviving…”
“We’re managing”
“Somehow still going”
“Doing the best we can…”
And that essentially defines our situation too. The past years have been increasingly difficult with all the recent events in Lebanon unfolding – a historic economic collapse and sovereign debt default, the infamous Beirut blast that claimed the lives of hundreds of people and terrorized the hearts of thousands more, the local currency crisis which has plummeted more than 6600% since 2019, the resulting shortages of basic necessities (including water, electricity, fuel, medicine, food). As a result, almost all of our energies are focused on making ends meet. We usually find ourselves scrounging around just trying to cover rent.
And simply put, this is not where we want to put our focus. The purpose of our existence here is to create a spiritual sanctuary where people can find not only hope and solace, but inspiration, positivity, and connection - to each other and to the highest powers. We want to put all our energies into creating a vibrant, thriving spiritual community. Frankly, it's been a bit tough for us to do this with the constant worries of covering the bare minimum like rent and bills.
What are we asking for?
We are looking to have some basics covered that will help us to better serve our community here. Keeping with our ambition to evolve from survive to thrive we're looking to upgrade the center. Our humble little kitchen needs a door and a cooking table and the bathroom needs plumbing help. Our outdoor sitting area needs renovation and some basic supplies that will help us host community gatherings in summer, including classes in sattvic and mindful cooking. Our harmonium is literally falling apart and is due to be replaced with a newer, more smoother sounding one.
And in particular, one of our heart’s desire is also to revamp our second side room in the center and turn it into a book room. We envision it as a place to store bhakti books including those that we are actively translating into Arabic and those that we will import and distribute. Additionally, this second room can serve as a comfy place to read and chat for our community members. This consists of adding a wall with a proper door, shelving and storage units and comfortable sitting places.
Last but not least, the funds we raise will also help us cover rent and utility bills (electricity and building fees) for the years to come which will enable us to really start shifting our energy towards serving the community in all the areas mentioned above and more.
In our estimate, this would all take around $5,000 covering the renovations, repairs, replacement of our harmonium in addition to some support with the rent.
If this is something that inspires you we hope that you’ll consider contributing to our cause. Lebanon deserves the love and joy that bhakti has to offer and we are determined to keep this flame shining bright in this part of the world.
Much love and thank you in advance,
Prema dhana das
