by Rasika Devi Dasi, nurse in Sao Paulo, Brazil

The depictions of Kali-yuga never made as much sense to me as they do nowadays.

I've been a devotee since 2009; I graduated as a Bhakti-sastri from the Jaladuta Institute in Campina Grande, in the North of Brazil, and now work as a nurse in a hospital for COVID-19 in São Paulo.

I have only one thing to say to those who think that it's excessive to stay at home, to practice social distancing or to keep business closed: come and work next to me and see the hell the hospitals are in.

Doctors going crazy, scarcity of resources, people dying before our eyes, colleagues getting sick, uncontrollable crying in the corridors.

Cases turned into mere numbers; loved ones turned into percentages. The victims of COVID-19 only increase. Fear is constant.

Every day, when I arrive at work I come across several funeral cars parked in front of the hospital. The halls smell like despair. People leave their bodies without the chance to say goodbye to their loved ones. I encounter death daily.

And how is this death?

Lonely!

No loved ones to say goodbye. No appropriate wake. And stacked sealed coffins - sealed because the numbers of infections only increase and the possibility of contamination is high.

Maybe it's cliche' to say, but I've been praying more. I have never chanted japa with such a desire to ease the pain of others. At the same time, the reflection on how we have assaulted Mother Bhumi Devi, Mother Earth, doesn't leave my mind. And it goes beyond vegetarianism; it's about respect for every living entity. The respect we didn't show when polluting rivers; when consuming more resources than necessary; when wearing leather shoes; when disrespecting life in all its forms... and today we are being charged; devotees and non.

It has not been easy remaining Krishna conscious in a totally stressful environment, where the task is to be fast, rational, intelligent and effective; but when I see those about to leave their bodies I always remember Srimati Radharani and I affectionately sing the maha-mantra so that the last word they may hear or feel is "Hare Krishna, Hare Rama." That's my service to Prabhupada. And it's never been as difficult as now.

There's a verse in the Gita that always accompanied me through difficult times and continues to accompany me now:

sukha-duhkhe same kritva
labhalabhau jayajayau
tato yuddhaya yujyasva
naivam papam avapsyasi

"Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain, victory or defeat – and by so doing you shall never incur sin."

I'm not afraid to do my duty, but I fear seeing brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and children leave this world early.

I'm not here to say that my greatest realization was to understand that we are not that body, far from it; seeing death up front is not easy, but I realized that we need to strive to be better now, without fanaticism, with love.

Today, 19 May 2020, we reached more than a thousand deaths in one day; one death every 73 seconds.

The greatest means of infection is stubbornness, ignorance, and, worst of all, selfishness.

So sisters and brothers...

For me and for you, stay home!

Obeisances,

Rasika Devi Dasi (DVS)