Nov 27, 2008 5:29 pm US/Eastern
Marylanders Desperate To Contact Indian Relatives
CATONSVILLE, Md. (WJZ) ―
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The pictures in India following 10 separate terrorist attacks are hitting close to home as some Marylanders try to contact their family members in the region.
Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images
A chaotic scene continues to rock Mumbai, India. Ten separate terrorist attacks left some Americans wounded.
Dennis Edwards reports the pictures in India are hitting close to home as some Marylanders try to contact their family members in the region.
For Baltimore residents with relatives in or near Mumbai, there's a tremendous sense of helplessness.
Most are waiting to hear and wondering whether family and friends are among the victims.
The pictures tell a violent and horrible story of death and destruction. The hope of Jai Gaurasundara Dass is that the dead and injured are not related to the more than 200 devotees of his Catonsville-based Iskcon Hare Krishna congregation.
"It was disgusting. We condemn it, but what else can we do except bring Krishna," said Dass.
Dass' wife flew out of Mumbai a few hours before Wednesday's attacks. She and thousands of other westerners are in the country for a Krishna pilgrimage that took them to temples close by.
Now two of those temples are closed, and the world is wondering why this coordinated attack happened.
"I think they are fanatics, so I don't think they have any goal. Just to, if you are not Muslim, or if you are not same as my religion, I can do anything to you," said Dass.
Ultimately, Krishna leaders say all they can do is pray for victims and the terrorists.
It is a peculiar kind of hatred Dass believes is based on years of conflict between Muslims and Hindus.
He and his congregation are turning to their Krishna tradition and praying daily for those who did not survive.
"We have to tell people you are not the bodies that you are in because your are spirit-soul, and spirit-soul never gets hurt," said Dass.
Dass says his congregation will gather nightly and through the weekend to pray and will wait for instruction from national leaders on how to help in the recovery.
There are three major Krishna congregations in the Baltimore area. Each is expected to remember Mumbai in prayer.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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