This is Raivata Das, from the Vamsi, being treated for Covid-19 by the group of devotees and nurses of the Mayapur Community Hospital.

EVERYTHING IN THE ISKCON OFFICIAL MESSAGE OF TODAY IS 100% TRUE.

 The doctors, the nurses, the volunteers, the ones who bring and carry the oxygen tanks non-stop, the cleaners and everyone here in the Vamsi Bhavan is KILLING themselves to keep us alive. I am hooked up to an oxygen delivery machine and an oxygen tank. Between them they provide me with the oxygen I need to breathe. I am monitoring my oxygen levels 24 hours a day, adjusting the flow of oxygen to maintain stable oxygenation values. I'm doing it myself, 24 hours a day. One second of carelessness, and one can have a decomposition and leave the body. It happened to the devotee in the next room, who took off his mask and had a heart attack and left the body. Right, he was old and had diabetes. He chose to leave and go back to Mahaprabhu.

My point of view is that right now, things are on fire. Lucky are those who catch the virus as a mild thing. In my case it is not so, and I got it from an irresponsible devotee on the day of Gaura Purnima's Mangalarati, which I attended (even with a mask). It was JUST ONE SMALL SLIP, and you see, here I am, fighting for my life. And that's not an exaggeration.

If I am still here, it is thanks to the enormous efforts of this group of dedicated devotees. I don't have  money to go to a hospital in Calcutta and get first class treatment in a fancy hospital. I am poor. I depend on the mercy of Mahaprabhu and the devotees, nothing else, like many other devotees here.

So I reinforce each and every point of the official message sent by ISKCON.

DO NOT BE IRRESPONSIBLE.

 This second wave is being devastating in Mayapur. Do not infect other devotees.

I am still fighting to survive. It is not easy, that is the reality. I am infinitely grateful to the devotees for striving to keep my body and soul together.

Please help me by protecting yourselves and yours.

And please pray for me, that I may recover so that I can continue to serve Krishna and the Vaishnavas in this body.

Thank you very much. Hare Krishna.

Your servant,

Raivata Das