LIFE MIRACLES IN THE MIDST OF DEATH

INTERNATIONAL SEARCH TEAMS RESCUE MANY
ENTOMBED ALIVE UNDER RUBBLE A WHOLE WEEK

PORT-AU-PRINCE - The United Nations said that 132 people had been rescued from the debris of collapsed buildings in Haiti since the January 12 earthquake. Survivors were pulled from the rubble by international search teams, and many were really miraculous rescues. A 5-year-old boy was pulled alive from his collapsed Port-au-Prince home Wednesday, eight days after the 7-magnitude Haiti earthquake. His mother was killed in the disaster and his father is missing. Doctors attributed his survival to the resilience and strength of his young body. Colombian and French aid workers rescued a 22-day- old baby-girl, after she spent a week in the rubble of the devastating quake in Haiti, the Bogota Fire Department said Wednesday. He had been trapped under debris since the earthquake in Haiti during seven days. The firefighters from Bogota have been working for three days to save the child from the Haitian city of Jacmel. The survival of the 11-year-old, dug from the wreckage of her family’s home by neighbours, “truly is a miracle”, said doctors at a clinic run by French charities, adding that she “came back to life bit by bit”. Hoteline Losana, 25, was trapped in earthquake 'coffin', but it was not the end for her, because of an indomitable will to live, she was rescued after eight days. She sang quietly when at last rescuers lifted her to safety, then sang again with extraordinary force as they lowered her towards the cheering crowd. As she went over the edge, Ms Losana filled her lungs and sang loudly enough for those below to hear over the generators. She was still singing at the bottom. “It is a song of God,” one of the crowd said.

Yesterday, an 84-year-old Haitian woman has been pulled alive from the rubble of her Port-au-Prince home, 10 days after she was buried by the earthquake that devastated the capital and surrounding areas. Emergency workers say the woman, identified as Marie Carida Romain, was rescued from the ruins of her home. She was being treated at a local hospital and it was not clear whether she would survive. Today hopes of finding survivors have faded, so Haiti's government has made the "heartbreaking" decision to declare the search and rescue phase for survivors of the earthquake over.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

With regard to loving other people in the material world, this is inherent in loving Krishna. There is no meaning to Krishna consciousness that does not include within it a deep sense of love for humanity. Thākura Bhaktivinoda says it like this, “jīve dayā krsna nāma sarva dharma sāra,” and furthermore in his Tattva-sutra, “Those who think that devotion to God and kindness to others are mutually exclusive and conduct their life accordingly will not be able to properly cultivate devotional life. They are involved in only a semblance of real devotion.” In Krishna consciousness our capacity to actually love others is realized, not only some but all others, and not only for some time but forever.

Śrīla Bhakti Vedanta Tripurari Mahārāja :
“Fundamentalism and Unhealthy Dependence”
Śrī Caitanya Sanga - Vol. IV, No. 22 - Sept. 15, 2002
http://www.swami.org/pages/sanga/