The Ayodhya chapter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has offered a unique invite to the Chandrayaan-3 team members as a mark of gratitude.
Devshekhar Vishnu Das, project director, ISKCON, said, “This is a humongous achievement in the history of mankind and a proud moment for all Indians. In order to show our gratitude towards this historic occasion and to honour the great brains behind this historic achievement ISKCON, Ayodhya would like to invite them to the land of Lord Ram. We pray to Lord Krishna for their continuous success”.
ISKCON said it will make all arrangements for darshan, lodging and dining for any member of the Chandrayaan-3 team in Ayodhya. The team members have to send the copy of their ISRO identity card and other details on ISKCON Ayodhya's official email ID iskconayodhya@gmail.com.
The fusion of science and a belief in the divine has been one of the most beautiful features of the mission.
A day before the launch of the mission, a team of traditionally dressed scientists had visited the Tirupathi Venkatachalapathy Temple in Andhra Pradesh with a miniature model of Chandrayaan-3 to pray for the success of the mission. The failure of the previous mission would have weighed heavily on their minds.
The ISKCON said that no matter what form of gratitude they could offer to the scientists, it would still fall far short of their achievement of scripting a glorious chapter of history that had put the tricolour on the moon’s dark side- the South Pole.
“It is the duty of every Indian to express gratitude in whatever form possible to these scientists”, Das said, adding that the ISKCON will write to the organisation with a formal invite.