"My grandmother is on her death bed; please pray for her." Aman
Chauhan Prabhu called me up. Aman is a dynamic and enthusiastic member
of our Pandava Sena youth group in Amritsar. His parents and brother are
all devotees. A week back, her grandmother had a massive heart-attack
and was admitted in a local hospital. She had many medical
complications, and just the previous day, we had shifted her to a
different hospital for further management of her cardiac condition. A
strong woman in her fifties, she was supporting the family of her widow
younger daughter, while battling diabetes, heart ailments, asthma and
arthritis-all without any complains. She was apprehensive about shifting
to this new hospital. "I feel I will not return from there," she had
told her family members. Now her fear seemed to come true.
"I am on my way," I replied to Aman. I took Radha-kunda water, Gopi-chandan, and called Aman to arrange for a tulasi kanthi mala. As I was leaving my room, something shone at the corner of my vision. Hanging at the window was a dried up maha-garland of Radha-Shyamsunder of Vrindavan. I had received it about 15 days back, and had hung it on the window to dry. 3-4 days back I was about to offer it to nirmalaya, but a voice stopped me. "Keep it; you will need it," it said. I picked the garland and hurriedly rode to the hospital, praying that mataji be alive to receive the final devotional care. Aman received me at the gate and rushed me to the CCU. She lay motionless, barely holding on, thanks to full dose of life supportive drugs and ventilator. The heart-attack had extensively damaged the cardiac muscles and the it was barely functioning at 15% of its capacity.
I put Gopi-chandan on her forehead, placed the maha-garland and tulasi mala around her neck, a picture of Radha-Gopinath besides her and prayed. Then I played HH Radhanath Maharaj's Hare Krishna maha-mantra kirtan for about 5 minutes. Although her eyes were taped shut, when the kirtan was played, she flickered here eyebrows. Aman P's father too noticed it.
Then I came out, and according to the guidelines I had seen being practiced in Bhakti Vedanta Hospital, advised the family members. "Please go to her and tell her that you all love her. Tell her that she had been a great mother and grandmother. Beg forgiveness for your mistakes and also forgive her for hers. Tell her to not worry about you; that you will take care after she departs. Tell her to go back to Krishna, and not feel attached to anything of this world."
The family members nodded but they were shocked and grieved. Leaving them, I came downstairs with Aman. I had seen how during the departure of Gaurang P's father, HH Radhanath Maharaj had called from abroad and consoled all the family members. He also spoke with Prabhu ji's father. I too wanted to offer words of Maharaj to these devotees. But there was no way I could call Maharaj and make him speak to them. I prayed to Guru Maharaj and felt an inspiration to hear his words. So I just played the lecture I had been hearing on my phone that day. Amazingly, he said: "Spiritually when we forget Krishna we are dead. Spiritually when we are remembering Krishna we have eternal life. A devotee doesn’t consider whether this body lives or dies as very important. A devotee considers spiritually whether I am alive with Krishna. I remember Him always. In remembrance of Krishna there is no fear of material existence because in remembrance of Krishna material existence actually ceases to be within our minds and hearts. Krishna surya sama maya hoye andhakar. jahan surya tahan maya nahi adhikar Krishna is like the Sun and maya, ignorance which is the source of all misery and ignorance is like darkness. In the presence o the Sun there can be no darkness. If we just keep our mind attached to the radiant Sun of Krishna’s name or Krishna’s pastimes or Krishna’s form, then the darkness of ignorance which is the cause of all misery and suffering in this world it ceases to exist."
I was shocked. I had been hearing the lecture since morning, and there was no context of life and death in it. But now that we played his talk, he seemed to be directly addressing our situation.
Then Maharaj described how Prahalad Maharaj was tested in various ways. If we look at the exact moment when Prahalad was being thrown in to the pit of venomous snakes, or thrown from the top of a mountain cliff, at that moment we would feel that the Lord had abandoned Prahalad, that He was no longer caring for His dear devotee. But only when we look at the next scene can we realize how the Lord save His devotee. Similarly, during a certain distressing situation we may feel that the Lord has abandoned us, but if we keep hope and persevere, we will see that the Lord is always with us, and even in the difficulty, He pulls us through to ultimate safety and shelter.
Encouraged by these words of Maharaj, Aman began to intensely chant and pray for his grandmother. After some time, I left the hospital advising them to read Gita beside the patient. Shortly after I reached home I received the news that Mataji had left this material world.
Later that evening I continued hearing that lecture. Maharaj said that we should pray that our dying relatives go back to Krishna. "This is the greatest service you can do," he said, "much greater than anything you have done ever for them while they were living."
These words gave me hope that what we had done was the best possible for Mataji. It also renewed my faith in the words of Guru Maharaj and process of Krishna consciousness. At times we may not have spiritual master's physical presence, but his vani, which is always accessible, has all the power to deliver his transcendental message, blessings and guidance. It's a transcendental connection-functional, effective and potent, least affected by the apparent limitations of material time and place.
We just have to open our hearts and have a little faith. Krishna is there, ready to reach to us.
"I am on my way," I replied to Aman. I took Radha-kunda water, Gopi-chandan, and called Aman to arrange for a tulasi kanthi mala. As I was leaving my room, something shone at the corner of my vision. Hanging at the window was a dried up maha-garland of Radha-Shyamsunder of Vrindavan. I had received it about 15 days back, and had hung it on the window to dry. 3-4 days back I was about to offer it to nirmalaya, but a voice stopped me. "Keep it; you will need it," it said. I picked the garland and hurriedly rode to the hospital, praying that mataji be alive to receive the final devotional care. Aman received me at the gate and rushed me to the CCU. She lay motionless, barely holding on, thanks to full dose of life supportive drugs and ventilator. The heart-attack had extensively damaged the cardiac muscles and the it was barely functioning at 15% of its capacity.
I put Gopi-chandan on her forehead, placed the maha-garland and tulasi mala around her neck, a picture of Radha-Gopinath besides her and prayed. Then I played HH Radhanath Maharaj's Hare Krishna maha-mantra kirtan for about 5 minutes. Although her eyes were taped shut, when the kirtan was played, she flickered here eyebrows. Aman P's father too noticed it.
Then I came out, and according to the guidelines I had seen being practiced in Bhakti Vedanta Hospital, advised the family members. "Please go to her and tell her that you all love her. Tell her that she had been a great mother and grandmother. Beg forgiveness for your mistakes and also forgive her for hers. Tell her to not worry about you; that you will take care after she departs. Tell her to go back to Krishna, and not feel attached to anything of this world."
The family members nodded but they were shocked and grieved. Leaving them, I came downstairs with Aman. I had seen how during the departure of Gaurang P's father, HH Radhanath Maharaj had called from abroad and consoled all the family members. He also spoke with Prabhu ji's father. I too wanted to offer words of Maharaj to these devotees. But there was no way I could call Maharaj and make him speak to them. I prayed to Guru Maharaj and felt an inspiration to hear his words. So I just played the lecture I had been hearing on my phone that day. Amazingly, he said: "Spiritually when we forget Krishna we are dead. Spiritually when we are remembering Krishna we have eternal life. A devotee doesn’t consider whether this body lives or dies as very important. A devotee considers spiritually whether I am alive with Krishna. I remember Him always. In remembrance of Krishna there is no fear of material existence because in remembrance of Krishna material existence actually ceases to be within our minds and hearts. Krishna surya sama maya hoye andhakar. jahan surya tahan maya nahi adhikar Krishna is like the Sun and maya, ignorance which is the source of all misery and ignorance is like darkness. In the presence o the Sun there can be no darkness. If we just keep our mind attached to the radiant Sun of Krishna’s name or Krishna’s pastimes or Krishna’s form, then the darkness of ignorance which is the cause of all misery and suffering in this world it ceases to exist."
I was shocked. I had been hearing the lecture since morning, and there was no context of life and death in it. But now that we played his talk, he seemed to be directly addressing our situation.
Then Maharaj described how Prahalad Maharaj was tested in various ways. If we look at the exact moment when Prahalad was being thrown in to the pit of venomous snakes, or thrown from the top of a mountain cliff, at that moment we would feel that the Lord had abandoned Prahalad, that He was no longer caring for His dear devotee. But only when we look at the next scene can we realize how the Lord save His devotee. Similarly, during a certain distressing situation we may feel that the Lord has abandoned us, but if we keep hope and persevere, we will see that the Lord is always with us, and even in the difficulty, He pulls us through to ultimate safety and shelter.
Encouraged by these words of Maharaj, Aman began to intensely chant and pray for his grandmother. After some time, I left the hospital advising them to read Gita beside the patient. Shortly after I reached home I received the news that Mataji had left this material world.
Later that evening I continued hearing that lecture. Maharaj said that we should pray that our dying relatives go back to Krishna. "This is the greatest service you can do," he said, "much greater than anything you have done ever for them while they were living."
These words gave me hope that what we had done was the best possible for Mataji. It also renewed my faith in the words of Guru Maharaj and process of Krishna consciousness. At times we may not have spiritual master's physical presence, but his vani, which is always accessible, has all the power to deliver his transcendental message, blessings and guidance. It's a transcendental connection-functional, effective and potent, least affected by the apparent limitations of material time and place.
We just have to open our hearts and have a little faith. Krishna is there, ready to reach to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment