Holy Patients

One night, during my night duty in ICU, an 65 year old man arrived with a history of fall from scooter in the morning. Now he had severe pain in the left groin and weakness in the left arm and leg. He had a stroke few months back and weakness in the right side.  Suspecting a hip injury and a re-stroke, I ordered the required scans and came out. His sons were sitting on a couch in the corridor. As I crossed them, one of them called out, “Excuse me doctor!”

I turned. “Yes.”

“May I know which path you follow?”

“Well, I follow ISKCON…Gaudiaya Vaishnavism.”

They smiled. “We are Goswamis of Radha Raman Temple, Vrindavan. Hope you have heard about it.”

I was floored. Here in Amritsar, in this God-forsaken hospital, at dead of night, amidst all the chaos of sick patients, of all people I run into Goswamis of one of the seven most important temples of Vraj!  Phew! My lucky day.

We had a long conversation that night and many more in the coming days in which we discussed about Lord, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and Shri Gopal Bhatt Goswami-the founder of Radha Raman Temple, to whom the Deity of Radha Raman ji appeared. They told me that their service comes once every two and a half years, for ten days, during which they give up their worldly duties and stay full-time in Vrindavan.

The next day, I again met their father and out of reverence pressed his good leg. He lovingly protested but I persisted. He told me that he served in the Indian Air Force. “I was posted in Leh for some time,” he said. “it was very cold and everyone said that I would have to drink liquor and eat meat to survive. But I said no way. I took two kg almonds and some ayurvedic medicine to help in digestion and metabolism and managed to live at sub-zero temperature.”

He described that his younger brother was a full time Bhagwat Katha speaker and his uncle is the current head Goswami of Radha Raman Temple. The most amazing thing was that he had met Srila Prabhupada in 1962. “Face to face…Just like I am talking to you, I spoke with Srila Prabhupada.”

My hair stood on end.

It was a wonderful experience discussing Krishna katha and associating with a wonderful Goswami family. I am sharing a shayan darshan video of Radha Raman ji, given to me by the family. Please hear the nectarine flute played by their guru ji.

click here for the video:

https://plus.google.com/photos/113730277881515387188/albums/6030771131373186609/6030771134553246354?banner=pwa&pid=6030771134553246354&oid=113730277881515387188