THE FOLLOWING IS A SEMINAR CLASS GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS BHAKTI CHARU SWAMI ON THE ART OF DYING PART THREE.
Transcription : Kalindi Dasi, Ranga Radhika Dasi, Mohanlal Krishna Dasa, Archana Dasi, Shyamal Krishna Dasa
Editing : Hemavati Radhika Dasi
Audio Reference :
Hare Krishna. So the last couple of days we have been discussingabout ‘The Art Of Dying’, the way to immortality. If we know how todie, then we become immortal that means if we know how to die, then wecan conquer death. And that is what Srimad Bhagavatam is teaching us.Srimad Bhagavatam or the Vedic scriptures are actually showing us theway to immortality. So Amrtitataya kalpate. Amritatya meansimmortality. Amrita means non-death, or immortality and amritattayameans the way to achieve that immortality. So the first day, that isthe day before yesterday, we discussed about what death actually meansand we concluded that death is to the body but the soul never dies.Therefore, as long as we indentify ourselves with the body we becomesusceptible to death. But when we recognize ourselves as the spiritsoul, then we immediately transcend death or conquer death. And that iswhat Srimad Bhagavatam and other Vedic scriptures are teaching us. Oneof the first things that the Vedas are teaching us is that there aretwo things that we perceive in this world. One is inert matter and theother is living beings. Like if we analyze the world around us, then wecan immediately consider that there are these two things. Some thingsare inert, and some things are living.
BCS: “Right? Are you living, or are you inert?”
Devotee: “Living.”
BCS: “Very good. And this table is it living or inert?”
Devotee: “Inert.”
BCS: “Now what makes something inert, and what makes something living?Okay, let us put it this way. Say somebody is alive, somebody isliving. And when that person dies, is he living or is he inert?”
Devotee: “Inert”
BCS: Yes, the body becomes inert. Now what causes something to be aliveand something to be dead? The presence of the soul and absence of thesoul. Now this is a science that we must try to understand. And this iswhat the Vedas are actually teaching. The Vedic wisdom is mainlydealing with this science. The science of the spiritual reality. Wehave informations about material nature – like in different schools andcolleges and the universities, we learn about this material world. Butthere is an acute lack of the informations about the spiritual reality,which is the most important thing. The Vedas consider that that is themost important knowledge. And not only the Vedas, the wise men, thewise people in the past, both in the East and West, both went to thatarea, like the science of the spiritual reality. Beyond this materialnature there is another reality that is the spiritual reality. And theVedas and other scriptures provide information about that reality. Andwhen you receive proper information from those realities or when youunderstand that reality then we become situated in real knowledge. Andwhat that knowledge does to us? That knowledge gives us immortality.Just by getting proper information we can very easily conquer death andbecome immortal. Nobody wants to die, nobody wants to die, but no onecan avoid death. That is the mystery. Everybody or rather nobody wantsto die, but everybody will be subjected to death, everybody will die.Now one simple question here is, or one simple consideration here isthat why nobody wants to die? Why nobody wants to die? What will be thesimple answer to that question? Why nobody wants to die? Yes Sita
[Inaudible answer.]
Right, because the soul is immortal. Soul never dies, and we are spiritsouls. But the problem is that when we identify ourselves with thebody, when we begin to think that this body is ourselves, and then wecannot avoid death. But the simplest way to avoid death, or conquerdeath, is by recognizing the fact that we are not this body but we arespirit souls. Our bodies are alive because the soul is in the body. Aslong as the soul is in the body then the body remains alive. As soon asthe soul leaves the body, the body becomes dead. Isn’t it? I presumethat everyone present here believes in the existence of soul. Doeseveryone believe in soul, the existence of the soul-please raise yourhand. Okay, so it becomes easy for me to make my presentation. Okay,then yesterday we discussed about, we actually narrated the incidentsor anecdotes of different personalities from Srimad-Bhagavatam who havemastered the art of dying. Do you all remember who they are, who arethe ones that we discussed yesterday? Yes, Sita, Gajendra-very good.Gajendra is an elephant – isn’t it amazing – even an elephant canmaster the art of dying? Right? Cintamani? Ajamila. Ratnavali? –Citraketu or Vrtrasura Tulasi. Prahlad Maharaja – very good Lalita?Druva Maharaja-okay (laughing).
So in this way we can see that Srimad Bhagavatam is actually givinga very very definite understanding of the individuals who conquereddeath and how they conquered death. Now comes the next question; whatis the way to conquer death? What is the art of conquering death?Remember, the surrender to the lotus feet of the Lord. When we takeshelter of Krishna, then we immediately conquer death. And Krishnatakes care of that. We cannot take care of death-he is too strong of anenemy for us. He is too strong an enemy for us. So when you have a verystrong enemy what’s the best way to defeat him? You join somebody orapproach somebody who is stronger than your enemy and ask him to fightfor you, right? Then very easily you can defeat your enemy. So the bestway to defeat and conquer this enemy death is by taking shelter ofKrishna.
So today we are going to discuss about, I will tell you about howPrabhupada … How we saw Prabhupada teaching us how to master the art ofdying and conquer death and attain immortality. And I’ll also tell yousome other incidences that we have practically experienced and then,you all remember what I suggested yesterday. Then I will request youall to narrate some experiences that you may have. Like yesterdaymother Krishna Priya narrated one incidence of some devotee’s motherhow she actually conquered death. How many of you prepared yourself?Please raise your hands. How many of you have some stories to tell?Mother Krishna Priya, who else? Yes? Okay. Devaki, you have? Okay. SoAccordingly I will make my presentation.
So we actually learned about this science or this art because ofSrila Prabhupada. Personally, I can say that if I didn’t come acrossSrila Prabhupada I wouldn’t have known anything about this subject.Immortality of soul, surrendering to the Supreme Personality ofGodhead, these were all very strange topics to be even been considered.But then somehow or other we came in contact with Srila Prabhupada andthen by coming in contact with Srila Prabhupada and his devotees andreading Srila Prabhupada’s books we have been able to master thisscience. So Prabhupada is the first person who actually taught us thisscience. And Srila Prabhupada was a perfect teacher.
How does a perfect teacher teach? The perfect teacher teaches by hisown example. That’s why he is called ‘Acharya’. Acharya: acharan meansto act, and one who teaches by his own action is called Acharya. Hejust doesn’t simply say do this and do that, but he practicallydemonstrates how to act. I will first narrate how I saw SrilaPrabhupada teaching this very important subject.
In 1977 Srila Prabhupada’s health condition became quite bad and itstarted to deteriorate. Then one admirer of Srila Prabhupada, not one,two of them, they’re very important people, one was a governor ofMadras and the other person was his brother in law, who was a very bigindustrialist in India. Ramakrishna Bajaj, he is the chairman of theBajaj industries and his brother in law, Sriman Narayana, he was thegovernor of Madras. They came to see Srila Prabhupada in Bombay andwhen they saw Srila Prabhupada’s health condition was not so good, sothey just suggested that Prabhupada went to Hrishikesh, on the bank ofthe Ganges at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. Prabhupadaliked the idea and they made the arrangement for Srila Prabhupada to gothere. They arranged one of the best houses there at that time, righton the bank of the Ganges, called ‘Ganga Darshan’. So few of usaccompanied Srila Prabhupada.
And then we were having a beautiful time with Srila Prabhupadathere. One night, at about one o’clock, I was attending to SrilaPrabhupada. One of us used to be with Srila Prabhupada all the time.Especially at night we used to have our shifts and my shift was fromtwelve to two to be with Srila Prabhupada at night. Just in casePrabhupada needed something. So Prabhupada called me. He was lying inhis bed and he called me and he told me that, “The time has come for meto leave my body, so I want to leave my body in Vrindavana. So pleasemake arrangements for me to go to Vrindavana immediately.” So I randownstairs and woke up Tamal Krishna Maharaja and told him whatPrabhupada said. Tamal Krishna Maharaja immediately ran upstairs toSrila Prabhupada and Prabhupada told him the same thing that, “The timehas come for me to leave my body and I want to leave my body inVrindavana. So make arrangement for me to go to Vrindavana immediately.”
So that night only we packed everything up and in the morning weleft for Vrindavana. On the way we stopped in Delhi and the nextmorning we left for Vrindavana. The devotees in Vrindavana were very,very happy that Prabhupada came back all of a sudden. There werehundreds of devotees at that time and they were ecstatic thatPrabhupada came back to Vrindavana. And then Prabhupada had thedarshana of the Deities and after the darshana of the DeitiesPrabhupada went to his room and went to his house. There was a big roomwhere Prabhupada used to give darshana and all the devotees followedSrila Prabhupada and there Srila Prabhupada broke the news why SrilaPrabhupada came to Vrindavana. The ecstasy of all the devoteesimmediately turned into agony and they started to cry. And Prabhupadavery mercifully kept on explaining that how this body is alwayschanging. Prabhupada quoted this verse, Prabhupada first explained howdeath is inevitable for everyone and then Prabhupada quoted the versefrom Bhagavad Gita, dehino’smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara tathadehantara praptir dhiras tatra na muhyate [Bg. 2.13]. This body goesthrough different changes, from childhood to boyhood, to youth, to oldage, but although the body changes, the person remains the same. We donot change. The body changes, but in spite of the change of the body,we do not change. But in spite of the change of the body, we do notchange. Similarly, when we change this body all together, we continueto exist. We simply “tatha dehantara-praptih”: we get into anotherbody. In this body the body goes through different changes. With timefrom childhood to boyhood to youth to old age. And then, when the bodybecomes old, and uninhabitable for the soul, then the soul leaves thebody in order to take up another body. Srila Prabhupada explains“dhiras tatra na muhyati”. One who is dhira, one who is situated inreal knowledge, he doesn’t become overwhelmed with these affairs ofbirth and death. Death doesn’t perturb a person who is situated inknowledge, in real knowledge.
When everyone left, Srila Prabhupada called me and told me not toforce him to eat, and not to cook for him. He said, “what is the use ofeating when there is no appetite?” So Srila Prabhupada just gave us theultimatum, so as to say “don’t force me to eat anything”. That meansSrila Prabhupada was going to fast. To me it occurred at that time thatlike Pariksit Maharaja now Srila Prabhupada was going to stop eatingand in this way Srila Prabhupada would give up his body. There wasnothing that we could do. I told Tamala Krishna Maharaja who was SrilaPrabhupada’s secretary at that time, his main assistant. Both of usfelt extremely helpless. What can we do, Srila Prabhupada just saidthat he is not going to eat anything. Srila Prabhupada is going tofast, and in this way Srila Prabhupada is going to give up his body.
Then devotees came from all around the world. The leading devoteesgathered in Vrindavan. In just two, three days time they all convergedin Vrindavan. They had a meeting. Since I was serving Srila PrabhupadaI was not in that meeting. But after the meeting they all came, all theGBC’s and sannyasis, all the leading devotees. They came to SrilaPrabhupada’s room.
[- Jaya Sri Sri Radha Golokananda ki Jaya -].
Kirtanananda Maharaja presented to Srila Prabhupada. In a meeting itwas discussed and decided that Srila Prabhupada is a pure devotee ofKrishna. So if Srila Prabhupada desires something or wants something,then Krishna will comply. If Srila Prabhupada wanted to stay, thenKrishna would let Srila Prabhupada stay. They considered if SrilaPrabhupada left at that time, then what would happen to all of us.Already we were just like a bunch of children. If Srila Prabhupadaleft, we would become orphans and what would happen to us? KirtananandaMaharaja presented that to Srila Prabhupada, he as the spokesman of allthe devotees told Srila Prabhupada: “We are your little children. Weare so young in our spiritual life, and if you leave us at this time,then what will happen to us. Please stay, please don’t leave us. You’rea pure devotee of Krishna. If you want to stay on, then Krishna willobviously grant your desire.” Then Srila Prabhupada smiled and said“OK, then I’ll stay”. And all the devotees became so joyful. SrilaPrabhupada also said at that time “but you all pray to Krishna – thatKrishna, if You so desire then let Srila Prabhupada stay on with us.”
Srila Prabhupada, for the last three days didn’t eat or drinkanything. But from time to time I used to make some fruit juice, justin case Srila Prabhupada wanted something. And Srila Prabhupada sat upand said “give me something to drink”. I had some grape juice ready, soI just gave it to him. Srila Prabhupada was very happy. He decided tostay. Srila Prabhupada started to eat also and I started to cook forSrila Prabhupada.
Then one day after eating, taking his lunch Srila Prabhupada wassitting. Srila Prabhupada used to take his lunch sitting on a seat likethis and there used to be a table. Srila Prabhupada used to eat fromthat table. He was just sitting on that table and asked me whether Iknew where Gopinath Bazar was in Vrindavan. That was my first visit toVrindavan. I didn’t know. I never even stepped out of the temple. But Itold Srila Prabhupada, tell me what you want, and I can find out. SrilaPrabhupada said: “Go to Gopinath Bazar. There is an Ayurvedic doctorcalled Banumalika Viraja and you ask him to come. He knows me, hetreated me earlier. Ask him to come and treat me”. I went and foundBanumalika Viraja. He was a very old man, over 90, I think at that timehe was 92 years old. When I told him that Srila Prabhupada wanted himto come, he said: “look, I can’t go anywhere. I just come from house tomy clinic. I just give my prescription and medicines from here, but Ican’t go anywhere”. I told him, I will take you in a rickshaw. He said:“Rickshaw? With every bump of the rickshaw my bones will crack”. He wasreally a very old man. Then I begged him: “Please come, SrilaPrabhupada wanted you to come”. Finally he agreed and complied. Hecame. He checked Srila Prabhupada and then he considered that themedicine that he would give, he will have to make them; make themedicine just before giving it to Srila Prabhupada. I told him: “Thenyou can stay in our guesthouse. We will make all the arrangements foryou”. He said: “No I can’t stay here. I have to go back home to myplace”. Then I told him: “you can show me how to make the medicine andI can make it”. He accepted that idea. He took me to the field and heshowed me two types of leaves, two plants. One plant is calledpunarnava, and the other is called patharkuchi. He showed me how totake the juice out of these leaves and then he gave two salts. He askedme to mix the salt in the juice and give it to Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada’s condition started to improve. He got better. Butwhen Srila Prabhupada got better, he was feeling restless. SrilaPrabhupada didn’t want to stay in Vrindavan like that lying in bed. Hewanted to go to preach to the West. I told that to Banumalika Virajathat Srila Prabhupada is planning to leave. He said: “Please don’t lethim go now. The medicine is working. His health condition isimproving. During winter I’ll give him a medicine called makaratach andthat will rejuvenate him. That will build him up. But it is a verystrong medicine. He won’t be able to digest that medicine now. By thattime his health will improve and also the cold of the winter will helphim to retain that medicine.” So I told Tamal Krishna Maharaja thatBanumalika Viraja is saying that. Tamal Krishna Maharaja told me that:“look, Srila Prabhupada wants to go, so what to do?”
Then Srila Prabhupada finally decided to go. He decided to go toLondon, and then from London to New York; from New York to the WestCoast, and from Los Angeles to Hawaii. He wanted to stay in Hawaii andtranslate Srimad Bhagavatam. So when Srila Prabhupada decided to leave,one couldn’t stop him actually. But of course later on I often used tolament that why didn’t I become a little more forceful, and tell theother senior devotees, the GBC members that the doctor said this, thatSrila Prabhupada shouldn’t travel. But at that time I was very new inthe movement. I was very young in that respect. And also at that timethere was no way of knowing that Srila Prabhupada’s condition coulddeteriorate so much. The day Srila Prabhupada was leaving, he asked me.Srila Prabhupada was all dressed up at night, and he was sitting inthis rocking chair in his room, and I was sitting at his feet. SrilaPrabhupada asked me: “aren’t you coming?” I said: “No, SrilaPrabhupada, I don’t have my passport with me”. Then Srila Prabhupadasaid: “ok, then you join me in Hawaii”.
So at that time anyway Srila Prabhupada left and I went back toMayapur. Actually Bhavananda Maharaja came to Vrindavan and he alsowent to the airport to see Srila Prabhupada off. After that he askedme: “what are you going to do now?” I said: “I didn’t have any plans”.He said: “let’s go to Mayapur”. So he and I went to Mayapur. I stayedin Mayapur for about 10 days or 12 days. Then I received one afternoon– I was giving a class of Nectar of Devotion to the new bhaktas. Ireceived a telegram that said Srila Prabhupada was in Vrindavan. Thesame day, the next morning I went to Delhi, and then I went toVrindavan. Srila Prabhupada went back, his health conditiondeteriorated in London. So he cancelled his plan to travel and he wentback to India. First he went to Bombay, and then to Vrindavan.
When I arrived in Vrindavan, it was evening. Upendra prabhu who wasSrila Prabhupada’s servant, he told me that Srila Prabhupada had somecold, and some medicine had been given to Srila Prabhupada. SrilaPrabhupada was taking rest, he was sleeping. And he [Upendra prabhu]said : come in. So he took me to Srila Prabhupada’s room. The room wasquite dark, there was a dim light and it was full of frank incense. Isaw Srila Prabhupada was lying on his bed, and I could see his bodybecame so thin, that it looked as if it was on the same level with thebed. His head was propped on that pillow. At one time Srila Prabhupadawoke up coughing. Upendra prabhu went to Srila Prabhupada and told himthat I came. Srila Prabhupada told him to ask me to come to him. I wentthere to Srila Prabhupada’s bed. Srila Prabhupada asked me to help himsit up. So I helped him to sit up, and then with the pillows I proppedhim so that he could sit. I could see that Srila Prabhupada became sothin. I told him: “Srila Prabhupada, you became so thin”. SrilaPrabhupada said: “yes, now this body is just a set of bones in a bag ofskin”. It was indeed a set of bones in a bag of skin. He became soemaciated. Srila Prabhupada became so thin and weak, at that time hecouldn’t even turn to his side. We had to help him to turn to his side.If we were not careful enough, then Srila Prabhupada would feel pain ifwe did not handle him carefully enough.
But still Srila Prabhupada was translating Srimad Bhagavatam. Thelast few chapters of Srimad Bhagavatam that Srila Prabhupada translated10, 11, 12, 13d were actually in that state, lying on his bed. He usedto just lie down on his bed and Pradyumna prabhu who was SrilaPrabhupada’s Sanskrit editor, he used to write the Sanskrit verses andSrila Prabhupada used to give the translation and the purports of theverses. And one devotee, often it was Jayadvaita Maharaja who used tohold the microphone of the Dictaphone in front of Srila Prabhupada’smouth. Pradyumna prabhu used to recite the verses and Srila Prabhupadaused to translate. This is how Srila Prabhupada taught us how to serveSri Krishna irrespective of physical condition. The last drop of hisenergy was used in serving Krishna, serving His mission. In this waySrila Prabhupada actually taught us how to leave this body; how toprepare ourselves. That time Srila Prabhupada’s health condition didnot deteriorate that much. I used to cook for Srila Prabhupada, butSrila Prabhupada could not eat. He used to make an effort – one or twobites, but he couldn’t even swallow that.
One day Srila Prabhupada told me: “why are you wasting your timecooking for me while you have so many things to do?” He said: “letsomebody else cook, you don’t have to cook”. I told Srila Prabhupada:“I cook with an expectation that someday you would like to eatsomething. Some day you would feel better and you would like to eatsomething”. Srila Prabhupada said: “I will only get better when I die”.And just that statement was so, it came to me with such a shockingeffect that I broke down. Very affectionately, full of compassion,Srila Prabhupada started to speak. He said: “Is this what I taught you?Didn’t I teach you that this body is perishable but the soul iseternal, and the soul never dies”? In this way Srila Prabhupada spoke,explaining the immortality of the soul.
When Srila Prabhupada left his body, also it was very exemplary. ButI don’t want to get into that. But a few things that Srila Prabhupadatold, I want to mention here. One thing Srila Prabhupada said that if Ibecome unconscious I don’t want to be taken to the hospital. And hesaid that nothing should pierce his body, no needle, no drips, nothingshould pierce his body. His body should be completely untouched. Andsometimes some very strange things used to happen. Like one doctor wastreating Srila Prabhupada, his name is Damodar Prasad Sastri, he wasbrought from Kolkata, and he was also an ayurvedic doctor. So DamodarPrasad once was telling to Prabhupada: “Prabhupada, I can’t understandyou.” He said; “Sometimes your heart is so feeble and faint that itseems that it is going to stop, but the next moment I see your heart isstrong as a young man’s heart.”He said this is all your pastimes. So inthis way, this doctor also made us realize, that all Prabhupada wasdoing his pastimes. He was not subject to the condition of this body.This is how we can understand that a pure devotee although dwells inhis body, remains in his body but he is not affected by the body;rather his body becomes spiritualized.
In this way what Srila Prabhupada thought us is actually how to die,how to leave our body. His whole teaching was based on that. His mostemphatic teaching was you are not your body, you are a spirit soul.Time and time again, Srila Prabhupada made this point very clear, youare not your body you are spirit soul. Prabhupada would just stick tothis one point, tenaciously. You are not this body, you are spiritsoul. And now we see if we understand just this fact, if we can realizethis fact, so most of our problems will be solved, and we will becomesituated in our spiritual identity.
And we see how different individuals have been affected by SrilaPrabhupada’s teachings. I want to mention just two incidences. One is avery simple Gujarati lady in London, she is not a big scholar, she isnot a front line devotee, and she is just a simple house wife. In 1998,the doctors detected that she got cancer and it was quite at anadvanced stage, and the doctor told her husband and daughter, and didnot tell her and they were quite worried how to break the news to her,that she had cancer and she had at the most six months and finally whenthey told her she was completely unaffected by that. Her husband wasmore affected by this news than her, he was completely devastatedactually. Then her condition improved from time to time and when hercondition improved, she would go to the temple and render some service.Although she had cancer, she did not have much time and it was in aquite advanced stage, but she was completely unaffected by that. Notonly that she travelled to Vrndavan and Mayapur and she wanted to juststay in Mayapur, then they phoned me and told me that she is planningto stay in Mayapur but the problem is, she has to go back to London tocontinue with the treatment, because those treatments were notavailable in India. So I told her and she complied, she went back toLondon. She was still with us till the summer of 2000 and at that timeI was in New Vrndavan, shooting for Abhay Charan, New Vrndavan’sepisode. I used to speak to her from time to time. I used to phone herfrom time to time, and I was told that the doctor said that she hadmaximum about 7 days, that is what her daughter told me. When I wasspeaking to her she just mentioned that the night before she had adream and she saw that I came, that I was there. And when I heard thatit was her last desire and she was going to leave her body, I decidedthat I will go to see her.
So I dropped everything and I took a flight to London. So when Iarrived there, those who came to pick me up, they told me that they aredriving me to the place where I will be staying then I would see her atabout three o’clock in the afternoon after I have rested a little. Isaid: “No. I will just go straight, I came to see her let me just goand see her.” So I was going there, I thought she will be bed riddenand completely unable to move, but when I arrived there she just gotout of her bed to offer obeisances. I tried to stop her but she wouldnot stop. She just got out of her bed and offered obeisances. Her mainconsideration was that she is not the body, so she does not care whathappens to the body. This is the profundity and the effect of SrilaPrabhupada’s teachings. She realized although she is not a veryeducated person, although she is not a big devotee in that sense,although philosophically she is not very knowledgeable probably, butshe understood this point that she is not her body, she is a spiritsoul. So she was not at all affected by the body’s incompetence’s.
I went there on 27th of July; finally she left her body on the 20thof August. I was not there; I had to go back to New Vrndavan because wewere in the middle of the shooting. I stayed there for four to fivedays and then went back. I was told and I saw the picture also that,when she was leaving her body, she was chanting the Holy Name. At thetime of leaving her body, she had a bead bag in her hands, and she tookthe bead bag, placed it on her forehead and she left her body. Nowwhat kind of, not only conviction, but spiritual realization I wouldsay, one must have to leave one’s body in this way?
Another person that I often think of, who also left her body in avery exemplary way; a young girl she was probably 23 to 24, a girl fromPune. They used to live in Bombay before and then they shifted to Pune.She is a disciple of Radhanath Maharaja. Her name is Shyama Sundari.She was a very very vibrant young girl. I first met her in 1997 and shewas like enthusiasm personified; at that time probably she was 16, shewas still in school, 16, 17 maybe even younger and she had an eldersister who was very sober , calm and grave, but the younger sister wascompletely opposite, she was extremely vibrant and full of life, fullof enthusiasm. Recently about 2 years back, she developed some sort ofcomplication of the stomach. There was no cure for that, there was noallopathic cure. They tried everything, and then ayurvedic,homeopathic; I think there was some result from the ayurvedic orhomeopathic treatment and her condition improved a little bit. And fewmonths ago and then when that happened to her, she had completelychanged, she became very grave, very profound also, she used to. Oneday I was talking to her and she was telling me, that well I haveaccepted that it is going to happen, I know I am going to die and itdoes not really matter, I am not afraid; and it was so enlivening tohear such words of wisdom from such a young girl then her conditionimproved; although her condition improved, but her nature, she remainedthe same. Like she did not get back to her vibrant self anymore, shewas very composed and very serene. And recently she actually left herbody and this happened very suddenly. She was alright and she appearedin her exams. She did her final year at university, that day she gother result and she was telling to her mom and her mother was tellinghow she was proud of her. She did very well in her studies. And all ofa sudden she got this pain in her stomach, she was taken to thehospital; they could not do anything because her internal bleedingstarted and they could not do anything. They put her into intensivecare and she was unconscious with oxygen and everything and then shecame back to her external consciousness, she asked them to take off theoxygen and all that she had in her body, like drips, “Please take thisout, I don’t want that.” She asked the devotees who were there at thattime to chant the Holy Name and just for that brief moment ofconsciousness she gained she just made the arrangement, ask everybodyto chant, she took off the oxygen, she took off the drips and she alsostarted to chant herself and she left her body. Now this is the realproof of the authenticity of what Srila Prabhupada gave and this is howone actually attains immortality, conquering death.
There are many such others instances, two other instances. I was notthere when he passed away, like is Upendra Prabhu. Upendra Prabhu wasPrabhupada’s servant, we served Srila Prabhupada together and he was awonderful, wonderful servant, but he had a wild mind, he was quite wildthat Prabhupada sometimes would chastise him and anyway he had problemswith his mind and senses. Soon after Prabupada left, Upendra justdisappeared, no one knew. Only once I met him, he came to Mayapur and Ijust saw him. But he felt deep into Maya and then he developed somedisease, incurable disease and when he realized he was going to die,although he was far? far away from the devotees’ community, he justarrange to come to the devotees’ community, he went to Murilumba, NewGovardhan in Australia and devotees also were very supportive, so theytook care of him very nicely and he left his body, hearing the holyName and chanting the Holy Name.
So we can see although he was so far away from Srila Prabhupada’slotus feet at that time. And this is how the devotees actually make orcreate the good fortune for others. And that’s why association ofdevotees is so important. At the time of death it’s going to be very,very difficult. We lose our consciousness, we wouldn’t know where togo, how to direct our mind, how to direct our consciousness. But if weremain in the association of devotees then they will help us. So inthis way Upendra prabhu left, chanting the holy name, hearing the holyname in the association of devotees. There are so many such wonderfulexamples. Another person that I just remember is, he’s a God-brother,he was a sannyasi before; Sudama Maharaja. He also left the associationof devotees after Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance. But when herealized that time is nearing he came back to the association ofdevotees and I heard that he also left his body in a wonderfulwonderful way.
Devotee: “I had a question Guru Maharaja. You were with SrilaPrabhupada when he left his body and you accompanied him for a longtime; you were very close to him. What would you say was the greatest I(unclear) before you personally I (unclear).”
BCS: “That this material nature, our existence in the materialnature and our involvement with this material objects is not importantat all. Srila Prabhupada, I didn’t get into when Srila Prabhupada lefthis body; ah like the most important thing that Srila Prabhupadaindicated through his final pastimes, was his implicit and totalattachment to the holy Name. Anyways I didn’t, I thought that Iwouldn’t go into describing Srila Prabhupada’s final pastimes becausesometime it becomes a very painful thing to describe and narrate. Butanyway I will just try to say it in brief. In the morning we got toknow that Srila Prabhupada will leave his body, the doctor who camefrom Calcutta, Damodara Prasad, he said that Prabhupada will be with usfor about ten hours. No I’m sorry, fourteen hours, it was five o’clock.It was quite precise actually, and Srila Prabhupada stayed with us foranother fourteen hours; and he said something like twelve to fourteenhours Prabhupada would be with us. Generally Prabhupada’s room was keptvery, very quiet and peaceful like very few people were allowed inPrabhupada’s room those days. And in groups some devotees would comeand chant and the chanting would also be very soft. And but thatmorning it was decided that let everybody come. And so the room waspacked with devotees.
There were hundreds of devotees in Vrindavan at that time. Many,many devotees were just standing there, those who couldn’t come in theywere watching from outside through the window. In my experience thatwas the sweetest and the most profound kirtan I had ever heard, it wasout of this world. And I was actually standing by Prabhupada’s bed,towards the head of Srila Prabhupada and from time to time I was givinghim the water, Yamuna water. Prabhupada would open his mouth. See atfive o’clock from the morning till the evening for fourteen hours Ijust stood there. I didn’t feel any other, you know, need of the bodyand I don’t also know that how time actually went by, as if I wastransported to another reality where the body didn’t exist.
And then Prabhupada’s, some of Prabhupada’s God-brothers came andthey were sitting near Prabhupada’s bed. And very close to SrilaPrabhupada’s bed was Krishnadas Babaji Maharaja. He’s is a God-brotherof Srila Prabhupada, a very wonderful devotee, and Srila Prabhupada wasvery intimate very close with him. And so Babaji Maharaja at one pointjust pointed out, see he’s still chanting. See, I couldn’t understandthat at that time. But when Babaji Maharaja told that then I could seethat Prabhupada’s tongue was still vibrating, it was not and I meanthat the tongue was moving and Babaji Maharaja pointed out thatPrabhupada was chanting the Holy Name. And in this way, chanting theholy Name Prabhupada left his body.
So as you asked what’s the most important lesson I learnt is thatultimately the most important consideration is to be attached to theholy Name and continue to chant the holy Name. And Prabhupada himselfused to say that a devotee should chant his, chant the holy Name of theLord at the time of death. anta-kale ca mam eva , Prabhupada pointedout time and time again. And Prabhupada personally demonstrated that,that he was chanting and also Prabhupada mentioned that the devoteeleaves his body through his mouth. The sinful people leave their bodythrough the lower part of the body, and the devotee leaves his bodythrough his mouth. And true to Srila Prabhupada’s statement, we sawthat how Prabhupada actually left his body through the mouth. He waschanting the Holy name and his mouth was still open when he left hisbody. And Srila Prabhupada taught us and we can see that those who arefollowing Srila Prabhuapda’s instructions sincerely, they also leavetheir bodies in such a wonderful way.
Like as I was speaking about Shyamasundari, as mother Devaki alsoheard about her, she was, her parents are, their parents live in Pune,that’s why they got to know about that. And she’s just a young girl,but considers that how much faith she had on the holy Name and thatshe, you know she took off all the, oxygen and all the things that werethere to prolong her stay here, she just took them off and she took theshelter of the holy Name. And chanting the holy Name herself she lefther body. Thank you all so much.
And I, I was wondering how a seminar of this nature, this the firsttime I gave this seminar, and it was also quite a spontaneous decisionto give this seminar, because couple of weeks back when I met motherKrishna Priya in New Vrindavan, we were planning about the Bhagavatamseminar and how we would cover Srimad Bhagavatam in four days or fivedays. And then I just decided that I’m going to give a seminar on thistopic. And I spoke to mother Krishna Priya and she also liked the idea.And I think that this was actually a real seminar on Srimad-Bhagavatam,because this is what Bhagavatam is teaching us.
Bhagavatam is not just some stories, but all that Srimad-Bhagavatamis describing is simply to give this realization that, that we have totake shelter of Krishna and the most important time that we, we displayour attachment to Krishna or conviction at Krishna’s lotus feet is atthe time of death. And life is a period for preparation for that finaltest. We are preparing now to remember Krishna at the time of death.And in this way the real application of the teachings ofSrimad-Bhagavatam is to constantly prepare ourselves or as often as wecan remind ourselves of this importance. Like if have to die now, whatshall I do? If I have to die now where shall my mind be? What shall Ithink of? And the answer is very simple, take full shelter of Krishna’slotus feet and not look back, not look back. Don’t think of anything oranybody in this material nature, just think of Krishna and Hisdevotees, and then our way back to the spiritual sky will be very veryeasy. And the gate of the spiritual sky will open up wide; will becomewide open for us to go back there at the lotus feet of Krishna.
Prabhupada pointed, Prabhupada sometimes mentioned that it’ssomething like waking up in the spiritual sky. At that time if weremember Krishna, when we are leaving our body, then we see Krishnaface to face. All of a sudden at that time when we are leaving our bodywe see that Krishna is standing there or Krishna’s Vishnudutas orKrishna’s messengers are standing there. And then we feel that this iswhat we had been waiting for all our life and now it happened. Howecstatic that experience is going to be? All our lives we are justtrying to be with Krishna, trying to see Krishna, trying to serveKrishna and there comes the ultimate opportunity. He’s there, He sayscome, come back. So thank you all very much. I felt very content verysatisfied after this or I can say that I am very happy after thisseminar because I can see the result of the seminar. Thank you all verymuch. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Devotees: Haribol (clapping).
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