Final Lila
Although Srila Prabhupada now had a permanent secretary -- Tamal Krsna Goswami -- he still wanted to have his GBC men regularly associating with him for a month at a time. Hari-sauri had arranged to be with Srila Prabhupada for the month of October. On the last day of September 1977, Hari-sauri arrived in Bombay.
Before he entered Prabhupada's room however, Tamal Krsna warned him. "Prabhupada's changed a lot since you last saw him because he's not eating any solids now." As Hari-sauri entered, he was visibly shocked. He could not have imagined how thin Srila Prabhupada would be. All Prabhupada's ribs were clearly visible and one could see his heart beating under them. His arms and legs were literally just skin and bones; there was practically no flesh at all. When Hari-sauri had last seen Prabhupada in May, he was getting thinner, but he was still able to sit up and walk around. Now he was so weak that he needed assistance even to turn over in bed. Walking was out of the question.
Srila Prabhupada had been planning to stay in Bombay for the opening of the temple, but now his thoughts again turned to Vrndavana. Later that day, he asked the senior men present to decide whether he should stay in Bombay or go to Vrndavana. They decided that for his health, Prabhupada should go to Vrndavana.
At night, Hari-sauri flew ahead and with the help of another Australian devotee, BhagavatAsraya, purchased a bed, sheets, pillows and a mattress and set it up for Srila Prabhupada in his sitting room in Vrndavana. In due course, Srila Prabhupada arrived by train at Mathura station and was driven to the Krsna-Balarama Mandir.
Srila Prabhupada once more called for the 23 GBC members from around the world to return to Vrndavana to be with him. They again came, giving Srila Prabhupada reports on the preaching developments around the world -- books printed, temples opened, and farming communities established.
- From "The Great Transcendental Adventure" by HG Kurma Prabhu
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