Î’y Basu Ghosh das
One of ISKCON Baroda’s congregational devotees and a disciple of HH Bhakti Vikas Maharaj, Sriman Krishnamrit Prabhu, an elderly retired gentleman who was “shaved up” and attending the temple in dhoti/kurta daily, left his body on Wednesday, October 31 at about 2:00 PM in the afternoon, after suffering through cancer for the past 6 months.
He had come to know that he had cancer when it was diagnosed in an advanced stage and had spread throughout his body.
He was around 64 years old and had retired from the Sarabhai Pharmacutical Company here, where he spent most of his adult life as an employee.
He had come in touch with ISKCON Baroda around 5 years ago, after his retirement, and was regularly attending the temple daily with his wife, both during the morning “darshan arati” (greeting the Deities) and again during the sandhya arati. He would attend the Srimad Bhagavatam morning lecture regularly.
In the evenings he and his wife would look after the “laddu sales counter” in the temple.
He was a very humble devotee, who’s behavior was exemplary. He never was seen in an angry or chastising mood. He was always smiling, friendly and was respectful towards one and all.
Yesterday most of the temple devotees went to his humble dwelling – a very small house – and engaged in harinam sankirtan for at least a half and hour as preparations were being made for his final journey to Baroda’s Kareli Bagh crematorium. The kirtan continued there at the burning ghat on the bank of the Vishvamitri river, where it is said that sage Vishvamitra performed austerities thousands of years ago, in what was then a forest of Banyan (“Vata vriksha” in samskritam) trees.
Krishnamrit Prabhu’s always smiling, carefree personage will be missed. He is survived by his wife and three sons, one of whom was also attending the temple daily in the evenings with his parents.
We pray to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Shyamsundar to bless the eternal soul of Sriman Krishnamrit Prabhu.