By Yasomatinandana das
Hare Krishna prabhus.
On behalf of Jamalarjuna and Subhangi and our entire family, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all devotees who kindly offerred prayers for Lila’s recovery and condolences now that she has passed from our vision. Her untimely passing has naturally left all of us heartbroken but the sheer number and diversity of people who have offered their support has given us strength. Subhangi asked through the popular press that people pray for Lila no matter what their religion. I have been amazed that a Muslim man told me that he and his family were praying for Lila and Christian people have also said the same. This tragedy has cut across all sectarian boundaries because anyone who got to know Lila even in some small way could not help but love her. I recently spent several days with Lila in Mayapur and Calcutta and I will treasure those memories forever. Whomever she came in contact with immediately recognized that she was a special soul, and it was amazing how everyone we met together always asked about her whenever I met them again. I have been asked several times by devotees to somehow explain the terrible events of the past few days and I must admit at times it has been difficult to do so. It seems inconceivable that such a thing could happen to someone so sweet and loving, especially in the holy Dhama of Vrindaban where the Lord eternally resides. Is Krishna not meant to protect His devotees, especially in Vrindaban? Why did the same Krishna, Who once lifted Govardhana Hill to prevent the inhabitants of Vrindaban from perishing due to the wrath of Indra and Who killed Aghasura when he swallowed the cowherd boys of Vrindaban, not also appear to protect Ananda-lila, who was such a pure soul? These questions have been hard to answer while Lila was so precariously balanced between life and death and her future was so uncertain. It has only been since Lila’s struggle to regain control of her body has been lost and her life in this world has ended, that it has been possible to make some sense of her ordeal. Philosophically speaking, one devotee suggested that maybe Krsna has done this to teach us that the material world is meaningless and simply a place of suffering. My comment on that would be that the material world does a fine job of teaching us about misery. Krsna, on the other hand, teaches us that life is full of meaning and bliss if we somehow regain our original constitutional position in the devotional service of the Lord. Taking permission from Jamal and Subhangi, I would like to present the following account, which they have confirmed is accurate, and which is truly a testament to the potency of Srila Prabhupada, at whose feet I offer my prostrated obeisances. Let me also offer my humble obeisances to Lila, who was always kindly disposed towards everyone. Subhangi told me that just before Lila departed her son Madhu heard Srila Prabhupada’s voice telling him that everything would be alright. Subhangi also felt Srila Prabhupada’s presence and had a personal vision that he was telling her “these children are not yours… you are only minding them for a short time”. These accounts remind us that Srila Prabhupada is always compassionate and loving towards his devotees. But what happened to Jamal was even more amazing. Jamal had been maintaining a bedside vigil with Lila for the entire time she was in a coma, and just before she left her body, the room was full of devotees having a “blazing kirtan”. Jamal said that he felt something lightly touch his arm from behind and when he turned around he saw Srila Prabhupada standing there fully manifest as we would see each other. Jamal said that Srila Prabhupada looked deep into his eyes to his very soul and simply nodded at him gravely. Jamal then sat fixed in wonder as Srila Prabhupada walked past him to where Lila was lying and picked her up. Prabhupada then disappeared, and at that very second Lila left her body, so Jamal personally saw Srila Prabhupada take her back to Godhead in His arms.
We have heard in the past where Srila Prabhupada came to deliver a disciple and where he has said that “Bhaktivinode will personally come to take you back to Godhead”. Let there be no doubt that this is entirely possible and that this exact thing has happened to a child who was one of Srila Prabhupada’s grandchildren. It is quite clear that if anyone has any love and devotion for Srila Prabhupada and this Krishna Consciousness movement they will be personally delivered back to Krishna by His Divine Grace. For Srila Prabhupada, this is no big thing.
As far as understanding why Lila was chosen or how this could happen in the holy Dhama, the fact is we can never understand these things and what part the Lord plays in such events. We have the aphorism “rake krsna mare ke, mare krsna rake ke” ‘ If Krishna wants to take someone no-one can save them, and if Krishna wants to save someone no-one can take them. But how can we possibly understand the plan of the Lord in these circumstances, which are made all the more poignant because they involve a young woman who appeared to have a promising Krishna conscious life ahead of her? One thing I do know is that there were no deaths for the cowherd men and women and children at the hands of the demons who came into Vrindaban to threaten the devotees when Krishna was present on earth. From this perspective we can understand that someone reasons ill who thinks that Lila has “died”. Lila is now living in the same Vrindaban in the spiritual world where there are no demons to harrass her.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
ys… Yasomatinandana das
Dear Jamal Arjuna, Subhangi, Yaso and all the family,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to our all-merciful gurudev, Srila Prabhupada.
Many thanks for this wonderful account of the successful completion of Lila’s material existence. Sometimes out of the darkest sky a flash of lightning appears and illuminates everything. It is often in the most desperate of times that we experience the greatest mercy, if we but pray for it. Lila’s passing has proved to be a singular event, invoking the personal presence and compassion of the greatest of Vaisnavas, Srila Prabhupada.
Everything that happens in Vrndavana is under the direct control of Srimati Radharani and Her servants. It is clear that whatever little dross of material entanglement Lila had, was cleared up in one dramatic event, leaving her free to complete her onward journey home.
She had deep attachment for Vrndavana, for Radha and Krsna, and for Srila Prabhupada, and that can only have come from lifetimes’ of seva and surrender.
One can speculate that in her past life she must have been a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, and she returned for a brief sojourn in the family of another disciple, just to sustain her connection and complete her journey home.
Another way of looking at it is that Krsna benedicts the entire family of a devotee for many generations in the past and in the future and that He sent Srila Prabhupada to fulfill that promise.
In any scenario, whatever the case, we can’t argue with the will of the Lord, Who is in the heart of all living beings and directs their wonderings, what to speak of His devotees. For anyone who has spent any time in Krsna’s service, and any time in the association of Srila Prabhupada and his associates, the result is always wonderful.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Your humble servant and friend,
Hari-sauri dasa
Even though one should see material events with a spiritual perspective, Lila’s story is heart-rending. Such a young life taken in such a mindless, brutal manner..
Being from an area close to Vraja, I also feel ashamed and tortured by this act. I feel Vrindavan is becoming too commercialized and thus losing its holy atmosphere and devotional culture. What we as devotees can do is:
– refrain or drastically reduce buying anything from Vrindavan or the Vraja area like clothes, jewellery etc.
– Support exemplary programs like the Care for Cows effort, Bhaktivedanta hospital health clinics, tree planting and others.
– Maintain good relations with local religious, political and cultural organizations and participate in local civic programs.
– obtain firearm licenses and other weapons. I am not advocating revolution but this incident does show the need to remain alert. This will also force authorities to take devotees and their well-being more seriously due to its serious consequences. This is Kali-yuga….
I am quoting the text from the post.
“Lila is now living in the same Vrindaban in the spiritual world where there are no demons to harrass her.”
I would like to know do you have some proof for that statment?Do you have some evidence for that?How do you know that, finely?
“Subhangi told me that just before Lila departed her son Madhu heard Srila Prabhupada’s voice telling him that everything would be alright. Subhangi also felt Srila Prabhupada’s presence and had a personal vision that he was telling her “these children are not yours… you are only minding them for a short time”.
I don’t think that one should beleive in ones dreams ,even prabhupad said when one devotee had a visions during chanting,he said just keep chanting,and it will go away.We should beleive in sastra and guru not in the dreams.
“Jamal said that he felt something lightly touch his arm from behind and when he turned around he saw Srila Prabhupada standing there fully manifest as we would see each other. Jamal said that Srila Prabhupada looked deep into his eyes to his very soul and simply nodded at him gravely. Jamal then sat fixed in wonder as Srila Prabhupada walked past him to where Lila was lying and picked her up. Prabhupada then disappeared, and at that very second Lila left her body, so Jamal personally saw Srila Prabhupada take her back to Godhead in His arms. ”
Honestly,i don’t beleive in that.Even if it is truth,it could be mind concoction or some other being can appear in the shape of prabhupad..I am a follower of sastra not of drams..And finely even if it had happened it is not a thing that one should advetised around and get a glory..
Some people have asked me how something so ghastly could happen to such a nice devotee, even in the holy Dhama itself.
Of course, to look on it as ghastly is only a partial, external understanding. Everyone dies, but the self-realized are not bewildered. To such devotees, death is merely another change of bodies, like changing from childhood to youth to old age. Death of the material body, even in the best circumstances, is rarely pretty from the external standpoint. But what is going on within a devotee’s mind during the process is wonderful.
But why does the Lord sometimes arrange for devotees to die in a violent way? Why did He arrange for His own beloved family, sons and grandsons in the Yadu dynasty, to beat each other to death with iron stalks in a drunken rage? Why not just send swan airplanes for them all?
Bhismadeva says, in Chapter Nine of the First Canto of the Bhagavatam, that the will of Lord Krishna is inscrutable. (S.B. 1.9.16) Otherwise why did the Pandavas, who were perfectly pious and qualified in every respect, and who were beloved devotees of the Lord, suffer so many reverses? Even Lord Siva and Lord Brahma cannot understand the real plan of the Lord, so what can we understand about it?
Srila Prabhupada explains, in the Purport to 1.9.17, that the Lord makes arrangements to teach devotees, such as Bhisma’s teaching to Yudhisthira, or Krishna’s teaching to Arjuna in Bhagavad Gita. The devotees already know, but for the sake of others they are being taught.
The world needs to see how the beautiful devotees accept such tribulations ungrudgingly as benedictions of the Lord. Nondevotees sometimes find the existence of material suffering a justification for atheism and ignorant selfishness, but the devotees simply become closer to the Lord during tribulations.
Queen Kunti prays for calamities again and again, because devotees take shelter of the Lord during times of calamity, and seeing Krishna they leave this abode of calamities and return to His transcendentally blissful abode.
“This material world is certified by the Lord in Bhagavad Gita as a dangerous place full of calamities. Less intelligent people try to adjust to those calamities without knowing that the nature of this place is full of calamities.” (S.B. 1.8.25, Purport)
The Lord’s devotees show the world how they tolerate the inevitable calamities of this world, taking shelter of beautiful, mysterious Lord Krishna.
Hare Krishna. My respects to “Parvati” who commented on my recent posting and invited me to reply. First let me say that my brother, Jamalarjuna, did not reveal his vision of Srila Prabhupada taking Lila back to Godhead for personal glory. Jamal shared what he saw with us with a deep sense of gratitude and love for Srila Prabhupada. We confirm the veracity of transcendental events by triangulating the evidence of guru, sadhu and sastra. It is good to have faith in guru and sastra but faith in sadhu should also be there. In other words, when devotees sincerely reveal their contact with guru, even in dreams, they should be taken seriously if what they see accords with sastra. The appearance of Srila Prabhupada, even in a dream, is non-different from him. Can we say he is present in his photograph and murti but not in a dream? Srila Prabhupada himself took sannyasa after a dream in which his spiritual master told him to do so. What Jamal saw, however, was not a dream. He was very much wide awake and saw Srila Prabhupada standing there exactly as if he were physically present. There are only two possibilities. One is that Jamal was tired due to maintaining his bedside vigil while Lila was in a coma and what he saw was similar to a dream in that he was in a state of altered consciousness. But it is equally possible that Srila Prabhupada personally appeared to take Lila back home. In either case, it must be understood that Srila Prabhupada would have been no less present. He has the same potency however he appears and to think otherwise is to minimise his glory. As stated in the Padma Purana: gurusu nara-matir…yasya va naraki sah: “One who considers the spiritual master to be an ordinary human being is possessed of hellish intelligence.” Srila Prabhupada is certainly no ordinary human being. He is the divine saviour of us all and without him we are lost.
ys … Yaso