Sujana devi dasi: Prabhupada disciple Patatriraja dasa, most recently from Los Angeles, left his body peacefully on Monday, November 17. Patatri joined ISKCON in St. Louis in the early 1970s and traveled for a time with the Radha-Damodara Sankirtan Party, where he helped build the altars for the Deities.
Diagnosed in September with bone and liver cancer, removal of a tumor in his spine had left Patatriraja Prabhu paraplegic for the past two months. Refusing chemotherapy and radiation, Patatriraja, a life-long proponent of natural healing, spent his last months helping to plan the opening of a healing center in the LA area.
On Monday, November 17, difficulty breathing necessitated his transfer to the hospital, where an MRI revealed that the cancer had spread to his lungs. Patatriraja elected not to be put on a respirator, and he was conscious, even chanting along most of the time, until he left this world at about 10 p. m., surrounded by friends and devotees seeing him off with prayers and joyous chanting of the Holy Names of the Lord. Let us all pray for his safe journey back to Krishna and Srila Prabhupada. Hare Krishna!