Preface
Long time ISKCON Atlanta member, Kaviraja das a disciple of Srila Prabhupada, passed away about 2 am Monday morning, June 1st, at his home from cancer. HG Carudesana das acbsp, was by his side along with Kaviraja prabhu’s family members chanting the maha mantra as he passed.
(The above was written by Shikhi Mahiti Prabhu, ACBSP, Atlanta)
My rememberences of Kaviraj Prabhu
By Basu Ghosh Das
Kaviraj Prabhu was an old, but in fact distant, friend on mine. I was saddened to hear of his having left his body due to terminal cancer.
As I recall, when I would go to Mayapur to attend the Gaur Purnima festivals back during the 1980s, I would inevitably meet Kaviraj Prabhu there, and at ISKCON Calcutta.
He was, for quite a few years, a part of ISKCON Calcutta, and he was a “life membership preacher”, as I was.
Later on he entered the grihasta ashram, and then left India for the USA, to live as an “independent grihasta”.
Back during 1990 and 1991, I travelled across the USA by car, and during both years, visited Atlanta, Since my mother was living at Los Angeles, I would begin my USA visits there, and drive cross country. My visits to Atlanta were not “extended” – they were brief. But I distinctly remember visiting Kaviraj Prabhu and his good wife Shanti devi dasi, and their four young daughters, who at the time were living in a comfortable house in a suburban setting.
Kaviraj Prabhu was a responsible grihasta. He had imbibed the philosophy of “Krishna Consciousness” and vedic culture, he was quite intelligent and intellectual, and we developed some camaraderie. Sadly, due to the “separation of time and space”, we weren’t to spend any more time together, thereafter. His visits to India were mainly to Mayapur and Calcutta, and as I recall, they weren’t many, and weren’t during the festival period either.
But we did remain in touch and communicate via the internet, and during several of my visits to the USA over the years, I would occasionally speak with him for long periods over the telephone.
He did let me know that he was battling cancer: prostate cancer as I recall. However he told me that he was making progress in fighting the disease.
There are several other godbrothers and sisters whom I know have battled cancer — Charu Prabhu and his wife Vaibhavi, Bhakta Das, and Pranavallabha Prabhu are some of them — and “won”, and then there was Hayagriva Prabhu, Sridhar Swami, Bhakti Tirtha Swami, and others who didn’t.
Since Kaviraj Prabhu and the others who “didn’t win” this battle were all devotees, our ideology tells us that it’s “the will of the Lord”, “daivam”, that they were to give up their material bodies “earlier than expected”.
In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krishna says:
kim karma kim akarmeti kavayo ‘py atra mohitah tat te karma pravakshyami yaj jnatva mokshyase ‘subhat
TRANSLATION
“Even the intelligent are bewildered in determining what is action and what is inaction. Now I shall explain to you what action is, knowing which you shall be liberated from all misfortune.”
One of the meanings of the word “kavi” in Samskritam is “poet” in English. Here Prabhupada translated it as “intelligent”. The Samskrita word “Raj” is “King” in English.
So even the highly intelligent sages find it difficult to understand the workings of “karma” — action.
The entire gamit of action and inaction — karma and akarma — were initiated by the Lord when he created this material world. And He says that this world is a temporary place of misery (Gita 8.15). And we all have the experience of that!
Losing a friend and godbrother like Kaviraj Prabhu, who I did know so well
— despite the separation of place — is indeed one of the miseries of this material world!
At the same time, it was a great fortune to have been associated with one of the few persons in the Western world who rejected the grossest and most sinful aspects of Western life — meat eating and intoxication! That, “in and of itself” makes Kaviraj Prabhu one of the Mahatmas! And that doesn’t begin to describe the punyas that he must have accrued through years of service to Prabhupada, ISKCON and the Mission of Mahaprabhu! We can only imagine the elevated status that Kaviraj Prabhu has attained due to that!
Certainly Kaviraj Prabhu, who was blessed to have heard the holy names of Krishna during his final moments, has attained the Lotus feet of his Lord!
My heart goes out to those five women in his life, his good wife Shanti devi dasi and his four daughters, who have now lost their protector! May they remain as Sachi Mata and Vishnupriya remained in separation from Mahaprabhu!
May the Lord protect them and bless them with the strength to bear the separation from Kaviraj Prabhu.