By Hari-sauri dasa
Dear Maharajas and Prabhus,
Please accept my humble obeisances _/\ò_. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
This is a brief update on Sriman Grahila prabhu’s health. Many of you will know that about a month ago he suffered what appeared to be a mild stroke. However, medical examination revealed water on the brain, and a brain tumor. Further tumors were found in his neck and chest. He suffered some speech impairment and motor dysfunction of his right arm and a reduced ability to mentally focus.
Grahila prabhu went with his wife Guru Seva mataji to Mumbai to get a full biopsy done. A one inch tumor was removed from his neck and the results returned last week. These show that he has stage four cancer i. e. the cancerous tumors have metastasized and are not treatable. The doctors have advised that no treatment is possible.
They did however suggest that gamma ray treatment may relieve some of the symptoms. He underwent this for six continuous hours last Friday at the Hinduja hospital in Mumbai. Immediately afterwards he was unable to speak or stand and was subject to vomiting.
Since then he has gradually improved to the point where he can at least say a few sentences, but he is still quite incapacitated. He and his wife have made the decision to return to Mayapur as soon as he is able to travel.
We request all the Vaisnavas to pray for the spiritual well being of this dear disciple of Srila Prabhupada. Since cancer patients have been known to recover from even stage four cancer we cannot rule out the possibility of physical recovery. But whatever happens, we do request all devotees to pray to Srila Prabhupada and Sri Sri Radha Madhava to bestow Their full blessings upon him.
Grahila prabhu has very limited funds and if anyone wishes to help with his medical care and travel expenses from Mumbai to Mayapur, kindly contact myself, Hari-sauri dasa, or the Mayapur Community Sevaks on MCS@pamho.net for details on how to give a donation.
Your humble servant, Hari-sauri dasa
Note from Grahila das
My dear friends and well-wishers, I wanted to write a note to let you know the progress I am making and express my gratitude to you for your support. About a week after getting out of Hinduja Hospital, I began taking acupuncture and following a special diet by Yogescandra das in Mumbai for about a week. From that I made much improvement. Here in Mayapur I have been continuing with acupuncture from Laksmi-priya Mataji, continuing the special diet (including wheat grass juice), homeopathy, getting plenty of rest (I still need about ten hours rest a day), and using positive thinking. Again I am continuing to improve. My pulse is increasing, my power of concentration is coming back, and my balance is coming back. We are trying to add more things to the regimen. My weight is still not increasing-it went from about
82 kg down to 60 kg-but at least it is no longer decreasing. It looks likes things are looking in the positive direction, and we are trying to keep that mood.
We know the power of your prayers is working wonders. So many devotees are praying for me that I feel overwhelmed. I thank you all for that. The struggle is far from over so please continue to pray.
This letter would not be complete if I did not mention my wife, Guru-seva deva dasi (Sati dd). She has made a big sacrifice to take care of me during this whole ordeal, sacrificing her very being. I am personally indebted to her and pray that Krsna will bless her. The most disappointing thing for her was that she was so engaged that she did was not able to reply to emails, even to her best friends.
I would also like to mention my daughter who flew here from Los Angeles to be with me during this time and helped with cooking and other household chores, as well as give inspirational guidance.
We would like to thank all the devotees who have given donations. At this point it would be hard to mention them in separate emails. We would also like to extend special thanks to Hari Sauri Prabhu, like a kind father, who took up the burden of communicating the situation to the devotees and answering emails before we were able to do so.
Hare Krsna