{"id":8295,"date":"2010-03-22T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T07:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=8295"},"modified":"2010-03-22T08:02:30","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T07:02:30","slug":"in-memory-of-grahila-prabhu-15032010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/?p=8295","title":{"rendered":"In Memory Of Grahila Prabhu 15.03.2010"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n
\nBy his wife Guruseva Devi Dasi<\/strong><\/p>\n

My dearest husband, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your most merciful guru maharaja Srila Prabhupada.
\nFirst I would like to thank you from the core of my heart that you came into my life and were a very caring husband. I remember it was in the year 2002 that you phoned me and asked me if I would like to enter a relationship with you. I did not even know who you are or your name. I told you that I am returning back to Mayapur.You said, ok, then I guess it\u2019s not going to happen. But you phoned again and revealed to me that actually you don\u2019t mind coming with me to Mayapur. You invited Jahnavi and me to Govindas for pizza. I replied, \u201cI haven\u2019t even met you yet. I don\u2019t want to go out like this.\u201d I said, \u201cTomorrow in the temple they start reading from the Bhagavad-gita for Gita Jayanti. We can meet at the temple.\u201d After the reading they served out pras\u00e4dam and just sitting with you for the first time, I felt immediately close, as if I had met an old friend again. Later in the week after one night of the Gita reading one of my friends warned me not to get into a relationship with you. I still had some rounds left after this evening program and I chanted them in front of Srila Prabhupada\u2019s m\u00fcrti in the temple room. I was praying to Srila Prabhupada to protect me from making a mistake. Then Srila Prabhuapda came to life for me. He was not just a statue; he told me \u201cYou helped so many conditioned souls by distributing my books. Can you please help one of my disciples?\u201d
\nThis was an amazing experience and at this point a pujari came out with a garland from the Deity room and put the garland around my neck. For me it was confirmed that it was not just sentimental.
\n My guru maharaja also gave his blessings:<\/p>\n

Dear Sati Devi Dasi, (Guruseva dd)<\/p>\n

Please accept my blessings. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.<\/p>\n

Having read all three letters, I am confident as I could ever possibly be confident about any marriage, that your marriage to Grahila Prabhu will be auspicious for both of you. Please be assured that your desire to go forward with this marriage has my full blessings. You have approached this marriage exactly in the way which I believe that all my disciples should approach marriage. You have done all the preliminary work in a responsible and respectable way. And you are also not expecting me to magically \u201cbless\u201d the marriage to work without each of you first gaining your own convictions about each other.
\nPlease tell Grahila Prabhu that I will be very happy to get the opportunity to associate with him and to chant bhajans with him, whenever Krsna will allow me the opportunity.
\nHoping this meets you in good health.<\/p>\n

Your well-wisher,
\nNiranjana Swami<\/p>\n

I am grateful that you worked so hard to maintain us and I am happy that you no longer need to work. I know you would have preferred to engage more time in your s\u00e4dhana and bhajan.
\nI remember how we went to Switzerland to collect some money. You baked cookies for me to distribute. What I enjoyed the most was to see your joy when I would tell you how the people appreciated and were in love with your delicious cookies. Sometimes we would go to the forest and play games like hide and seek, but you had a injured knee so you could not play nicely. So I said, \u201cBe patient. The day will come when you will play to your full satisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whenever you noticed that I need some more time for myself, you offered to cook for me and often you would even wash the dishes; when you made me upset you apologized and would say, I will make it up to you. To the outsider you were very reserved, but at home you were actually very funny. If sometimes I would feel a little down, you could always find a way to make me laugh. I joked that we could make a comedy film and you wouldn\u2019t need to work anymore. You said that I would be the only one laughing. I replied that I am sure Krsna misses your humor in the spiritual world. <\/p>\n

I remember how a few years ago in Jagannath Puri when I was in a very difficult situation, you became my everything. A best friend, humble servant, supportive father, loving husband and saved me from certain insanity.
\nI am eternally grateful for your tender care. At this point I felt like you had done enough for me in this lifetime.<\/p>\n

Being married to you, I got the opportunity to serve my Guru Maharja in a more intimate way. Since both of you are God brothers, my relationship with Him became a lot more personal and sweet. I was amazed how a few hours before your departure, you were having a converstation with Guru Maharaj filled with so much joy. You said \u201cI feel so sorry for you. You are an exalted Acharya and you have to stay and suffer and I am such a sinful person and I go back to Godhead.\u201d It was the most beautiful and satisfying thing for me to see that you were so sure about your destination. <\/p>\n

I remember how you shed tears by hearing how cows got killed even in Vrindavana. Whenever you heard how someone was suffering you immediately felt it in your heart. It seems that it was too painful for you to stay any longer in this material world, as you often used to say. <\/p>\n

Then in Karttik we were shocked when you suddenly changed from a healthy man to someone with fourth stage cancer. It was hard to understand what Krsnas plan was for us. The last five months were very intense, but we gained a lot of deep spiritual realizations that brought you to perfection and brought myself to understand the meaning of selfless service. For this I would like to thank you very very much. <\/p>\n

One week before you left you had a serious crisis in the bathroom and were praying to leave immediately. Later I told you that it would be better to have a more glorious departure, which would be pleasing to the devotees and make them happy. <\/p>\n

Often you would say that you were not attached to me materially, but in a spiritual way. You mentioned often that I am like a Guru to you. But without doubt I see now that you have become my Guru. Serving you, I have come to deeply understand how absolutely everything is under Krsnas control. I have become fully aware that depending on Krsna and trusting his decisions, makes ones mind peaceful even in the most difficult of situations. <\/p>\n

On the 9th you said, the pain is too much, I cannot tolerate any more. Maybe I should breath so fast that I get a heart attack or would that be considered committing suicide? Maybe Srila Prabhupada won\u2019t take me. Then you said, bring me the 10th canto, Brahmas prayers to Lord Krsna (10.14.8)<\/p>\n

tat te ‘nukamp\u00e4\u00e0 su-sam\u00e9k\u00f1am\u00e4\u00ebo
\nbhu\u00efj\u00e4na ev\u00e4tma-k\u00e5ta\u00e0 vip\u00e4kam
\nh\u00e5d-v\u00e4g-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
\nj\u00e9veta yo mukti-pade sa d\u00e4ya-bh\u00e4k<\/p>\n

TRANSLATION
\nMy dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reactions of his past misdeeds and offering You respectful obeisances with his heart, words and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.<\/p>\n

PURPORT
\n\u00c7r\u00e9la \u00c7r\u00e9dhara Sv\u00e4m\u00e9 explains in his commentary that just as a legitimate son has to simply remain alive to gain an inheritance from his father, one who simply remains alive in K\u00e5\u00f1\u00eba consciousness, following the regulative principles of bhakti-yoga, automatically becomes eligible to receive the mercy of the Personality of Godhead. In other words, he will be promoted to the kingdom of God.
\nThe word su-sam\u00e9k\u00f1am\u00e4\u00eba indicates that a devotee earnestly awaits the mercy of the Supreme Lord even while suffering the painful effects of previous sinful activities. Lord K\u00e5\u00f1\u00eba explains in the Bhagavad-g\u00e9t\u00e4 that a devotee who fully surrenders unto Him is no longer liable to suffer the reactions of his previous karma. However, because in his mind a devotee may still maintain the remnants of his previous sinful mentality, the Lord removes the last vestiges of the enjoying spirit by giving His devotee punishments that may sometimes resemble sinful reactions. The purpose of the entire creation of God is to rectify the living entity’s tendency to enjoy without the Lord, and therefore the particular punishment given for a sinful activity is specifically designed to curtail the mentality that produced the activity. Although a devotee has surrendered to the Lord’s devotional service, until he is completely perfect in K\u00e5\u00f1\u00eba consciousness he may maintain a slight inclination to enjoy the false happiness of this world. The Lord therefore creates a particular situation to eradicate this remaining enjoying spirit. This unhappiness suffered by a sincere devotee is not technically a karmic reaction; it is rather the Lord’s special mercy for inducing His devotee to completely let go of the material world and return home, back to Godhead.
\nA sincere devotee earnestly desires to go back to the Lord’s abode. Therefore he willingly accepts the Lord’s merciful punishment and continues offering respects and obeisances to the Lord with his heart, words and body. Such a bona fide servant of the Lord, considering all hardship a small price to pay for gaining the personal association of the Lord, certainly becomes a legitimate son of God, as indicated here by the words d\u00e4ya-bh\u00e4k. Just as one cannot approach the sun without becoming fire, one cannot approach the supreme pure, Lord K\u00e5\u00f1\u00eba, without undergoing a rigid purificatory process, which may appear like suffering but which is in fact a curative treatment administered by the personal hand of the Lord.<\/p>\n

After hearing this verse and purport, you had a complete transformation. You said, ok, I will tolerate and wait.\u201d You did a lot of prayers that day, sometimes with folded hands, sometimes with hands raised. You looked at Srila Prabhupada\u2019s pictures and said, Please take me home. I cannot stay any more in this body. If you desire, you can send me back for preaching, but please take me home now. You were really begging. Later on, I saw you were in great pain but then you said, I am tolerating. At this point I was so proud of you, how you applied this verse immediately to your situation. <\/p>\n

You were very careful not to waste even one rupee. On the 10th was the last day for us to pay our bills otherwise we would have to pay a penalty. You remembered that just a day before you left and you kept asking, \u201cDid you pay the bills?\u201d I replied that everything is ready for payment. I took your concern very seriously and didn\u2019t want to disappoint you, so I made all the efforts to have them paid. After an hour or so, you sarcastically asked me again. \u201cSo, I guess the bills are not paid yet?\u201d I happily replied, yes! They are paid. You did not forget your material duties even up to the last minute.<\/p>\n

On the 11th at 2am Vraja Kumar came to inform me that your breathing had become difficult. Actually, I was already awake, feeling your condition as my own. I prayed to Krsna, \u201cIf you want to bless me for the service I have done for my husband, my desire is that he would leave his body on this auspicious day of Ekadasi.\u201d
\nWhen I came in the room, you asked me in the most humble manner to place a tulsi leaf in your mouth. You said, \u201cPlease pray to Srila Prabhupada that I can leave\u2026 I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on. I cannot control this breathing any more.\u201d I reminded you of Bhakti Brhat Bhagavat Maharajs words. That you should remember that even the breathing belongs to Lord Chaitanya, including the last breath. You said ok, but then after some time you again told me \u201cits difficult, its difficult!\u201d
\nMy last words to you were \u201cRemember Lord Chaitanyas Lotus feet then difficult things become easy!\u201d Then you said \u201cok.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the most beautiful and auspicious morning. The sun was shining in the room. There were all kinds of birds chirping, the cows were peacefully grazing. You wore Lord Jagannath\u2019s chaddar (Jagannath Puri)on your chest. You grabbed my hands and wanted to say something but couldn\u2019t. That\u2019s when I realized that you may leave any second. We looked deeply into each others eyes and I was chanting the mahamantra with all my heart to you. I then put a picture of Radha-Madhava before your eyes, and while you gazed at their lordships with love and devotion, you peacefully left this material world.<\/p>\n

You left me behind but with a purified, satisfied and very happy heart. I thank you again for coming into my life. <\/p>\n

I would like to thank all the devotees for their unconditional love and support.
\nI would like to request all the devotees who had personal dealings\/conversations with Grahila Prabhu prior to his departure to share their experiences and realizations.<\/p>\n

Hare Krsna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Guruseva Devi Dasi<\/strong><\/p>\n

My dearest husband, please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to your most merciful guru maharaja Srila Prabhupada. First I would like to thank you from the core of my heart that you came into my life and were a very caring husband. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-memoriam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dandavats.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}