Chapter 21 of Prabhup\u0101da Vijaya, '\u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s Antya-L\u012bl\u0101' is a personal account shared by Narasi\u1e45gha Mah\u0101r\u0101ja of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s final manifest pastimes. His remembrances of these moments in history are intensely personal and full of realisations that are seldom heard.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>
I will say something briefly about the disappearance day of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da. To a certain extent for many of you, this tirobhava<\/em> is more of a festival day. Of course, by transcendental arrangement, you may enter into some mood where you will find a connection to \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da and find his grace there. You can have a sense and feeling of Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s grace by worshipping him, singing his glories, dancing in front of his sam\u0101dhi<\/em> and so forth. But really, you can\u2019t know what happened on this day twenty-five years ago and what events led up to that unless someone tells you.<\/p>\nI mentioned earlier today that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da started his pastimes of disappearance in M\u0101y\u0101pura, sometime prior to Gaura-P\u016br\u1e47im\u0101 in 1977. It may have been at the time of Nity\u0101nanda Trayoda\u015b\u012b. Around 900 devotees had arrived for the festival.<\/p>\n
Every morning, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da would come down to the temple room for what is called, \u2018Greeting the Deities.\u2019 After greeting the Deities, he would walk to his vy\u0101s\u0101sana<\/em> which was directly opposite the Deities at the very back of the k\u012brtana<\/em> hall. There, we would offer guru-p\u016bj\u0101<\/em> and sing the song, \u015ar\u012b guru-cara\u1e47a-padma<\/em>. When that was over, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da himself would say the jaya-dhvani<\/em> prayers, then devotees would sit down for Bh\u0101gavatam<\/em> class. Prabhup\u0101da would begin by singing, jaya r\u0101dh\u0101-m\u0101dhava<\/em>. After the class, the devotees would start the k\u012brtana<\/em> again and Prabhup\u0101da would go around the Deities three times. On each side of the altar there was a big bell and when he would come to the bell-rope, someone would give him the rope and he would ring it and the k\u012brtana<\/em> all around him would become more and more ecstatic. Devotees would be airborne and some of them didn\u2019t come down \u2013 they just stayed up there! Prabhup\u0101da liked to see all the devotees jumping. It wasn\u2019t just children jumping \u2013 some of those devotees were thirty or forty years old. Prabhup\u0101da especially liked to see Brahm\u0101nanda Prabhu, who was 200 pounds, jumping. After, the k\u012brtana<\/em> would go outside as Prabhup\u0101da went to this room. That was the normal morning programme.<\/p>\nBut on this particular day when Prabhup\u0101da came down from his room, he did not seem his normal self. He greeted the Deities, went to his vy\u0101s\u0101sana<\/em> and there was guru-p\u016bj\u0101<\/em>. But after the guru-p\u016bj\u0101<\/em> he didn\u2019t sing. We noticed on that day that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da didn\u2019t look well \u2013 he looked withdrawn. Instead of singing himself, he called for one of his servants to sing, but that devotee wasn\u2019t there. Then he called the name of another devotee to sing \u2013 that devotee was also not there. Then he called the name of a third devotee to sing and that devotee was also absent. Actually all those devotees were present in M\u0101y\u0101pura, but they just weren\u2019t there in the temple. After asking three devotees to sing, Prabhup\u0101da didn\u2019t say anything \u2013 he just put his head down and shut his eyes. It seemed that he became a little sad that they weren\u2019t there. Then one devotee leaned forward and asked, \u201cPrabhup\u0101da, should I sing?\u201d Prabhup\u0101da just nodded his head and said, \u201cYes, you can sing.\u201d So that devotee sang jaya r\u0101dh\u0101-m\u0101dhava<\/em>. After the bhajana<\/em> was over, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da got up and went to his room. There was no Bh\u0101gavatam<\/em> class and there wasn\u2019t another k\u012brtana<\/em>.<\/p>\nThat was one of the last times that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da sat on the vy\u0101s\u0101sana<\/em> to give class, or anything formal here in India. The rest of the festival he never came down to the temple room. He stayed in his room the whole time, which was another 10 days or 2 weeks.<\/p>\nAfter Gaura-P\u016br\u1e47im\u0101, all the devotees went to Delhi and then on to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. Every year, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da was the life of the V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana Festival \u2013 there was no question about it. Everyone had come from all over the world mainly to be with him \u2013 to be in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana or M\u0101y\u0101pura was secondary. But that year, Prabhup\u0101da did not go to Delhi and he did not go to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana for the festival. He sent a message to all the devotees, \u201cYou should go and carry on with the festival.\u201d That was very sad for everyone and by then the news was that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s health was not good and it was better for him to rest. So everyone went to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana, the festival concluded and all the devotees went back to their temples all over the world. It was sad for the devotees. For many of them, the M\u0101y\u0101pura Festival was the last time they ever saw Prabhup\u0101da.<\/p>\n
In May, during the hot season, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da decided to go to Rishikesh with a group of devotees. He stayed there for a few weeks in the guest-house of a life-member. During the hot season in Rishikesh, it is cool at night and warm in the day. Prabhup\u0101da stayed there for a few weeks and was in quite a happy mood. Sometimes he would sit in a chair in the kitchen and give some cooking lessons. He also taught the devotees a special technique to get drinking water from the Ga\u1e45g\u0101. You have to take a pot, turn it upside down so there is air trapped inside, then you dive into the Ga\u1e45g\u0101 and go down about 10 feet and roll the pot over \u2013 then it will fill up with pure water deep from within the Ga\u1e45g\u0101. Prabhup\u0101da had Tam\u0101la-K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a Mah\u0101r\u0101ja and other devotees dive in the Ga\u1e45g\u0101 to get fresh water and if it came up with particles of sand or anything, he would say, \u201cNo, no, no \u2013 do it again!\u201d Like this, he was having casual pastimes with those devotees, teaching them.<\/p>\n
But all this time he was very weak and remained withdrawn \u2013 he was not his normal self. Then he came back to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana and from there he decided to go to England. Prabhup\u0101da thought, \u201cPreaching is life. Simply sitting around here, feeling like this\u2026 let me go for preaching.\u201d The day he went to England, I went to the airport with about 20 or 30 devotees in the middle of the night and we put \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da on the plane and four or five devotees flew with him.<\/p>\n
He was in England for Janm\u0101\u1e63\u1e6dam\u012b and his Vy\u0101sa-P\u016bj\u0101. I believe he came downstairs only once. He sat on the vy\u0101s\u0101sana<\/em> for guru-p\u016bj\u0101<\/em> and went back to his room. He did not give any class, but during that time, he still endeavoured to do translation work with his dictaphone. With the help of devotees, he would do some translation of the \u015ar\u012bmad Bh\u0101gavatam<\/em>. He was working on the 10th Canto and he would do that when he had the energy. That was in August 1977. Of course, the devotees in the US, Canada and other countries had hopes that \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da would also come there, but he didn\u2019t.<\/p>\nIn England there was an incident where he had some physical difficulty and the devotees whisked him away to the hospital in an ambulance \u2013 he didn\u2019t like that…he didn\u2019t like that at all! When he got out of the hospital he told the devotees, \u201cYou take me back to India immediately! I don\u2019t want to die in these hospitals!\u201d He hated these places. He was disturbed that the devotees\u2019 concern would simply be external \u2013 they would rush him to a hospital and he may end his life there. He didn\u2019t want to end his life in a hospital. He was adamant about that, so they took him back to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana.<\/p>\n
At that time, I was in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana when we got the message, \u201cPrabhup\u0101da is coming back to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana.\u201d I had the good fortune to arrange Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s room. It was sometime in early September when he came. All the devotees were outside doing k\u012brtana<\/em>, so when Prabhup\u0101da came to his room, I opened the doors from the inside and I was very surprised. I wasn\u2019t surprised \u2013 I was shocked! Prabhup\u0101da had become very thin. Since the M\u0101y\u0101pura Festival, he had only been eating a few small handfuls of pras<\/em>\u0101<\/em>dam <\/em>every day, so he had become very thin. It was a big shock for all the devotees in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana, to see him like that.<\/p>\nEvery morning, all the gurukula<\/em> boys would come outside Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s room and chant Brahma-sa\u1e41hit\u0101<\/em> and sometimes \u015aik\u1e63\u0101\u1e63\u1e6dakam<\/em>. We used to sit Prabhup\u0101da in a modified rocking chair \u2013 we took a rocking chair and put handles on it so that four men could carry it. Prabhup\u0101da would sit in that chair and we would carry him into the K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a-Balar\u0101ma Temple. At that time there was a tam<\/em>\u0101<\/em>la <\/em>tree in the courtyard and Prabhup\u0101da would sit under that tree for an hour or so, just absorbed in seeing the beauty of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a-Balar\u0101ma, R\u0101dh\u0101-\u015ay\u0101masundara and Gaura-Nit\u0101i. He would sit and look at the Deities and the devotees would sit down and would do k\u012brtana<\/em>. He would just gaze at the Deities and sometimes he wouldn\u2019t move.<\/p>\nAround June of that year, I travelled to London and went shopping in Harrods, which used to be the most exclusive store in the world. I thought I would buy Prabhup\u0101da a new pair of shoes. I always used to think, \u201cIf I buy him a new chaddar<\/em>, I might get his old chaddar<\/em>. If I get him a new pair of shoes, I might get his old shoes.\u201d So I went and looked, but I could not find the type of house shoes that Prabhup\u0101da used to wear \u2013 they were out of season because it was summer and they only used to sell them in winter. All I found was this kind of shoe that wasn\u2019t a house shoe \u2013 it just had two straps and your foot goes inside. It wasn\u2019t the kind of shoe that Prabhup\u0101da wore, but somehow or other I was drawn to buy those shoes. Anyway, I brought them to India and gave them to Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s secretary. I felt very shy because I knew they were not the kind of shoes that Prabhup\u0101da would generally wear. However, at that time Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s feet had become swollen and there were no shoes that they could buy in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana that would fit his feet. Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s secretary and servant were lamenting, \u201cWhat are we going to do? There are no shoes for Prabhup\u0101da!\u201d Suddenly, I showed up with this box and said, \u201cI bought some shoes for Prabhup\u0101da in England.\u201d They opened it and said, \u201cOh, just what we needed \u2013 exactly!\u201d I had also bought the wrong size \u2013 they were too big, but because Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s feet had swollen, the shoes were a perfect fit. Prabhup\u0101da used to wear those shoes every day. They were actually the last shoes he ever wore. They are there in his room in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana in a glass box. It was good for me \u2013 I got to offer that service to \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da.<\/p>\nThen the situation became quite serious \u2013 there was no improvement. Prabhup\u0101da seemed to withdraw day by day. He talked constantly about leaving this world and going to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, and of course, this was very disturbing for the devotees.<\/p>\n
It became known that certain things would keep him in this world \u2013 the Holy Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, good reports of sa\u1e45k\u012brtana<\/em> and other such things. So at one point, I jumped in a truck and went to the Himalayas to do some sa\u1e45k\u012brtana<\/em> and I sent Prabhup\u0101da some pictures. Whenever somebody sent a report about preaching, Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s secretary would read it to him. When he heard that, Prabhup\u0101da would become enlivened, but almost immediately, he would come back down again. This became a constant battle \u2013 to keep Prabhup\u0101da interested in being in this world. At that time we were all very neophyte \u2013 we\u2019re still neophyte, but then we were very neophyte and not able to understand what we call \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s \u2018pastimes of departure.\u2019 No one could properly understand what was Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s mood and there were mixed feelings about what should be done. It made everybody more and more attached to \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da at that time and naturally, it came to the point that the devotees were willing to try anything.<\/p>\nPrabhup\u0101da would not take allopathic medicine; he would not take anything from modern medicine, although he was a chemist in his early life. Once he became a sanny\u0101s\u012b<\/em>, he never touched any of that. He would only accept Ayurvedic medicine. \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da mentioned one night that he had a dream about an Ayurvedic doctor with big \u015ar\u012b Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava tilaka<\/em> who gave him some medicine. Immediately devotees left V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana and searched the whole of South India within a few days, going to every Ayurvedic doctor they could find until they found one wearing tilaka<\/em>. They grabbed that man, f lew him to Delhi and took him to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. Even so, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s condition remained the same.<\/p>\nThe devotees became more and more worried. At a point, 24-hour k\u012brtana<\/em> began in over 100 of Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s temples around the world. This went on for months and months nonstop. The k\u012brtana<\/em> in Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s room was very soft with one small pair of karat\u0101las<\/em> and 3 or 4 devotees singing or reading from \u015ar\u012bmad Bh\u0101gavatam<\/em>. When the reading would stop, then k\u012brtana<\/em> would start up again. Around 10:30 or 11 o\u2019clock at night everything would stop in Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s room and the k<\/em>\u012b<\/em>rtana <\/em>would go on in the temple all night long. A few devotees would sit with Prabhup\u0101da all night, and if he needed anything they would see to it. Again, I was very fortunate \u2013 I had the opportunity to spend some nights there, taking care of Prabhup\u0101da from 11:00 at night until 4:00 in the morning. Generally, at that time he wouldn\u2019t say anything, but if he needed something, we were there to serve him.<\/p>\nPreviously, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da used to take a massage every day, but at that time in V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana he was so thin that the devotees were afraid to give him a massage in case it might hurt him. However, it was thought that if he could have a good massage from a professional masseur, then there might be some relieve to his suffering. I say \u2018suffering\u2019 but \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da used to say again and again, \u201cI\u2019m not suffering.\u201d One doctor came to see him and said, \u201cAccording to his physical condition, if Prabhup\u0101da were an ordinary man, he would be crying in pain,\u201d But Prabhup\u0101da said, \u201cI have no pain.\u201d<\/p>\n
One day the devotees brought a man from V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana who was known to give good massages. They brought him into Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s room and when he came to Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s bedside, Prabhup\u0101da slowly waved his hand meaning, \u201cGet rid of him!\u201d Prabhup\u0101da would sometimes do that. If some irritating guest was in his room, Prabhup\u0101da would wave his hand once and someone would lead them out. So, just as that man was ready to give a massage to Prabhup\u0101da, he waved his hand like that. The devotees told that man politely, \u201cSir, we just changed the programme. No massage!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then they asked Prabhup\u0101da, \u201cWas there a problem?<\/p>\n
Prabhup\u0101da said, \u201cHis fingernails were filthy dirty!\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the devotees went searching for another person to give a massage to Prabhup\u0101da. The next day they brought a another vraja-v\u0101s\u012b<\/em> \u2013 they gave him a new kurta<\/em>, new dhot\u012b<\/em>, he was clean-shaven and perhaps the devotees might have scrubbed that man\u2019s fingernails as well \u2013 he was shining from head to toe. He came forward and then Prabhup\u0101da looked, nodded and gave the okay. That man gave a massage to Prabhup\u0101da, but these things were very external. Prabhup\u0101da did not have any disease. \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s \u2018disease\u2019 was vipralambha<\/em> \u2013 separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\nMany years later, I read a description of Gad\u0101dhara Pa\u1e47\u2202ita. After Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu left the world, Gad\u0101dhara Pa\u1e47\u2202ita remained for some years and was overwhelmed with feelings of separation and gradually, he himself also left the world. The description of Gad\u0101dhara Pa\u1e47\u2202ita that I read, almost perfectly fits the symptoms of what we saw exhibited by \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da.<\/p>\n
\u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da didn\u2019t take any modern medicine, but now and then a doctor would come to diagnose him, but they could not say what his disease was. There was no explanation. Of course, they could say that his blood pressure was down etc. but they could not give any reason. The actual reason was his feelings of separation from K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and that was the cause of his withdrawing from the world.<\/p>\n
Another plan was hatched one day. The devotees said, \u201cPrabhup\u0101da, maybe we should bring an astrologer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prabhup\u0101da said, \u201cOh yes, let\u2019s have some fun! Bring an astrologer.\u201d<\/p>\n
So they went and got the best astrologer in all of Delhi, whose name was Pandit Ojas. The astrologer came in with some paper and noted down Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s birth time, looked at his hand etc. \u2013 then he left the room and made his calculations. When he came back, he said, \u201cPrabhup\u0101da needs a sapphire!\u201d<\/p>\n
These astrologers always prescribe some jewellery, and generally their brother or cousin is always a jeweller! So Pandit Ojas recommended that Prabhup\u0101da needed a sapphire and the next day one devotee f lew from Hong Kong with a large blue sapphire that he purchased for $12,000 U.S. dollars. The devotees mounted that sapphire on a gold ring and Prabhup\u0101da wore that ring when he was placed in sam<\/em>\u0101<\/em>dhi<\/em>.<\/p>\nAfter this, things became worse \u2013 Prabhup\u0101da began to give away his personal belongings \u2013 his watch, his tilaka<\/em> mirror etc. He started calling certain devotees who had been with him since he first came to America and gave away things that he was personally using. Naturally, there were mixed feelings. They were happy to receive his gifts, but at the same time they were also very sad.<\/p>\nAt one point, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da told the GBC to have a meeting to decide whether he should stay or go. I don\u2019t know\u2026I look back at these things and I think that Prabhup\u0101da was just playing with us like a kid bouncing a ball \u2013 he was just bouncing our hearts and making us more attached to him. During this time somebody asked, \u201cPrabhup\u0101da, what does K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a want?\u201d<\/p>\n
Prabhup\u0101da replied, \u201cI\u2019ll have to ask Him.\u201d Then he shut his eyes for about half an hour, although it seemed like forever to us. He was quiet, lying in his bed, not saying a word. Then after a while, he opened his eyes and said: \u201cYes, K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a said I can stay and continue my nonsense for sometime.\u201d Prabhup\u0101da was referring to his preaching work \u2013 he called it, \u201cMy nonsense.\u201d Then everybody shouted, \u201cJaya!\u201d They were very happy.<\/p>\n
What is important to K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a? Anything K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a wants, He can snap His fingers and make it happen. If He desires, He can make everyone in the world stand up and chant, \u201cHaribol! Haribol!\u201d but he\u2019s letting us do that on His behalf. He is allowing us to make people stand up and chant Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.<\/p>\n
There were many incidents like that \u2013 some of them gave life to the devotees and some of them seemed to give life to Prabhup\u0101da for some time. But progressively, from just before the M\u0101y\u0101pura Festival until November 14th 1977, it was his pastimes of departure.<\/p>\n
At that time, many of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s god-brothers would come to see him \u2013 especially \u015ar\u012bla K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a D\u0101sa B\u0101b\u0101j\u012b Mah\u0101r\u0101ja, who would come and talk with Prabhup\u0101da and sing for him. Generally we would all sit on the floor around Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s bed and if someone was doing a particular service for Prabhup\u0101da, they might lean on his bed. But B\u0101b\u0101j\u012b Mah\u0101r\u0101ja would come in, jump up on Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s bed and sit down cross-legged, saying, \u201cHaribol!\u201d<\/p>\n
B\u0101b\u0101j\u012b Mah\u0101r\u0101ja was a paramaha\u1e41sa<\/em>. One time when he came, Prabhup\u0101da was making a strange noise and the devotees were very worried. They were trying to ask Prabhup\u0101da, \u201cDo you need something? Do you need water?\u201d But he would just make noises. B\u0101b\u0101j\u012b Mah\u0101r\u0101ja said, \u201cNo, no. You see, he\u2019s just entered Goloka-V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana. On this side, you are simply hearing noises, but on that side, he\u2019s embracing K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a.\u201d It was more than anybody could understand \u2013 it probably still is, but it was quite exceptionable.<\/p>\nSeveral days before \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da left, he wasn\u2019t eating anything and the devotees became very concerned, so they called the kavir<\/em>\u0101<\/em>ja <\/em>(Ayurvedic doctor). In the evening Prabhup\u0101da had been silent for many hours and feeling his pulse, the kavir\u0101ja<\/em> expressed to the devotees that this may be Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s last day. When that news went around, things became almost chaotic. My Indian visa had just expired so I had to go back to the United States about two weeks before \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s departure.<\/p>\nThat evening, everybody came to see \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da \u2013 even people who were generally never allowed in his room. The room must have had 50 to a 100 people in it. It was so packed that some people were leaning through the windows from outside. There was a k\u012brtana<\/em> going on for a long time. I don\u2019t know for how long the k<\/em>\u012b<\/em>rtana <\/em>went on for, but at a point, it wasn\u2019t even a k\u012brtana<\/em> anymore \u2013 there must have been 10 or 20 devotees leading the k\u012brtana<\/em>. Everybody was singing. Someone was singing \u201cHare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a,\u201d some were singing \u201cHare R\u0101ma\u201d \u2013 the k<\/em>\u012b<\/em>rtana <\/em>had just dissolved into 100 people crying and chanting Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Everyone was around Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s bed and he hadn\u2019t said anything for hours, when suddenly he just said, \u201cHare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a!\u201d<\/p>\nWe all have to depart from this world and Prabhup\u0101da was adamant to show that our shelter is not in modern science or any other form of material concoction \u2013 our only shelter are K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a\u2019s lotus feet, the Holy Name of K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a and the association of the Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas. That is the only shelter that we should seek. He used to say that when you are young and unwell, you should make a programme for recovery, but when you get old, you should make a programme for departure. That was his advice. In this regard, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da would sometimes sing the prayers of King Kula\u015bekhara:<\/p>\n
k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a tvad\u012bya-pada-pa\u1e45kaja-pa\u00f1jar\u0101ntam <\/em>
\nadyaiva me vi\u015batu m\u0101nasa-r\u0101ja-ha\u1e41sa<\/em>
\npr\u0101\u1e47a-pray\u0101\u1e47a-samaye kapha-v\u0101ta-pittai\u1e25 <\/em>
\nka\u1e47\u1e6dh\u0101varodhana-vidhau smara\u1e47a\u1e41 kutas te<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cO K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, at this moment may the swan of my mind become entwined in the stems of Your lotus-like feet. At the time of death, how will I remember You when my throat is choked up with mucus, bile and air?\u201d (Mukunda-m\u0101l\u0101 Stotram<\/em> 33)<\/p>\nOn two different occasions, Prabhup\u0101da gave b\u0101b\u0101j\u012b-ve\u015ba<\/em> to two young disciples who thought they had some terminal disease and were going to die. He told them to go to V\u1e5bnd\u0101vana and chant Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Later however, they got cured, gave up their ve\u015ba<\/em>, gave up chanting Hare K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a, and went back into the material world. Someone may tell me, \u201cBut you have given b\u0101b\u0101j\u012b-ve\u015ba<\/em> to a healthy devotee who is 50 years old \u2013 Prabhup\u0101da only gave b\u0101b\u0101j\u012b-ve\u015ba<\/em> to those men he thought were dying.\u201d<\/p>\nYes, those men thought they were dying, but after 50, you shouldn\u2019t think you are dying \u2013 you should know<\/em> you are dying! After 50, that\u2019s what\u2019s waiting. It\u2019s the end. You\u2019ve crossed the line. It\u2019s downhill from there. To get another 50 years is very rare. Only one person in a million may live to be a hundred.<\/p>\nThere probably hasn\u2019t been a disappearance of a Vai\u1e63\u1e47ava like \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da since the time of Bh\u012b\u1e63madeva. At the time of \u015ar\u012bla \u015ar\u012bdhara Mah\u0101r\u0101ja\u2019s disappearance, there were only a few devotees present. He left this world in a very quiet way. \u015ar\u012bla Bhakti Pramoda Pur\u012b Mah\u0101r\u0101ja also left this world very quietly early in the morning. Yet somehow or other, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da was selected by K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a to be an ambassador, a beacon, a light \u2013 not just for his disciples, but for the whole world. Throughout his pastimes of departure, \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da would say, \u201cI am teaching you how to leave this world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chapter 21 of Prabhup\u0101da Vijaya, ‘\u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s Antya-L\u012bl\u0101’ is a personal account shared by Narasi\u1e45gha Mah\u0101r\u0101ja of \u015ar\u012bla Prabhup\u0101da\u2019s final manifest pastimes. His remembrances of these moments in history are intensely personal and full of realisations that are seldom heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[207],"tags":[206,208],"krishna_talk_article":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5660"},{"taxonomy":"krishna_talk_article","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rupanugabhajanashram.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/krishna_talk_article?post=5660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}