Glorious Passing away of H.G. Stoka Krishna Prabhu.
Charlotte Bhakti Yoga
3rd
February's evening. At 4:30 pm, he started gasping for air and
manifesting symptoms of "air hunger". Dr. Acyutanand Prabhu nebulised
him which helped him relax. Later on in discussion with Madhavacharya
Prabhu (H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaja's physician during his last
days), it was declared that Stoka Krishna Prabhu's health is going down
rapidly and he may leave his body in the next 24 hrs.
Devotees immediately called for H.H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj.
Gaur Gopal Prabhu was leading a soft and melodious kirtan in the room
around 5:30 pm. Stoka Krishna Prabhu was now really struggling with
his
breathing and his health was going down.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaja came to meet his beloved disciple
in the evening and this proved to be the last time that Guru & disciple
exchanged sweet words in transcendental reciprocation. Of course, this
is just external observation, as the relationship of spiritual master
and disciple is always eternal. H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaja walked
into
the room when Stoka Krishna Prabhu was struggling with his breathing.
His blood pressure was hovering around 80. H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaja
came near Stoka Krishna Prabhu and inquired about his health from the
doctors. Then he started encouraging Stoka Krishna Prabhu for his
final
journey.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj: Stoka Krishna Prabhu! Vrindavan is
waiting for you. Yamuna is waiting for you.
Stoka Krishna Prabhu: Because of your mercy Maharaj.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj: (very lovingly) Do you have any
desire?
Stoka Krishna Prabhu : To take shelter at your lotus feet.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj : That you have already achieved
Stoka Krishna Prabhu : Please forgive me. I spoke something
foolish last week.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj : No foolishness. Just remember
Krishna.
I am very proud of you. I am very pleased with you. Don't have any
regret.
Just be grateful. Concentrate on the holy names. Think of the beautiful
forms of Sri Sri Radha Gopinathji. Think of Their pastimes.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj continued in his sweet voice:
Success of life is to depart with great dignity which you have
achieved.
All your mistakes are erased. You are now left with all wonderful
qualities, wonderful service. Do you believe me?
Stoka Krishna Prabhu : (nodding his head like a small innocent
child) Yes. Maharaja please bless me.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj : Lord Krishna and Radharani have
already blessed you. I am praying 24 hours to Srila Prabhupada for you.
When you go to Goloka Vrindavan, you will see the transcendental
beautiful form of Lord Krishna covered with dust of Vrindavan with
peacock feather on His head and beautiful flower garland around His
neck; horn, various colored mud smeared over His bluish body. He must
have killed some demon that day. He must have played games with
Balaramji and other cowherd boys. Gopis will be there but at the
background. Nanda Maharaja and Yasoda Mayi will be there at the front.
Yasoda Mayi will come forward and scrutinizingly search for any scratch
marks on His body. Then she will bathe Him with scented water, dress
Him
in beautiful garments, offer Him nice bhoga and put Him to rest. But at
night He will He will go secretly at Ter Kadamba to meet the Gopis.
At this time, H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj stopped patting Stoka
Krishna Prabhu's head and lovingly ordered * "Stoka Krishna Prabhu, you
should serve and please Krishna. Don't think of anything else." Stoka
Krishna Prabhu nodded his head.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj continued the pastime: Next
morning, Krishna wakes up. All the Gopas are waiting to go with Krishna
and all cows on seeing Krishna start pouring milk. There is no need of
milking them. When the elderly Gopis see Krishna, milk starts flowing
from their body out of intense affection for Him.
Because of mercy of Srila Prabhupada and previous acharyas, you
have got entrance into Vrindavan. H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami Maharaj told
me, "I am going there to make arrangements for all the devotees".
M continued: Do you want to assist H.H. Bhakti Tirtha Swami?
Stoka Krishna Prabhu : (lovingly) Yes
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj: When do you want to go?
Stoka Krishna Prabhu : At this very moment.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj (laughing in his transcendental
way):
Nice answer. A devotee should always be ready. Remember Krishna's name,
form, pastimes, engage in Radharani's seva. She is supreme. Leave this
body and assist the servants of Radharani. Rupa Goswami is waiting for
all Gaudiya Vaishnavas, so that he can engage them in the service of
servants of Radharani.
Krishna loves you. Radharani loves you. Srila Prabhupada's mercy
is on you.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj : Where do you want to go?
Stoka Krishna Prabhu : Maharaj, wherever you want me to go.
M: (laughing) My order is you should go Back to Godhead. You are
leaving this body in dham. Brijbasis told Radha Gopinath Mandir is
non-different from Vrindavan. Do you want to go for final darshan of
Sri
Sri Radha Gopinath or you are feeling too weak now.
Stoka Krishna Prabhu : (softly) I am feeling too weak.
M: Did you liked Their darshan during Pushya abhishek festival?
Stoka Krishna Prabhu : Yes.
M turned to Achyutanand Prabhu to record the blood pressure. To
the utter surprise of all devotees, the BP which was 80/60 before
Maharaj entered the room, had now risen to 104/70. Stoka Krishna
Prabhu,
who just a few minutes earlier gasping for breath, was now steady with
his usual heart warming smile and effulgence on his face.
M (jovially): BP for you is Bhakti pressure. Your BP is better
than mine. 2 days back, mine was 102/52. So you should pray for me!!
Madhavacharya Prabhu who was literally amazed by this surprise
stabilizing of BP said to Stoka Krishna Prabhu, "You are a saintly
person. I should take dust from your feet."
Stoka Krishna Prabhu got medications for the night, by which he
remained peaceful. His BP continued to fall again. In the night as the
effect of the medications was over, he again started gasping and
struggling for air. So again Achyutanand Prabhu had to administer
sedatives and now as the night proceeded, devotees noticed that Stoka
Krishna Prabhu's head was tilted to his right side and he was
struggling
with his breath.
4th Feb 2006 Sri Advaita Acharya's Apperance Day
In the morning, Raghupati Prabhu came to see his dear Godbrother
and in love decorated his body with dust of Brijdham, sacred waters
from
Vrindavan. Govind Pr entered SKP's room around 9 a.m. and seeing the
situation started intense kirtan. The BP was just starting to crash.
Maharaja had given instructions that as soon as the doctors diagnosed
the situation as precarious, he should be informed.
Govind Prabhu asked that Panca Tattva photograph be placed
before his eyes. So the photograph was kept near SKP on the bed. Around
10:15 a.m.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj came into the room. He placed Jagannath's
Maha thread on Stoka Krishna Prabhu hand, Tulasi leaf and sacred waters
from Vrindavan in Stoka Krishna Prabhu mouth. Devotees continued to
intensely pray to the holy name. H.H. Niranjan Swami Maharaj also
entered the room. RM instructed the doctors that they should monitor
the
BP every 10 minutes.
H.G. Nartaki Mataji came in the afternoon. She sat besides him
like a loving mother chanting for him. She placed Tulsi leaves and
Ganga
jal in his mouth. This were the last drops of water which he drank.
Ezikel Prabhu had brought maha garlands from Vrindavan. H.H.Radhanath
Swami Maharaj placed each and every garland with love around Stoka
Krishna Prabhu. He also placed Srila Prabhupada's maha pillow cover on
his head. Rose petals of Sri Sri Radha Syamsundar was put all around
his
body and the room was suddenly converted to the forest groves of
Vrindavan.
H.H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj: (coming close to Stoka Krishna
Prabhu
ears) Stoka Krishna Prabhu, this is Radhanath Swami. This is garland
from Sri Sri Radha Syamsundar.
Then after whispering more encouraging words to Stoka Krishna
Prabhu, he left the room.
H.H. Giriraj Swami Maharaj had called for encouraging Stoka
Krishna Prabhu for his final journey.
At 3:30 p.m., H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj again entered the room
along with some Brajvasis. Devotees were saying that it appeared as
though, Srimati Radharani had personally sent the Brajvasis to chant
for
Stoka Krishna Prabhu. He held his hand, patted his head. After some
time, Madan Mohan brijavasi and Rameshchandra Goswami started singing
the Hare Krishna Mahamantra in beautiful Brajvasis melodies enchanting
the hearts of all devotees.
The doctors noticed that Stoka Krishna Prabhu's pulse was almost
non-existent. The kirtan became esctatic and the whole room became
enthused with spiritual energy. Maharaja came into the room. He started
rubbing SKP's hands softly. SKP then took a deep breath. Everybody
sensed that this great devotee who had sincerely served his Guru
Maharaja all his life, was about to leave his body in the most glorious
way in the presence of devotees and his spiritual master. H.H.Radhanath
Swami Maharaj was raising his hands and enthusing everybody to chant
louder. SKP was surrounded on either side of his bed by devotees. His
family was standing near his feet. The whole room was packed with
devotees and the air was permeated with the holy names.
Everybody was chanting the holy names at the top of their voices. The
devoted servant of his Guru Maharaja was now surrounded with garlands
and rose petals. Prabhupada and Panca Tattva were at his side. Srila
Prabhupada's chanting was also going on continuously near his ears.
At approx 4:30 p.m. suddenly SKP stopped breathing. Had he left
already? After approximately 40 seconds, during which the Kirtan rose
to
another higher level never before experienced by the devotees. After a
few seconds, he again took a deep breath and then he left very
peacefully to attain eternal shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha
Gopinath.
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj continued to encourage the devotees
to chant more. He placed Tulasi leaves on his eyes. Kirtan continued
for
half an hour. Govind Pr then requested all devotees to leave the room
so
that SKP could be bathed for the last time. H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj
throughout had maintained a grave mood throughout the entire episode.
But when the devotees had left the room and the curtains were closed,
H.H.Radhanath Swami Maharaj allowed a line of tears to gush down his
cheek - partially revealing to the onlookers, how much love the
spiritual master has for his disciple.
The brahmacaris then bathed SKP, dressed him in new clothes,
decorated him with Tilak. At around 6 p.m., the devotees brought his
body
out of the room on a stretcher, covered with H.H.Radhanath Swami
Maharaj
saffron upa vastra cloth and Gopalji's shawl. He looked as blissful as
usual, lying in peace amidst rose petals and garlands. Then he was
taken
for parikrama of the temple. H.H. Radhanath Swami Maharaj & Niranjan
Maharaja walked along with the devotees. SKP was placed in the
courtyard
and devotees started offering flowers to this loyal servant who
inspired all devotees with his example.
Then Madan Mohan brajvasi began kirtans for the evening, he sang very
sweet and soft kare krsna mantra kirtana. After brajvasi concluded his
kirtana Niranjana maharaja took over the kirtana. Whole night
devotees
did kirtana for stoka krsna prabhu.
5th feb.
The procession from the temple to cremation left at 7.00 a.m. amidst
sweet and soft kirtana led by gauranaga pr. it was 3 kilometere walk
to
cremation ground, many hundreds of devotees had come to show their
affection for stoka krsna pr who passed so gloriously.
THIS WRITE UP IS COMPILED BY THE CARE TAKERS OF STOKA KRSNA PR WHO WERE
CONSTANTLY AT HIS BEDSIDE TILL DEPARTED TO THE SPRITUAL WORLD
We reqeust all the devotees to thank these wondeful devotees who served
him so lovingly and with great attention.
The doctors of Bhakti vedanata hospital, dwarakadhisha pr, giriraja pr,
vaishnava seva pr, madhavananda pr and visharupa pr.
At the temple for last 10 days Dr Acyutananda pr, Murari gupta pr took
care.
In the hospital and in the temple these following devotees served Stoka
krsna pr with great care and love, Haribolananda pr and his friends,
Sadbhuja pr, Bhakta avnisha, and two care takers from the hosptal
sanjay
and rupesha mahtre
We thank Dr madhavacarya pr disciple of bhakti tirtha maharaja who
gave
valuable advice in regards to taking care of stoka krsna pr.
Of course many devotees sponsored his treatment for all these months.
we thank these devotees for their kindness on stoka krsna pr.
"Stoka krsna pr's glorious departure ki jai"
Belgaum ratha yatra is dedicated in his memory.