HG Narugopal das prabhu spoke about HG Mahavaraha das prabhu:
It is very difficult to say anything about Mahavaraha prabhu. Mahavaraha prabhu is not only an inspiration for us, the disciples of guru maharaj, but he is an inspiration for anybody who is a disciple of any guru. Mahavaraha prabhu joined Iskcon 26 years in Malaysia. Immediately after he had become a devotee, due to his past good deeds, his past sukriti he immediately got the chance to do personal service to guru maharaj. Since guru maharaj had the stroke, for every single moment, every single day, for the past so many years, he has been with guru maharaj. He is an example of steadiness. It is not easy to stay with guru maharaj and serve due to his enthusiasm to preach and travel. And his physical so called in capabilities or say barriers, are not barriers to his desire to travel, desire to preach, desire to give out the mercy. To cope with him is a huge task. Therefore Mahavaraha prabhu is like a personification of steadiness in serving guru maharaj. He is an inspiration for all of us, it is our great good fortune that he has come amongst us. And there are so many other servants, sevaks, who are assisting Mahavaraha prabhu in an amazing way. So on behalf of all the devotees we can chant Mahavaraha prabhu by loudly chanting Haribol! One more time louder! Haribol! Haribol! Uludhwani, Jaya dhwani! Haribol!
HG Mahavaraha prabhu:
Om ajnana…
Hare Krishna! I was thinking today that I should speak something which most of you would like to hear about. Most of you know very well that guru maharaj spent almost 14 months in Chennai. And this is one of his longest stays outside of Mayapur. And as most of you know he stayed in Chennai for 14 months but not many of you would know what happened in Chennai in these 14 months. Lot of interesting things happened in those 14 months. And I would like to speak on that aspect. When guru maharaj had a stroke in October 2008, they found out that he had contracted hepatitis C virus through blood transfusion. And from 2008 till 2014 he just stayed on and tried to maintain his health through proper diet and supplements. In October 2014 we started seeing symptoms of acute failure of his liver. And since then he was taking treatment in Delhi under Dr. Sarin. He was going to Delhi once in three months to take treatment. And also for the checkups. And in July 2017 when we went for the routine checkup, Dr. Sarin told us that you should be prepared for guru maharaj to go for a liver transplant in the next three to five years. But then in the same year when we went again for the next routine checkup which was in the month of November 2017, they put guru maharaj through all kinds of tests and Dr. Sarin one day called me and Dr. Acarya Ratna prabhu and he said that Swamiji has deteriorated rapidly from what I had seen him last time till now. And he said that with the kind of parameters that he has now, he has to undergo a liver transplant in the next 3 to 6 months and that took all of us by surprise. The same doctor, 3-4 months ago told us that you need to plan in the next 3 to 5 years’ time, and now he is saying you just have another 3-6 months! And that definitely shocked all of us, including guru maharaj. And we immediately notified the health forum which consists of guru maharaj’s doctors plus the senior disciples of guru maharaj, in the JPS seva committee. More than that we had to convince guru maharaj to meet with Dr. Sarin for a series of meetings. So the senior disciples along with the doctors in guru maharaj’s seva committee, we had a number of meetings just to find out what would be the best place for guru maharaj to go for a transplant and who would be the best surgeon to do the transplant. They took responsibility of finding out these important details in various different zones of the world. We had doctors finding out this in USA, UK, Europe, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Russia everywhere. After probably a month of detailed research, finally we came to a conclusion that India would be the ideal place for guru maharaj to go for the transplant. By practical reason and also manpower, legality, technicality, we found that India would be the best place. And within India we found 3 or 4 surgeons who are the world’s best and out of that we found 2 or 3 in Delhi itself. We went to one hospital, I don’t like to mention the name, and met one of the top doctors there. That was on 22 December 2017 and this doctor went into his cabin with all the reports from other hospitals. He saw all the reports, he saw guru maharaj and spoke to guru maharaj and finally said, you are undergoing a very high risk to for a transplant. He has done more than 3000 transplants. And when saw guru maharaj, he even refused to touch him! Then what to speak of doing a transplant! Then that gave a big disappointment for us. He saw our disappointed faces, then he gave further explanation as to why he is not willing to do the transplant. He said that there are two main reasons, why I will not touch Swamiji. Because history shows that he had few lung infections. And so he doesn’t have a strong lung and also he is wheelchair bound. To go through a big surgery, this is like a 12-hour surgery, to go through that one has to have a strong lung function plus one has to be physically fit. Then having a slim hope we left the place and started working on going south, to Chennai. In fact, Dr. Sarin, he himself told guru maharaj that he should go and see Dr. Mohamad Raila in Chennai. He is also one of the world famous surgeons. And then he started preparing to go down to Chennai. 3rd January we flew down to Chennai immediately. And with the help of one of guru maharaj’s disciples, Dr. Gitalakshmi, she is the Vice Chancellor of one of the universities, she helped us getting a quick appointment with Dr. Raila. On 6th January 2018 we met Dr. Raila and his team. This was a second meeting with him. When he saw guru maharaj, he was almost 45 minutes talking with guru maharaj. After going thru all the reports and talking to guru maharaj, he gave a ray of hope. He said that in principle, I agree that I can do a surgery for you! You run a very high risk, your case is very complicated. You have multiple health problems. Yet I think we can take a chance! So he said you have to go through various different medical tests. And if those reports are satisfying then yes, we will go for the transplant. So that gave a very good hope for guru maharaj, in fact, all of us! But he said that for Swamiji we need a full liver. He said that because there are two kinds of surgeries in this, one is someone who is alive can donate half the liver to him. And the other is someone who is brain dead, they the full liver and give it for transplant. And he said, Swamiji, not only does he need liver but he needs kidney as well, both. So now this is one of the most difficult things to find. Then well, by having faith on Krsna we went ahead to prepare for the transplantation. Guru maharaj stayed there for six days in the hospital, went thru various health checkups. After that he also had an idea that maybe I should try some other treatments. Which he tried somehow, but even to try we did not have the opportunity to try that out. He went to Mumbai to try that out but then he had another infection, so he was forced to come back to Chennai. And then after coming back to Chennai he stayed for one month in the hospital and they put him through all the tests. Finally, at the end of February 2018, they said that looks like Swamiji, he has passed the test! Then they said, now we have to officially register him for the transplantation. It is a big procedure. Meanwhile, I think Gaura Purnima was on the 3rd of March that guru maharaj a few days before that, he said, I want to go to Mayapur. And the doctors said, Swamiji, you have to be here, you don’t have much time. Once you have registered, you have to stay only in Chennai or around Chennai. Because as soon as the organs become available, you will have to be in the hospital within a few years. But then guru maharaj told us that I don’t know if at all I will go to Mayapur and I don’t know what is going to happen to me. I don’t know when this transplant takes place? If at all it takes place, whether I will still survive and he became very emotional on that issue. And he said that, I want to go to Mayapur, to see the deities, to see the devotees. So we made arrangements for him to fly down to Mayapur. By then, due to his complicated health, he had already lost a lot of weight and muscle from his body. I don’t know how many of you noticed that both his hands had become very slim, behind the neck as well. Shoulders and especially he lost a lot of muscles on his buttocks. He could hardly sit down or lie down in one position for more than 15-20 minutes. Then this particular journey he undertook was one of the most austere travels he had ever had. Even on the plane, he was sitting in business class, we had to lift him up three four times and make him stand and massage his legs, massage his back and we kept changing his position every 10 15 minutes. Imagine on the plane he had such an austere time just to sit around. Imagine travelling from Kolkata to Mayapur! We stopped in five six different places took him out of the car, gave him massage, stretched his legs, and put him back into the car. It took us almost six hours from Kolkata to Mayapur. And after coming here, he was so joyful just to be in Mayapur and taking darshan of the deities. He was supposed to spend a week, that was the original plan – but then just two days before Gaura Purnima, after all this travel, his health deteriorated again. He was just lying on his bed in his room, his belly was filled up with excessive amount of fluid. He could hardly eat anything, had so much difficulty even to breathe, all the doctors in the guru maharaj health forum said that we have to go back to Chennai right away. While all the discussion was going on, whether to stay back in Mayapur or go back to Chennai, then finally guru maharaj said I would like to stay here for Gaura Purnima. This was happening just on Adhivas day and he said please have this excessive amount of fluid from my body. With that I can stay here at least for two or three days, that will give some relief for me. And Dr. Acaryaratna prabhu he was there, but he was not confident at all to do that procedure for guru maharaj in Mayapur. And all the doctors on the health forum, we cannot do this procedure having guru maharaj in his room. They said, if at all guru maharaj wants this to be done, it has to be done in a hospital setting, not in his room. None of them agreed to him having the tapping done there. And Dr. Acaryaratna prabhu told guru maharaj let us go to Kolkata or somewhere, Krishna nagar or Rana Ghat, we will get this done and come back to Mayapur. And guru maharaj, said, unless you tap me, I am not going to get out of this bed! He was so adamant that he was not leaving Mayapur without attending the Gaura Purnima festival. Because if they do this procedure anything can happen and we can lose him also! And it happened that just at that time, Dr. Amrit Madhava prabhu arrived in Mayapur. So then that gave a confidence for Dr. Acaryaratna and they went ahead with the tapping. Then that gave some relief for guru maharaj. Gur maharaj took such a high risk by completing denying the advice of all the other doctors and told the doctors on the ground there to do the procedure. Just to be here for Gaura Purnima festival and the next day he was supposed to give the Bhagavatam class. Of course he was so weak after the procedure then we advised him to give a long class, just go towards the end of the class. And guru maharaj said that you know, hundreds and hundreds of devotees come here to see me. And after coming to Mayapur I have not gone out of my room. How will they feel! They have come from all around the world to see me. So I should go and at least show my face to them. Then we arranged for him to give a ten-minute address in Namahatta. And in that ten-minute class he started off saying, I am sorry that I could not come to see you, but I have come all the way from Chennai to take your association! That were his words he used. That is how much he loves to be here in Mayapur, how much he loves to see all the devotees! Then on the Gaura Purnima day after abhishek, right here, he took off to fly to Chennai. From March, April, May, as per the doctor’s advice, guru maharaj focused himself in making himself fit. Because that was the advice from the doctor, that for you to undergo this massive surgery, you have to keep yourself physically fit. So these three months he was focusing on these physical therapies. And after reaching Chennai we found out that guru maharaj was listed as one of the recipient of the organs. Many of you may think that liver transplant, it is very easy to get the organ. But it is not as what we would have thought or think. Just in Chennai alone there are more than 20 hospitals who are registered with thousands of patients who want to go for transplantation. There are thousands of people, like 3 or 4 thousand people waiting to get a new kidney. Another 2 to 3 thousand waiting to get a new liver. Like that a few thousand to get cornea and different parts of the body. This is just in Chennai alone and guru maharaj is one amongst this 7 8 thousand people waiting to get the transplant. When he registered he was number 12 and till the end of May he just moved up two numbers. And in these three months, March, April, May, while we were waiting, he also had two health crises where he ended up in the ICU. Every time he had this problem, we ended up meeting the doctor there and discussed what to do next. Because we were so worried even in January, when we met the doctor he said that guru maharaj has to make himself physical fit. And the more we delay with more complication, he is going to become more unfit, unfit and unfit. So it was a real fight against time. We were so worried that if he has to wait for a long time and if they find an organ, we didn’t want the doctor to then say, sorry, I don’t think he is fit to go through the surgery. That was one of our major worries. And by the first week of June, guru maharaj’s kidney started failing. He was hardly passing any urine. And on the 7th of June, he went for a first dialysis. In the whole month of June he had to go to the hospital twice a week to remove five litres of fluid from his abdomen and to have dialysis. And this was the whole month of June. He had to remove 5 litres and then sit for dialysis. But despite all this deterioration of his health, even on the day he went for removal of fluid and dialysis, he would come back home and give class. Because when you remove 5 litres of fluid from your body and then have dialysis, the body becomes very tired. Remember one day after going through this removal of fluid and dialysis and came home, two of his sisters visited him in Chennai. He came back home, he gave class, then he had his dinner then he called his purvashram sisters and he was sitting and preaching to them almost till 12 midnight. That was his enthusiasm. Despite going thru all these inconveniences. Then in July the frequency increased of going to the hospital. We had to go three times in a week to the hospital for removing of fluid and dialysis. Became extremely inconvenient to him. I remember Janakiraman prabhu, because at that point of time we were in so much anxiety, I remember we talking, what is going to happen to guru maharaj? When is he going to go for transplant? When is this going to happen? We were trying to explore every single channel, whatever possible, just to keep our spirit up. And then we had Shyamarasika prabhu and Janakiraman prabhu and others meeting various astrologers to see what they were saying. And he met one astrologer, this was before the transplantation and this astrologer is somewhere near Coimbatore in Bhavani, very reputed astrologer and he has never met guru maharaj before, he does not know who he is. After checking his chart, he said, that this particular person, his life span has ended in 2008. This was when he had a stroke. But right now he is living on an extended period of life span. He has negotiated with the Lord to stay longer. And he said that this person, he wants to fulfill some of the responsibilities and instructions that his guru gave him. And just for this purpose alone he is desiring to stay longer and longer. And he said that the body that he is in now is no longer fit for anyone to live. But just because he wants to fulfill the instructions and desire of his spiritual master he is dragging on and on in this body, longer and longer. And then Janaki prabhu asked the astrologer can you tell us at least how long he will be with us? He said that, that entirely depends on his desire and the Lord’s desire! And he said that this person is a mahatma! And I desire to see this person. So imagine what other better example I can give. Guru maharaj is giving such a wonderful example how to completely surrender to the instruction of the spiritual master. Though his body is not fit for anyone to live in, yet he keeps negotiating to stay longer and longer just for one particular reason. That is just to serve the instruction of Srila Prabhupada! And not only this astrologer, another two or three astrologers shared this more or less with us. It is true, guru maharaj had an attack in Madrid, Spain, in 1989, then he was in the airport and had a big cut on his throat. He took out his uttariya and put it around his neck to stop the bleeding. And he sat down on the floor and praying mentally to Srila Prabhupada that if you wish let me stay more as I have your instructions and desires to fulfill. He negotiated in 1989. He negotiated again in 2008 when he had a stroke. Guru maharaj told us that mentally he was praying to Prabhupada and Krishna. That was his second extension. And then in 2015 when he had a severe lung infection, he was fighting for his life. And at that time he had like a vision when he was in the ICU. The whole ICU was turning into a golden city. And he saw all his departed god brothers and god sisters there looking golden and effulgent in color. And they were calling him, come, come and join us! And he told them, that not now, I have more responsibilities to fulfill with the instructions that Srila Prabhupada gave me. Another extension! And when he went for this liver and kidney transplant, when we met the surgeon in January 2018 he said that history shows that the chance of survival is 80%. But the chance of mortality is 20% But then guru maharaj deteriorated rapidly in his condition from January to August. And on the day of surgery the surgeon told us that his condition was 50 50. And guru maharaj after the transplant said that, I never suffered the pain like how I suffered after this transplantation. And he said that it was such an excruciating pain that it really tempted him to go back home back to Godhead. But he just stayed on because he wanted to stay and fulfill the instructions of Srila Prabhupada. So he had almost four or five near death experiences. Knowing well what he is going to face with this body, he negotiated to stay on and on just for one purpose. That one reason was to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s instructions. What other better example do we need? Here is a perfect example of how a disciple should surrender to the instruction of the spiritual master. So also after that I told how month of June passed, month of July passed and we were keeping our fingers crossed. With all this our guru maharaj doctors and all the senior disciples were in so much anxiety that where are we going to go from here? Then we had different back up plans in case we don’t find the organs in Chennai. Somewhere end of July, the senior disciples and guru maharaj doctors had almost decided that in the next two weeks if we don’t find any organs, we decided with our second plan to shift guru maharaj to Delhi. But by then with all the homework we did, we came to know another channel of how to get this transplant done. We had guru maharaj wait for in the private hospitals for six months. Finally we got to know that the government hospitals are a better place to get the organs. After getting this information, I made a visit to one of these hospitals called Stanley Hospital in Chennai. When I went into the hospital, I said, no, we are not going to bring guru maharaj here! I just got down from the car and I saw and was praying that no, Krishna, don’t bring him here! Because it is nothing about the doctors, it is about the infrastructure, it is about the cleanliness of the place. But then we thought, well, only Krishna knows His plan, let us explore this also. Then with the help of Dr. Gitalakshmi we brought guru maharaj in the second week of July to this hospital. And they said that we don’t care what you did in the last six months in the other hospitals. This is a government hospital, you have to start everything here from zero! We did that. Within a day everything was done! Because we really did not want guru maharaj to stay there because that was not a place fit for him to stay. Then it went on and on. Guru maharaj’s condition was deteriorating and then in the month of August, the doctors from the government hospital started calling us. They said that you just came for one day and this entire procedure will take one month but you just came for one day and did not come again, that is i! You don’t want to come here anymore? You have to come back again. You don’t even have a patient ID in this hospital. We have to create a patient ID and then only we can admit you in this hospital if at all you have to go for a transplant. And we were trying our level best, not to take guru maharaj there! And they said, if you don’t come, forget about it! Then finally on August 14th we chose to go to the hospital. Doctors told us to come on the 13th but because guru maharaj was going for dialysis every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and 14th August was Tuesday. He was supposed to go for dialysis to another hospital and I was about to make the appointment for Monday with this government hospital, knowing that he had to go for dialysis on Tuesday. Guru maharaj said, better to go for dialysis on Monday and I will go to this government hospital on Tuesday. I was little upset why guru maharaj making such a drastic change? I did not have any clue. We went ahead and made the appointment, let us go on Tuesday 14th to the government hospital. We went there with one and a half hour’s travelling to the hospital and after reaching there, guru maharaj went through few other pending tests. Then he was about to leave the hospital and come back home. And just then one of the staff came and give a small card. He said, Swamiji, this is your patient ID for this hospital. And now we have registered you as one of the patients in this hospital. So now you are one of the possible recipients, if any organs come we will consider you. We took the patient ID and we were about to leave. At that point of time, one of the main staff, he came close to me, sir, what is swamiji’s blood group. I said it is B+. He said, sir, it looks like there is a donor available just right now! They have identified the donor now. He said, this is it! This is it! You should not let go of this chance. At that time Ajita Gopinath prabhu also received a phone call from another source. Similar information. Then we informed everyone, prayers started and then we started calling all the important people to somehow get this donor, to have these organs to go for guru maharaj. And so hour by hour things became more promising. They said don’t leave now, stay back and get ready for the transplantation. So we don’t know why guru maharaj chose like that. If we would have come one day before, we would have missed the chance! Somehow Paramatma told him to come on Tuesday there. And that was a perfect day when this particular thing came up. And all the doctors were available, the surgeons were in town and everyone agreed. 15th of August, India’s independence day, both the organs got independence from his body! The other interesting thing was just before the transplant, the whole days of 14th and 15th, guru maharaj was completely calm and cool. Despite knowing that he has a 50 50 chance. Never showed a single sign of anxiety on his face. He was joking with the doctors, he was joking with us, even on the 15th of August even 15 minutes before taking him into the operation theater, he said, call Gopal Krishna maharaj, I need to talk to him. Because there was a problem in one of the temples in South India. And he said I want to talk to Gopal Krishna maharaj. Guru maharaj was giving some suggestion how to help out in that temple. And he was least bothered about himself but he was more into helping the temple! And even four days after the surgery was done, and even with that acute pain, one day me and Acaryaratana prabhu, we went inside the room. Guru maharaj said I want to sit down. So we made him to sit down and he was with the tracheostomy tube. He was trying to tell us something. And finally we could make out that he was saying get a clicker and give it to the nurse. I mean, this is after four days after 12 hours of surgery with extreme, acute pain and he was unable to speak even! Telling us somehow, using the alphabetical chart, telling us to give a clicker to the nurse! And telling to teach her how to chant. That was his mood!! And probably after, on the 22nd of August, it was Ekadasi, Janakiraman prabhu and Shyam madusudan prabhu were with guru maharaj and they saw guru maharaj counting on his fingers! And he told Janakiraman prabhut that today is Ekadasi. You check, you check, what they are feeding me! Because at that time they were only feeding some milk through his nose. And Janakiraman prabhu checked and found that there was wheat mixed in that milk powder. And guru maharaj got so upset. Today is Ekadasi and they are feeding me this wheat! And he said stop feeding me. And he was teaching us and the nurse to make an Ekadasi diet using the milk. And also guru maharaj gave the counter to her and he said, today is Ekadasi and today is the beginning of the second month of caturmasya. Then Shyam Madusudan prabhu said, no guru maharaj, it is on Balaram Purnima day which is a week to go. And guru maharaj said, no, I follow Ekadasi to Ekadasi system. So I want to start following the caturmasya and I don’t want to take yogurt any more. And yogurt was one of the main food he was consuming to give him energy. And all this he was communicating to us through the alphabetical chart! I mean who would, being in that condition, think about following Ekadasi, following caturmasya or preaching? And even when we made him sit down, he was trying to chant Gayatri mentally. He chanted Gayatri mentally. Though they removed the Gayatri thread as they had to cut him here and here (showed around the stomach area). Dr. Acaryaratna, said that we as human beings have nine gates in our body. And guru maharaj had additional nine! He had one tube in the neck, one tube in the nose, one tube in the middle, and so on, he had 18 gates, and with all this he was doing this! So imagine the kind of faith and the kind of inspiration and the enthusiasm he has to follow the sadhanas, the caturmasya, Ekadasi strictly. Despite his excruciating pain. Sometimes he used to slam his mattress, keep slamming the mattress because he could not bear the pain. But he was not compromising the sadhanas, he was not compromising his principle of Ekadasi and caturmasya! What other better example we need for preaching? And somehow he stayed there in that government hospital till 31St August. And due to various reasons, guru maharaj himself wanted to be shifted out to the other hospital, the private hospital. And on 31st August we shifted him from Stanley to Global Hospital. Right after the transplantation, guru maharaj showed very good signs of recovery. His liver was showing good symptom of function, kidney started showing good symptom of function. This was happening for the first one week, ten days. Then came another crisis! And this time, we had few other problems that guru maharaj was facing. His kidney started deteriorating again, the new kidney and he was losing lot of blood. And somehow he was not able to come out of the ventilator. This was one of the biggest worries the doctors had. The doctor in Delhi refused to touch him because of this one reason! And the doctor in Chennai also had the same worry. So post transplantation, his new kidney stopped functioning gradually. He was losing his blood count. And was not able to come out of the ventilator. After shifting to the private hospital, one day guru maharaj’s treating doctor came to see him in the ICU. Then guru maharaj asked him, do you think I have any hope of survival? Because a week or ten days after the transplant, things started going down. All guru maharaj disciples, doctors on the ground, devotees all were so much worried. We really did not know what to do! We were even thinking that well, if this is the result going to be, why Krishna has to make him go through this pain? We didn’t expect this result. And that was a very, very depressing moment for all of us! And that is when each and every one of you, all of you came in. All your prayers, slowly, things started changing again. The new kidney came to a point that guru maharaj had to go for dialysis again. Then slowly probably towards the end of September, slowly his blood count started rising, the doctors were able to rectify the problem! We had more than 120 devotees who gave blood for guru maharaj! Devotees were dying to give their blood for guru maharaj. During the surgery, post surgery, when we started seeing he is losing blood, each time we had to call devotees to come and give blood. Ajita Gopinath prabhu, he can write a book just on that! How he handled and brought all the devotees to come and give blood. And then somehow with all your prayers we rectified the situation. At one point the blood count remained stable and guru maharaj was on dialysis when the new kidney failed. With all your prayers again, it started showing some new symptoms. But even with all this rectification, he was still unable to come out of the ventilator. And that was the main obstacle he had and made him stay in the ICU for 50 days. Then we had doctors, the treating doctors from the hospital doing things to somehow make him come out of the ventilator. And that kept on prolonging and prolonging. And then one of the doctors from Adelaide, Dr. Priti Rukmini, she was about to go for her holiday to Fiji and we told her to come down to Chennai. She came down and along with Dr. Acaryaratna, Dr. Ramya and others, Dr. Amrit Madhava, they did a wonderful job that no doctor or hospital could do. That is where I saw how a real care which comes from the heart will help anyone! All these doctors in the hospitals, they are very well known professional doctors, professional nurses were there, they were giving their care for guru maharaj trying to take him out of the ventilator, yet they were not able to do it. Our doctors along with Dr. Priti Rukmini, they gave a focused sole attention on guru maharaj. They were focusing for a few days how to take guru maharaj out of this ventilator. They said that if he is out of this ventilator, he can go back home. Though the hospital doctors and nurses gave care for guru maharaj, that is commercial care. But our devotee doctors they gave their care right from their hearts and were focusing on guru maharaj! Within a week, they managed to take guru maharaj out of the ventilator. On 1st October, he was discharged! Thus ends the 50 days of ICU stay! This shows how one to one care comes right from the heart, can make wonders to help anyone! And we can actually save many patients in the hospital if we can apply such care. Guru maharaj also had a wonderful dream just before the transplant. That was somewhere around the first week of August. Just before the transplantation took place. One morning, when he was in the house, he called all the servants, and he said that he had a wonderful dream. And in the dream he said he saw Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and he also saw himself there. And Srila Prabhupada was introducing him to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. And guru maharaj said that when he saw Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, he felt so ecstatic and he felt his body was trembling! And he said that Srila Prabhupada said that somehow we have to unite all the followers of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur under one banner! And that is why Srila Prabhupada established this Bhaktivedanta Swami Charity Trust. And guru maharaj said, if at all I survive after the transplantation, I also wanted to focus on implementing this. Besides many other instructions that Srila Prabhupada gave. You know when we were in that government hospital, we had one nurse for whom guru maharaj was telling us to teach how to chant the Hare Krishna mantra, her name was Suguneshwari. This nurse she told us that I have never seen any patient who can be so cooperative like Swamiji! And she said that actually I am just confused that Swamiji is such a great personality, I mean, you could have gone to the USA, UK, Europe to get this transplantation, but then why you had to choose this place, this hospital? Then suddenly she changed her mind and said no, no, Swamiji is actually giving us a chance to serve him. So we are more gifted to have this opportunity to serve him. We had many nurses and some of them were Christians, from different departments of the hospital, the moment they came to know there was a big Swamiji in the hospital, they all were fighting and were sneaking into the ICU to get guru maharaj’s blessing. And we had this pharmacy outside the hospital and the grocery shop owners outside the hospital. Our devotees used to go there to get medicines and grocery items. Even they were asking, how is Swamiji doing? And they used to tell us that we are also praying for him. Actually what guru maharaj went through, just before the transplant, during the transplant, and post transplant, we were there in Chennai, we almost like lost hope when we saw him like things were getting delayed and the surgery was not taking place. And when the surgery took place in such a mysterious way, nobody expected that you know, the surgery would take place when we visited the hospital! Guru maharaj chose the date! He chose the date to go to the hospital and we had no idea that he would have to stay back for transplantation. And how things just happened right there just after he got his patient ID card! And how after the transplantation how things started deteriorating. Which really put all of us in such a depression that even guru maharaj was asking the surgeon if there was any hope of survival for him. And then again things started to rebound. You know, all of you, all your prayers really did wonders! I just heard, I didn’t see, how intensely and sincerely each and every one of you prayed. Krishna really listened to all your prayers and the strong desire of guru maharaj that he wanted to negotiate and negotiate to stay back to fulfill the desires of his guru maharaj and that really pulled him out and things are stable and good now! And just to tell you one more very interesting incident. The whole year of 2018 because of guru maharaj’s poor health, the transplantation, the ICU stay, many times he had to go to the ICU, he throughout the whole year I think he missed almost 900 some rounds. Once he became stable and discharge from the ICU, till the end of March, he covered up all those missed rounds, he has chanted extra 500 rounds!! So no excuse of not to chant our rounds! Who would have gone through the kind of health crisis or suffering or treatment that he went through the whole year of 2018? He still keeps record of his daily chanting and makes sure the left out rounds are made up. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you, and all the doctors in the health forum of guru maharaj, some of them are sitting here – Dr. Shantirupa mataji, Ramya Vrndavan mataji, Amrit Madhava prabhu – the senior disciples in the health forum of guru maharaj, all the other servants of guru maharaj and the devotees from Chennai, and other parts of South India, they worked day and night, with all your support and prayers to make guru maharaj cross one of the most toughest obstacles in his life. In fact, one of the main doctors, he told us that if at all this transplantation wouldn’t have taken place, probably by end of last year, we would have lost guru maharaj! So it is purely all your prayers, Krishna’s mercy, and the hard work of all the devotees. Special thanks also goes to Ajita Gopinath prabhu and family, who hosted guru maharaj for more than a year. Haribol! Don’t know what sukriti they had done in their lives. Prabhu told me that when he purchased this apartment, one of the rooms he saw and thought I should give this room for guru maharaj! And said whenever guru maharaj comes here, he should stay here! And Krsna made that happen! I will stop here and thank you all very much. I would like to also express my sincere thanks to one person, he is none other than Simhesvara prabhu. He is my senior and was the president in Malaysia, right from the beginning he was encouraging me and he was sacrificing many of things just to have me to be in the service of guru maharaj. Thank you thank you prabhu!
Hare Krishna!
HG. Narugopal das prabhu:
We can offer our gratitude to Mahavaraha prabhu by chanting loudly HARIBOL! Please pray for his good health that he may continue to serve guru maharaj!
Transcribed by Jayaraseshwari dasi
26 April 2019
PLEASE NOTE, *THIS DOCUMENT IS AT DRAFT STAGE, FURTHER NEEDS PROOF READING BEFORE PUBLIC CIRCULATION. *