Afternoon shift – 12 noon to 6pm
We reached the Hinduja Hospital at 1 pm. HG Premadata prabhu, the Agartala
temple president had come to meet with Guru Maharaja and was about to leave
when we arrived. After HG Premadata prabhu left, Bhadra Balaram prabhu and
myself, we started preparing to serve lunch for Guru Maharaja. Guru Maharaja
was sitting on the bed and Bhadra Balaram prabhu fed lunch to him
affectionately. Guru Maharaja was unable to sit straight and he kept leaning
sideways. Therefore I was holding Guru Maharaja to give him support. Dr.
Syamlal prabhu asked Guru Maharaja to sit straight by himself. Guru
Maharaja tried to follow his instruction; whenever he would lean sideways he
held the rails of the bed and managed to push himself back into the
position. Guru Maharaja surprised all of us by suddenly picking up the
water cup kept on the eating table with his left hand and drank the water.
This was the first time Guru Maharaja drank water by himself without the
help of the devotees! Dr. Syamalal prabhu and everyone encouraged Guru
Maharaja by saying loudly, “Hari Bol!!”
Dr. Syamalal prabhu made Guru Maharaja to use his right hand which has been
weaker than the left. So he asked Guru Maharaja to eat the small sweet balls
(made by Stevia) using his right hand. Guru Maharaja tried hard and reached
almost to the mouth, but the ball was smashed just below his lower lips.
Then Guru Maharaja was asked to eat the balls with his left hand and he did
it comfortably.
After prasadam a nurse came and checked his BP. Guru Maharaja asked and
confirmed with the nurse if his BP was normal and it was. Around 2 pm the
physiotherapist came and with some bigger grains (motor and black beans)
gave practice for the right hand. Guru Maharaja was asked to sit on the bed,
his legs resting on the floor and his hands on top of the small eating
table. He was asked to collect the grains from the plate which was on the
table and pour it back. After many times he tried just to collect few grains
and poured it back into the plate. Next the therapist asked him to pick up
the grains one by one and put it out of the plate, he couldn’t do that, but
the doctor was encouraging his efforts. He had few more practices with the
grains and with the dish washing sponges to test the sensibility in his
hands. At the end of the therapy Guru Maharaja was asked to hold the small
eating table with his both hands and to sit straight for 20 minutes. Guru
Maharaja enjoyed listening to Srila Prabhupada’s Hare Krishna kirtan by
gently moving his body sideways in harmony with the music. Guru Maharaja sat
for 20 minutes without much strain. It was nice to see him cooperating with
the therapists and making improvements day by day.
During this time a famous Hindi actress who had come to Hindhuja hospital
for her personal reason spontaneously wanted to see Guru Maharaja to get
blessings from him. She was encouraging Guru Maharaja that he will get back
all his limbs working normal. She was explaining that one of her relative
was in a very severe situation for six months and she couldn’t even move her
fingers but now she is much better and even is using computer! She was
asking Guru Maharaja’s blessings so that her relative will heal completely.
Guru Maharaja suggested her to take caranamrita from the temple and give it
to her relative and he recited the mantra, akala-mrtyu-haranam
sarva-vyadhi-vinasanam visnoh padodakam pitva sirasa dharayamy aham (which
means, “Having drunk the water from the lotus feet of Lord Visnu, which
destroys all disease and takes away the chance of dying untimely, I hold
that water on my head.”) and asked her to chant this mantra while taking the
caranamrita. She immediately responded to Guru Maharaja saying she would
follow his instruction. She must be a fortunate lady to get the darshan of
Guru Maharaja.
The acupuncturist came around 4 pm and started checking the weak points on
Guru Maharaja’s fingers. The treatment is for strengthening his overall
muscles and for improving the functions of his middle brain. According to
the acupuncturist, Guru Maharaja showed improvement on his face, he is not
staring anymore when he looks at someone and the coordination of his eye
balls has improved.
At around 5 pm, HG Braja Hari prabhu and HG Devakinandan prabhu came to see
Guru Maharaja and were discussing about the details to move Guru Maharaja
out of the Hinduja Hospital. HG Braja Hari prabhu also read letters from a
book of get well letters made by Sri Lanka devotees and showed the drawings
of the devotee kids. Few of the kids had drawn Hanuman and Guru Maharaja put
that page of the book on his head. Jai Hanuman Ji Ki Jai!
JPS Servants