Category: General
Categories
18-Jan-09, Report from Ratnavali dd
Today is Sunday. Since there wasn’t any suitable natural place nearby the
Mira Road it was decided that Guru Maharaja will be giving an afternoon,
Sunday class at Sri Sri Radha Giridhari temple. The option came up in the
morning that Guru Maharaja could go to a nearby preaching program which is
40 min away. Since the announcement was already made at Sri Sri Radha
Giridhari temple they couldn’t cancel it. So depending upon Guru Maharaja’s
situation they were going to decide if he would be able to attend this
preaching program after giving the class in the temple.
From Mahabahu Govinda Prabhu; December 31, 2008
Report:
Before I write my report I’ll make a brief summary of the BVA (Brain
Vascular Accident) (Stroke):
There are 2 types of stroke.
1. Isquemic: Blood clot that obstructs a brain artery causing the
deactivation of several neuronal areas.
2. Haemorrhaghic: It’s the “breakage” of an artery causing blood shedding in
the regions in which it doesn’t correspond.
From these two types, the one that generates a high mortality before the
first 30 days is the haemorrhagic.
Categories
Vyasa Puja Offering – 2009
Dear God-brothers / God-sisters,
Hare Krishna! Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila
Prabhupada. All glories to Srila Guru Maharaj.
On behalf of the JSSS we would like to thank all the devotees from around
the world, who have been sincerely praying for the speedy recovery of Guru
Maharaj. Whether performing tapasya, yajnas, doing extra rounds, or praying,
it is due to all your intense prayers that Srila Guru Maharaj’s health is
improving day by day. The Medical fraternity has acknowledged it as a
miraculous recovery.
Categories
Jayapataka Swami Kirtan – January 2009
Categories
09-Jan-09, Report from Ratnavali dd
Guru Maharaja was invited today for the Bhaktivedanta hospital doctors’
gathering which takes place once in 3 months. After the facial theraphy in
the evening Guru Maharaja was taken to the auditorium at 8pm. There were
about 100 devotees present in the hall; 50 doctors, their family members,
children and other devotees. Guru Maharaja was offered maha garland and as
well as Bhakti Purushottam Maharaja.
Dr.Sita who is a dentist led Hare Krsna Kirtan very beautifully. Later all
the doctors names were called out and were introduced to Guru Maharaja.
There were doctors from all kinds of fields like dentist, opthalmologist,
anesthetic, surgeons, ayurvedic, ENT, spiritual care section etc.
Then Guru Maharaja was asked to speak few words. Guru Maharaja spoke and Dr
Shiromani Mataji had to repeat as sometimes not everything could be
understood clearly. I wrote down the notes and I am enclosing it below:
“I heard about this meeting couple of hours ago and I didn’t have enough
time to prepare. In Caitanya Lila, one of the associates name is Murari
Gupta. He is not different from Hanuman. A physician by profession and he
cured people both materially and spiritually. One time Caitanya had
indigestion. He gave one glass of water from water pot and he cured him.
Such a good physician. No medicine, water was enough! This is a great
program combining spiritual care along with the material care. I came for
annual program 9 years ago. That time I heard one patient saying how he was
benifitted by being in the hospital but for the first time I get to see what
is going on while I am convalescing here. This hospital gives the sadhus an
alternative for a Krsna conscious environment and get whatever treatment one
might need. Everyone as a grihasta gets to do some work, an opportunity to
do your profession and at the same time to do devotional service with
devotees.
Personally I am very indebted to Radhanath Swami and Radha Gopinath devotees
who prayed for me. Now I hear from all neurologists that no one survived the
stroke I had. Only by the prayers and causeless mercy of Krsna I am alive. I
am a patient of opthalmalogist, especially the left one. So they are keeping
me under their care. I hope I don’t have to bother anyone else.
Some children of the doctors come to sing kirtan for me. Usually my program
is very tight.
Here is Bhakti Purushottam Swami. He just came from a trip to Middle East.
He is one of the GBC’s of Mayapur.
Also I thank all the doctors who come during parikrama to Mayapur and take
care of the devotees all over the world. I see how they are busy here and
yet they take time to come there to Mayapur.”
Bhakti Purushottam Maharaja then spoke appreciating and thanking all
Bhaktivedanta hospital doctors for giving their time and nice care for our
Guru Maharaja since the beginning of this episode at Hindhuja hospital.
After Maharaja spoke, Guru Maharaja wanted to sing a kirtan for the pleasure
of the doctors. Everyone was so happy to hear Guru Maharaja singing. All the
devotees got up and started dancing. Guru Maharaja sang little longer than
at Radha Giridhari temple. The photos and video clips will be posted on web.
The prabhus surrounded Guru Maharaja in the inner circle and the matajis on
the outer circle dancing. It was a very blissful event.
Categories
08-Jan-09, Report from Ratnavali dd
Narayani Mataji, Guru Maharaja’s godsister had come to see Guru Maharaja
before her departing from Mumbai. She teaches Bhaktivaibhava and
Bhaktivedanta courses in VIHE. She came here to Mira Road for her health
check up and as well as for giving seminars at Sri Sri Radha Giridhari
temple. Last week when she arrived to Mumbai she had brought Mahagarlands
from Sri Sri Radha Syamasundara, Radhakunda water etc and offered them to
Guru Maharaja.
Today she sang eight very beautiful verses called Kevalastakam, glorifying
the Holy Names for the pleasure of Guru Maharaja. Guru Maharaja liked them
very much and he asked for a copy of those verses. Guru Maharaja invited her
to come to Mayapur for Bhisma pancaka, the last five days of Kartik month
and to give seminar in Mayapur.
Categories
4-Jan-08, Report from Ratnavali dd
During the week Guru Maharaja’s schedule is very tight doing three kinds of
therapies. Weekly once on Sunday is a holiday for the physiotherapists and
it is a break day for Guru Maharaja. As today is Sunday the plan was to take
Guru Maharaja to Hanuman Tekri temple and Braja Hari prabhu also suggested
Guru Maharaja to be taken to the beach which is very close by. It was
scheduled to leave at 10am.
Guru Maharaja had his shower, breakfast and facial theraphy. Nimai Gaura
prabhu and his wife, the disciples of our Guru Maharaja from Juhu temple had
prepared some South Indian breakfast and brought it for Guru Maharaja. Just
before the facial theraphy began, Guru Maharaja’s main doctor Shyamalal
prabhu came to see him. He was enquiring about Guru Maharaja’s sleep the
previous night. Guru Maharaja said he had a dream. The dacoits where using
the newly built lift in Mayapur and had come up to the rooftop. Guru
Maharaja used his gun for his protection. Shyamalal prabhu recollected
Bhakti Caru Maharaja’s report wherein Maharaja had described his
courageousness to fight the dacoits in Mayapur. Guru Maharaja wanted to know
whatelse Maharaja had written in his report. So we were narrating the
various memories quoted by Maharaja. One of the incident was about the
wrestling match, wherein Bhakti Caru Maharaja got defeated and Guru Maharaja
rescued by defeating the tough Japanese devotee wrestlers in the sport
bringing victory to Mayapur. Guru Maharaja started making the jesters with
his hand like wrestling. Again when the incident was narrated how Guru
Maharaja used to save the devotees from drowning into Ganga, Guru Maharaja
expressed he doesn’t know if he will be able to do all these things again.
Shyamalal prabhu immediately replied to Guru Maharaja saying with Krsna’s
mercy he would regain all his strength and vigor.
By the time everything finished it was 12.30 noon. Guru Maharaja was taken
in a wheel chair and then he was to be transferred into the car. To transfer
Guru Maharaja into the car from the wheel chair is a big task. It has to be
carefully done. Usually there are 4 devotees to place him into the car. One
to hold the legs, one to hold his body, one to see Guru Maharaja doesn’t get
his head hurt and the other inside the car to make Guru Maharaja sit inside
the car. Previously Guru Maharaja didn’t have absolutely any balance to
stand but some improvement is found today. Guru Maharaja seemed to have
little bit strength to stand with the support of the devotees. This whole
scene of making Guru Maharaja to sit inside the vehicle reminds me of
carrying the Jagannath, Baladeva and Subhadra Deities into the car for the
Ratha Yatra parade and one has to carefully take the Deities step by step
into the vehicle.
———- Forwarded Message ———-
Text PAMHO:16720036 (124 lines) [W1]
From: Bhakti Charu Swami
Date: 30-Dec-08 16:11 (11:11 -0500)
To: Free Forum (Announcements) [13600]
Subject: Visiting Jayapataka Maharaja
——————————
——————————
Yesterday late morning, I came to Bombay, and went to see Jayapataka
Maharaja in the afternoon. Bhakti Purushottama Maharaja, Braja Hari prabhu
and Sunil Madhav from Chicago, came along with me. While driving to the
hospital, I was feeling quite depressed. Just to think of the person who
used to be so full of strength and vitality lying on bed in this condition
is naturally painful.
Yesterday late morning, I came to Bombay, and went to see Jayapataka
Maharaja in the afternoon. Bhakti Purushottama Maharaja, Braja Hari prabhu
and Sunil Madhav from Chicago, came along with me. While driving to the
hospital, I was feeling quite depressed. Just to think of the person who
used to be so full of strength and vitality lying on bed in this condition
is naturally painful.
I was remembering those early days in Mayapur – going to swim in the Ganges
with him. With steady, powerful strokes he used to casually swim across that
river. So many incidences flashed across my mind – once Radha Jivan lost his
breath in the middle of the river and panicked and started to cry out for
help, and Jayapataka Maharaja came to his rescue and carried him to the
shore. Guru Kripa, (at that time a Swami), used to come to Mayapur with his
tough group of devotees, called the Nama Hatta, from Japan. Often we used to
sport on the bank of the Ganges. One day I was forced to wrestle with one
tough American devotee who defeated me and it was seen as a defeat of
Mayapur. Jayapataka Maharaja could not tolerate that. He just stood up and
challenged anyone from that group to fight with him. A devotee who was equal
to his size accepted his challenge and they started to fight. After a little
struggle, Maharaja pin him to the ground and started to slam him again and
again on the mud. We all, Mayapur devotees, felt that this was our victory
in response to my embarrassing defeat. Once we got a false alarm that the
Muslims attacked our Goshala and we all ran towards the Goshala with sticks
and spears to protect our cows and on the head of our group was Jayapataka
Maharaja. Once someone brought a crossbow from America and we used to
practice occasionally with that. Jayapataka Maharaja would always hit the
bull’s eye without fail. He disclosed that he used to be a champion shooter
in his early days.
When we arrived in the hospital, we were informed that Maharaja was still
taking rest. So we decided to go to the ISKCON temple in Mira Road and have
darshan of Sri Sri Radha Giridhari and Jagannatha-Baladeva-Subhadra. When we
came back, Maharaja was awake and greeted us with a happy smile.
There was a big difference between my last visit to him and this one.
Although he lost a lot of weight he seemed to be doing extremely well. He
was obviously happy to see us. With a big smile he started to speak,
“Bhakti Charu Maharaja ordered me to stay. How could I disobey his order?
Therefore, I am still here.” Everyone began to laugh. I corrected him, “No,
I did not order you to stay but I begged you to stay. The devotees were
praying for you all over the world. Thank you very much for listening to our
appeals.” He folded his hands and said, “The devotees are very kind. They
are very merciful. I will do whatever Krishna wants.”
I told him that I heard that the day before he went to Sri Sri Radha
Giridhari temple and led a kirtan. He said, “Yes. For about five minutes I
led the kirtan.” Then he started to sing, “jaya Jagannatha, jaya
Jagannathi.” In order to show us how he led the kirtan. I told him that in a
few days he would also be dancing while leading the kirtan. He laughed
loudly and said, “Let us see what Krishna wants.”
Just by being with him, the sadness that was prevailing in my heart
disappeared and the whole mood became very jovial. I told him, “Let us go
for a walk”, and he told me that he started to walk holding on to the
parallel bars. One of the devotees who were taking care of him told me that
he was almost running this morning. He mentioned how these physiotherapists
are really making him work hard. They ask him to stand up and sit down or
walk. But then he admitted that their treatment was very good and it is
working. One therapist is teaching him how to close his eyes and move his
eyebrows. Then he mentioned that even such simple things became so difficult
to do at times, as if he is learning everything from the beginning. I
reassured him that the way his condition is improving, very soon he will
become alright again.
He is having difficulties to move his right hand and right leg. The devotees
helped him to sit on a chair and he seemed a lot more expressive and joyful
being in that position. He remembered that when he was in the Hinduja
hospital, I was singing some bhajan and he thanked me for that. I was
surprised that he could remember that because we were under the impression
that he was completely unconscious at that time. I told him that his
consciousness seems to be so clear and his memory so vivid. He agreed that
with his mind he doesn’t have any difficulty. He has difficulty only with
his body. I felt very confident that his body would also become alright
within a short time. I remembered Badrinarayan Prabhu’s comment, “It seems
that Jayapataka Maharaja is an irresistible force of nature that can never
be stopped.” I remembered those Kshatriya warriors of the Vedic times who
would be injured almost to the point of death, but then in a flash, they
would recover from that injury and start to fight again as if nothing
happened to them.
He mentioned that Sivarama Maharaja phoned him yesterday and how much he
enjoyed talking to him. He feels very happy when senior devotees phone him
or visit him.
Gopala Krishna Maharaja called and he told him that we were there with him
and what a wonderful time he was having with us. A little after that, Guru
Prasad Maharaja called from Mexico and Maharaja told him the same thing.
I told him that he should get well quick and go to Mayapur. All these years
he had been traveling around the world. Now he should just stay in Mayapur
and let the devotees from around the world come and see him. This is how due
to so many devotees involvement Mayapur is going to develop. He accepted
that proposal. One of his disciples who is taking care of him jokingly
mentioned that he has a ticket from Bombay to Kolkata, which will expire if
he did not use it within a certain time. We all started to laugh and
Maharaja also started to laugh. We expressed our concern that he would have
difficulty going to him room on the roof of the Lotus Building. Bhakti
Purushottama Maharaja suggested that he could stay on the ground floor of
the Conch Building. I reminded him that if he had to stay in the Conch
Building, then did not have to stay in the ground floor. He could rather
stay in my room because there he could go by the elevator. Maharaja jokingly
reminded us that still he will have to climb half the flight of stairs
because the lifts there do not go to the landing of the floors. We assured
him that we could carry him in a palanquin. He accepted that idea.
Many devotees were waiting outside for Maharaja’s darshan. Therefore, after
spending about two hours with him, we left.
Bhakti Raghava Maharaja, who had been suspected to have a contagious disease
called Chicken Guinea, was also in the Bhaktivedanta hospital, in a room
opposite to Maharaja’s. So, we went to see him.
Maharaja was sitting on a chair in front of his deities, chanting. When I
tried to embrace him, Maharaja tried to resist because of his infection. But
I insisted, saying, “I touch you to get purified myself.” Maharaja looked
very embarrassed and kept on saying, “please, please.”
I met him after many, many years. We remembered the early days in Mayapur.
We used to be so close and rendered so many services together.
His condition is much better now. In a couple of days he will be discharged
from the hospital. He has many preaching projects developing in different
parts of India, and he told us how he was going to spend time in different
places and eventualy come to Mayapur for the GBC meeting.