20210508 Śmṛti-sabhā: Homage to Śrīpāda Paṅkajāṅghri Prabhu

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim 
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam 
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

So I was asked to speak about the departure of Paṅkajāṅghri.

You see, I would check on him when he was in the Vaṁśī Bhavan.

And the Māyāpur doctor Sukhī Acyuta dāsa and my health team were always seeing his situation.

They said that he was using a lot of oxygen, and maybe it ran out in Māyāpur.

He was using like 60 liters a minute, I mean, sometimes I need oxygen, like 2 liters a minute.

60 li is a large amount.

So one devotee Buddhimanta Gaura dāsa, he was the head of ICU in a hospital in Howrah.

So he said, he can make special arrangement for Paṅkajāṅghri.

So all the doctors at that time were recommending that Paṅkajāṅghri go to the hospital.

At that time one doctor said that there is never any problem for oxygen in the hospitals!

I asked is that in Australia or in India?!! They said anywhere, no hospital has any problem with oxygen! Now we know that India has acute shortage of oxygen.

But in this particular hospital, they did not have.

So, Paṅkajāṅghri at first, he would not leave the dhāma.

But then he agreed since all the doctors were recommending.

And as he left Māyāpur, I was told by Śyāma Rasika dāsa, that he said keep the window open, I want to see all the holy places of the dhāma.

He was very dhāma conscious.

And he saw all the places in the dhāma, and he was talking about parikramās, and he was very grateful for the mercy of the dhāma.

Then, he arrived in Kolkata, in the hospital.

And they gave a nice facility and he did not have any shortage of oxygen.

But he was still using a lot.

So, after some time, he said, he did not want to be intubated with a ventilator.

Because he would be sedated.

He wanted to stay conscious and so the doctor forum, they researched and they found that the statistics was not so good for people of his age to have the ventilator.

So, they thought while he is still healthy take him back to dhāma.

In the dhāma he may recover, or at least be in the dhāma.

So Vraja Vilāsa, Subhekṣana they worked hard to prepare a room in the senior brahmacārī area.

They got 50 jumbo sized oxygen cylinders.

They set up somewhat like an ICU room.

Then Paṅkajāṅghri, he finally reached Māyāpur, and from the ambulance he saw the Prahlāda Narasiṁha Deity, he saw the Pañca-tattva and then he went to his room.

Actually, the room was not set up fully.

95% done - 5% still had to be done.

So he was in the ambulance till the next morning! Finally, the oxygen hookup was complete.

So they shifted him to the room, and all the doctors would see him and Dr. Sukhī Acyuta dāsa was doing the personal care.

And he was very happy in the dhāma.

It seemed that his oxygen assimilation, everything was getting better.

Like that for some days, things they were looking good.

But then, the oxygen saturation started falling from 90 to 80 to 70 to 60, to 50, 40, then they had this ayurvedic doctor and Yogendra Prabhu were doing special massage, and then oxygen saturation started rising, 50, 60, Vraja Vilāsa and Subhekṣana were up the whole night with him.

And doctors from America, South Africa, Australia, were on the call, seeing his situation on the video and giving some advice.

But at the same time although his oxygen saturation did not go up, he was still moving his hands and doing things.

And outside there was kīrtana going on.

Little before noon, I don’t know exact time, a little after noon, he left.

We heard from Jananivāsa Prabhu how being in the dhāma was a special mercy.

And we see that – I was very fortunate to have both Paṅkajāṅghri and Jananivāsa all the time when they were here in Māyāpur.

Paṅkajāṅghri came a few years later.

But otherwise most of the time, they were both here.

You heard he got some inspiration from some yogī, to seek the white light and then how he saw the light coming from Śrīla Prabhupāda eyes.

He has it, “HE HAS IT! HE HAS THE LIGHT!” So, also Paṅkajāṅghri decided, he was in Banaras, and he saw some sādhu with a shaved head in his room, wearing saffron, he wondered who it was.

He looked it was Jananivāsa, who had already taken initiation from Śrīla Prabhupāda!

So Jananivāsa preached to him for a week, and then he went back to the West.

He could see that all the people were completely boring.

Kṛṣṇa consciousness was very exciting and was good!

So then he stayed in the Bhaktivedanta Manor.

Then we heard how he got initiated there, and then he came to Māyāpur.

I was very happy, very pleased they came to Māyāpur.

And he was very dedicated to serving Śrīla Prabhupāda.

And Śrīla Prabhupāda appreciated both him and Jananivāsa.

And he actually spoke about them.

He knew that very well.

We know in the Bhagavad-gītā says that someone who does not finish, the devotee may be born in the family of devotees or aristocratic family.

At that time, there were no devotees in the West, so he was born in a rich family.

Unfortunately, as Jananivāsa revealed, his father squandered the money.

My father was also, a millionaire, he also squandered money!

Anyway, I was very happy that Paṅkajāṅghri lived in the dhāma.

And I am sure that many devotees have many realization, that they would like to share.

So we know that Paṅkajāṅghri, the two brothers are look alike, but you could tell the different by their mood.

He would like, he had humor and Jananivāsa more serious.

So Paṅkajāṅghri, when he was sick, he said that he said that he wants someone to come and tell him jokes.

He liked jokes.

But he was always thinking about the holy dhāma and that is the special feature about Paṅkajāṅghri Prabhu.

Paṅkajāṅghri, we know that he passed away because he got affected by this corona virus.

So that is the external reason.

We know that although it is Kṛṣṇa’s plan, but I just thought I should mention that GBC is telling Māyāpur devotees to be very careful, follow all the government prescriptions, regulations, On May 5th government passed an order, only 50 people allowed in the temple.

And people have to observe social distancing, wear mask, was their hands, follow all the protocol.

So we also want to protect Jananivāsa Prabhu and all our Śrīla Prabhupāda disciples and all the devotees in Māyāpur.

And if we don’t follow see, the government says, you are breaking the law.

And we could be punished under the IPC, Indian Penal Code.

I don’t know how many years of jail, I don’t want to go to an Indian jail, because we don’t wear a mask! Please cooperate.

And we are trying to raise some funds so that we can test all the devotees and help them with all their medical needs and things.

But donors are saying, if the devotees don’t care for themselves, to protect themselves, why should we send money?

So this thing is being discussed and the GBC is saying the managers in Māyāpur to see that everyone follows.

Actually, we know that a great Vaisnava like Paṅkajāṅghri leaving in the holy dhāma simultaneously is very glorious, he will go back to Godhead, but at the same, we are deprived form his association, and that is a very great loss.

So, my humble appeal, to everybody please take this lesson very seriously that we should be very careful, with all this present wave, surge of infection going on.

They say that may be after the second wave there is a third wave and so on.

So, we want all the devotees to stay healthy and certainly Paṅkajāṅghri would want that.

He followed the medical advice to a certain point and his medical team was trying to save him and all the devotees were working very hard.

But maybe Kṛṣṇa had another plan.

Thank you to all the devotees, all the doctors, the devotees who were chanting and praying for Paṅkajāṅghri.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!