Dying in Vrindavan--reponse

[Guest guest]

"ISKCON Vrindavan (Krsna-Balaram Mandir)" <ISKCON.Vrindavan (AT) pamho (DOT) net> wrote:

RE: DYING IN VRINDAVAN-BE FULLY INFORMED BEFORE YOU

MAKE YOUR CHOICE

TO ALL GBC, TP, SANYASIS AND PRABHUS-

 

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to

Srila Prabhupada!

 

It has come to our attention that some temples are

sending devotees to Vrindavan with terminal diseases

for the purpose of leaving their bodies in the Holy

Dham, expecting support, facility and cooperation.

 

We are sorry to inform everyone that at this time

ISKCON Vrindavan has NO Hospice facility or funds for

this nor is there any medical personnel or support

group to assist such terminally ill persons. We have

encountered serious difficulties while attempting to

accommodate dying devotees without the proper

arrangements, and therefore we have decided not to

accept any more terminally ill persons on our ISKCON

properties until proper arrangements are secured.

 

If a person decides he/she wishes to come to Vrindavan

to die they will have to take full responsibility

themselves and do so on private property. For your

information, please keep in mind the following:

 

1. Any visitor to India who enters the country with a

reportable contagious disease such as HIV, AIDS, TB or

venereal diseases is liable to be deported by the

Government of India. At our ISKCON Vrindavan

properties we are legally obligated to report such

persons to the local authorities, as are all public

guest facilities in Vrindavan.

 

2. Medical facilities and doctors in Vrindavan are not

at all up to western standard and are often

insufficient for handling the problems that terminally

ill persons have. The nearest adequate hospitals are 3

hours away.

 

3. Staying in Vrindavan during a terminal illness may

not be as expensive as in the west, but everyone who

has come here in the past with dying devotees have

faced stress or difficulties meeting their expenses.

Our temple cannot assist dying devotees financially.

The care of the dying person, food/water and

accommodations, maintainnance of support persons,

doctor visits, transportation, communications, needed

supplies and all the legalities and procedures must be

paid for by those persons accompanying the dying

person.

 

4. There are multifarious legal complications that

must be dealt with before and after the death. The

individual or temple sponsoring the devotee must be

prepared to pay for these and should bring a person

whose sole job it will be to process these

formalities. Our temple is not able to process the

legalities nor provide persons to arrange for them or

the posthumous formalities such as embassy and police

notification, obtaining the death certificates, the

do-it-yourself cremation, etc.

 

5. Persons who arrive in Vrindavan without their legal

documents, medical reports, Doctors prognosis/orders,

living wills, property wills, power of attorney and

who have not already notified the next of kin/closest

relatives and have not filed with their Embassy will

not receive permission for a cremation in Vrindavan

and will encounter difficulties with the embassy and

police.

 

6. Dying persons who are not accompanied by a

licensed caregiver or trained relative to administer

the appropriate care are risking possible legal

difficulties here and at home.

 

7. Persons who decide to come to Vrindavan to die must

fully understand that they are coming into a

third-world situation where western facility is

practically not available and ANYTHING could happen

and that they may have to endure the very same

sufferings as all the dying sadhus here.

 

8. No terminally ill person should arrive here

unprepared and expect help from ISKCON. This kind of

irresponsibility in the past has made many

difficulties for us with local and international

officials and our public image.

 

Persons coming to Vrindavan to die should do so

responsibly, not whimsically or illegally.

Further information on requirements is available from:

Iskcon Vrindavan Community Services email:

iskconvrncs (AT) (DOT) co.in.

 

Your servant,

Dhanajaya das, MVT, Ganapati das, KB Guesthouse,

Devamrita das, KBM TP

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Makhanlal Das