Srila Prabhupada's Disappereance

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On November 14, 1977, at 7:30 P.M., in his room at the Krishna-Balaram Mandir

in Vrndavana, Srila Prabhupada gave his final instruction by leaving this

mortal world and going back to Godhead.

 

His departure was exemplary, because his whole life was exemplary. His

departure marked the completion of a lifetime of pure devotional service to

Krsna. A few days before the end, Srila Prabhupada had said he was instructing

as far as he could, and his secretary had added, "You are the inspiration."

"Yes," Srila Prabhupada had replied, "that I shall do until the last

breathing."

 

Prabhupada's "last breathing" was glorious, not because of any last minute

mystical demonstration, but because Srila Prabhupada remained in perfect Krsna

consciousness. Like grandfather Bhismadeva, he remained completely collected

and noble and grave, teaching until the end. He was preaching that life comes

from life, not from matter, and he was showing that one should preach with

every breath he has. The many devotees who crowded the large room bore witness

that up to the very end, Prabhupada remained exactly the same. There was

nothing suddenly in congruous with what he had previously shown and taught

them. At the time of his departure, therefore, he was teaching how to die, by

always depending on Krsna. Prabhupada's passing away was peaceful. During the

evening of November 14, the kaviraja asked him, "Is there anything you want?"

and Prabhupada replied faintly, kuch iccha nahim: "I have no desire." His

passing away was in the perfect situation: in Vrndavana, with devotees. A few

months previously, a young girl, the daughter of one of Prabhupada's disciples,

had passed away in Vrndavana, and when Srila Prabhupada had been asked if she

went back to Godhead to personally associate with Krsna, he had said, "Yes,

anyone who leaves his body in Vrndavana is liberated."

 

Of course, "Vrndavana" also means the state of pure Krsna consciousness. As

Advaita Acarya had said of Lord Caitanya, "Wherever You are is Vrndavana." And

this was also true of Srila Prabhupada. Had Srila Prabhupada passed away in

London, New York, or Moscow, therefore, his destination would have been the

same. As Lord Krsna states in the Bhagavad-gita, "One who is always thinking of

Me, surely he attains to Me." But because Vrndavana-dhama is the quintessential

realm of Krsna consciousness within the universe, the ideal place for departure

from this world, so it was yet another exemplary feature of Srila Prabhupada's

life that he went back to Godhead with Vrndavana as his last junction.

 

Those Vaisnavas who had taken the vow never to risk leaving Vrndavana could see

that Srila Prabhupada, after sacrificing everything-including the benefit of

residing in Vrndavana-to deliver fallen souls in the most godforsaken locations

of the world, had returned to the holy land of Vrndavana and from there had

departed for the original abode of Lord Krsna in the spiritual sky. As stated

in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, "Anyone who executes service in Vrndavana certainly

goes back to home, back to Godhead, after giving up his body."

 

Srila Prabhupada's departure was also perfect because he was chanting and

hearing the holy names of God. Thus the Supreme Personality of Godhead was

present at Srila Prabhupada's passing just as He was at the celebrated passing

away of Bhismadeva, who said, "Despite His being equally kind to everyone, He

has graciously come before me while I am ending my life, for I am His

unflinching servitor." As Lord Krsna came before Bhismadeva, assuring him and

everyone else that Bhisma was returning back to Godhead on leaving his body, so

the Lord in His incarnation of namavatara, the Hare Krsna mantra, was present

for Srila Prabhupada's departure.

 

Srila Prabhupada's life had been dedicated to spreading the holy name to every

town and village, and for a month he had been surrounding himself with the holy

name. For his passing away, he especially wanted to fill the room with devotees

chanting Hare Krsna, and Krsna fulfilled that wish. Srila Prabhupada,

therefore, departed under the most favorable circumstances possible-in the most

sacred place, Vrndavana, surrounded by Vaisnavas chanting the holy name.

An ideal spiritual teacher (acarya) always acts in such a way that others may

follow his example. As Srimad-Bhagavatam states, these great souls who cross

over the ocean of birth and death by taking shelter of the "boat" of the lotus

feet of Krsna miraculously leave the boat on this side for others to use. And

Srila Prabhupada's disappearance, by its perfect example, affords all

conditioned souls the means for meeting the greatest of all dangers. An

auspicious death is not merely a matter of psychological adjustment, so that

one may die without regret or without becoming unduly upset. The real point is

that at the time of death the soul must leave the body and take his next birth.

Only the Krsna conscious soul can leave this world of birth and death and

attain an eternal, blissful life in the spiritual world. Therefore one's life

is tested at death.

 

Death means the soul cannot stand to live in the body anymore. Whatever the

material cause may be, the situation has become unbearable for the soul. And

leaving the body causes great distress. The sastras, therefore, advise us to

get free from the cycle of repeated birth and death. Meeting an inauspicious

death and being dragged down to a lower birth is the most fearful thing for the

living being. So fearful is it that we may try to ignore death altogether.

Death is painful because the eternal spirit soul is placed in a most unnatural

situation: although he is eternal and should not have to die, he is forced to

die because of his connection with the material body. At death, the eternal

soul is forced to leave the body for a destination he knows not. Thus he is

full of fear and suffering. The pain and fear are usually overwhelming, and one

thinks only of material attachments or bodily pain. Therefore King Kulasekhara

prayed, and Prabhupada often quoted, "Please let me pass away, not in some

prolonged contemplation of my bodily death, but just while I'm chanting Hare

Krsna. If I can meditate on You and then pass from this body, that will be

perfection."

 

Over the last months of his life in this world, Srila Prabhupada taught how it

is possible to meet death step by step in Krsna consciousness. In his last

days, he told one of his sannyasis, "Don't think this isn't going to happen to

you." Prabhupada came into this world, on Krsna's request, to teach us how to

live a pure life of Krsna consciousness, and that includes how to finally pass

away from this world to attain eternal life. Prabhupada underwent death in a

way that was perfect and glorious, and at the same time in a way which we can

all follow. When we have to go, we can cling to the memory of how a great soul

left his body-always thinking of Krsna, surrounding himself with the medicine

of chanting Hare Krsna, always desiring to hear about Krsna, and practicing

detachment from the misery of the material condition. This last lesson was one

of the most wonderful and important instructions Srila Prabhupada gave us. He

taught by his life, by his books, and at the end by his dying. Education in how

to die is meant especially for the human being. An animal dies, and a human

being also dies; but a human being is supposed to understand the process of

going back to the spiritual world at the time of death. Remaining always fixed

and undisturbed in Krsna consciousness, Srila Prabhupada expertly taught the

process. His passing away, therefore, was a perfect lesson, and one that can be

faithfully followed.

 

* * *

 

While there was nothing lamentable for Srila Prabhupada in his departing from

the world and going back to Godhead, it was certainly lamentable for his

followers and for the people of the whole world, who became bereft of the

presence of their greatest well-wisher and benefactor. Srila Prabhupada had

written in a Srimad-Bhagavatam purport, "When the mortal body of the spiritual

master expires, the disciple should cry exactly like the queen cries when the

king leaves his body." At the departure of his own spiritual master, Srila

Prabhupada had written, "On that day, O my Master, I made a cry of grief; I was

not able to tolerate the absence of you, my guru." And so on November 14, 1977,

as the powerful news spread around the world, those who knew and loved Srila

Prabhupada were gripped by a fearful, unrestricted grief. They saw everything

around them in the overwhelming atmosphere of separation from Srila Prabhupada.

They turned for solace to Srila Prabhupada's books.

 

However, the disciples and the spiritual master are never separated, because

the spiritual master always keeps company with the disciple, as long as the

disciple follows the instructions of the spiritual master. This is called the

as sociation of vani. Physical presence is called vapuh. As long as the

spiritual master is physically present, the disciple should serve the physical

body of the spiritual master, and when the spiritual master is no longer

physically existing, the disciples should serve the instructions of the

spiritual master.

 

Srila Prabhupada's disciples were already carrying out his instructions, but

now they would have to do so without the vapuh, without the opportunity of

regularly seeing and being with him. At first this was very difficult for them

to face, but those who were sincere soon realized that Srila Prabhupada had,

upon his departure, given them the greatest gift of all: service in separation.

Service in separation is the highest realization and ecstasy. This was the

teaching of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in regard to Lord Krsna and His foremost

devotees, the gopis of Vrndavana. When Krsna left His beloved gopis and went to

Mathura, never to return to them in Vrndavana, the gopis (and all the other

residents of Vrndavana) wept piteously in separation. They so much loved Krsna

that they could not live without Him, and to maintain their lives they began to

constantly remember and discuss His name, fame, form, and entourage. By

constantly remembering Him in love and by anticipating His return to Vrndavana,

they achieved an ecstasy of union in separation, which Gaudiya Vaisnava

scholars declare to be superior even to the ecstasy the gopis felt in Krsna's

presence. Because Krsna is absolute, even remembering Him or chanting His name

puts the devotee into direct contact with Him. But because there is

simultaneously a feeling of separation from Him, there is an added dimension of

inconceivable, simultaneous union and separation. This is the epitome of Krsna

conscious realization.

 

Prabhupada's followers knew this principle of service in separation,

technically known as vipralambha-seva, but to most devotees it was a

theoretical realization. Before one can feel intense loving separation from

Krsna, one must first feel intense attraction to Him. But for the conditioned

soul who has forgotten and abandoned Krsna and has come to the material world

under the spell of maya, illusion-for him, "separation" from Krsna is based on

complete ignorance and forgetfulness.

 

In coming to spiritual life, a neophyte first begins to awaken to the very

existence of God, as he overcomes atheistic misconceptions. Next, he comes

gradually, through practice, to take up a relationship of service to Krsna,

through serving the spiritual master. Intense love of Krsna in separation is

the most advanced stage and cannot possibly be realized in full by the

neophyte. Thus service in separation had remained a theoretical teaching to

many of Prabhupada's followers.

 

But when Srila Prabhupada departed from the world and left his disciples to

carry on his mission, they immediately realized union with him in separation.

He was gone, but he was still very much present. This realization was not a

pretention or a myth, nor was it sentimental psychic phenomena-telepathy,

"communion with the dead," or so on. It was a completely substantive,

practical, palpable reality, a fact of life. Srila Prabhupada had given them

personal service, and now they would continue that service. Prabhupada was

still present through his instructions, and all the nectar of his direct

association-all the nectar of Krsna consciousness that he had given and shared

with them-was still available.

 

Service in separation for Prabhupada's disciples was undoubtedly a fact,

otherwise, now that they were without his personal presence, how were they able

to sustain themselves in spiritual life? The fact that they could continue as

before, increase their feelings of devotion, and even increase their serving

capacity, meant that Srila Prabhupada was very much still with them. As Srila

Prabhupada's last instruction was the lesson of how a human being should die,

he now taught, beyond dying, how to practically implement the highest

philosophical teachings of Gaudiya Vaisnavism.

 

This realization gave the devotees great hope that Srila Prabhupada and the

revolutionary life of Krsna consciousness he had brought with him were not

finished upon his departure. Often when a great personality dies, his

contribution collapses; but Srila Prabhupada's presence remained and expanded,

sustaining his devotees' lives. He was still in charge.

 

>From Srila Prabhupada Lilamrta