Report about the death of Gouri DD , Srila Prabhupada's grand daughte

[Guest guest]

Dear Prabhus/Maharajs,

Please accept my humble obeisance . All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

 

 

Now Mayapur is flooded. One of the most sad news is Gouri Mataji , Srila

Prabhhupada's grand daughter, who had married to one of our Mayapur

deveotees and staying here for last many years, left her body by drowning in

water. She along with her elder daughter and brother in law, Sri hari das,

drowned when they were going by a boat.

 

Following is a detail descriptiob by HG. Hari sauri Prabhu.

 

YS

 

B.P. Swami

 

For more news on flood please visit www.mayapur.com and WWW.dandavat.com

 

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Prabhu's, this is a personal report on Gauri's passing that I just

sent to Ekanath prabhu at the Bhaktivedanta Archives. If you can use some of

it for your report to the devotees, please feel free:

 

As far as I can understand at this point, the tragedy occurred some

where near the Yoga Pitha where Sujitendriya and his brother Sri Hari were

building a house. This was the day before yesterday, Wednesday 27 Sept.

Because of the floods Gauri had rung her father and he told her to come to

Kolkata. So Sujitendriya, Gauri and their 3 yrs. old daughter Yamunangi, Sri

Hari and several others were waiting for a boat. A smaller one came and

offered to take them for less money so everyone, about 10 persons, climbed

on board.

 

There were two routes. The direct one followed the flooded road but

the boatman didn't want to go that way because the current was strong. He

wanted to circle out into the main river and then back in again. But

Sujitendriya and Sri Hari thought it better to go along the road because it

was shallower. So the boatman agreed. As they went along, the boat hit the

road and suddenly over turned. Everyone was pitched into the water. At the

side of the road of course it was deeper and the current was running strong.

Gauri couldn't swim and Sujitendriya grabbed her and their daughter but both

were going under. The girl was gasping for breath and foaming at the mouth.

She was crying to her father that she couldn't breath. To save all of them

from being swept away Sujitendriya had let go of the girl to grab hold of a

banana tree with one hand. With the other he was hanging on to Gauri by the

hair in an attempt to save her. She was fully submerged and unconscious. An

Australian devotee, Shanti Parayana, pulled them out onto the bank. By this

time Gauri was unconscious but still had a pulse. The girl was dead. Shanti

tried to give her CPR but after some time blood started coming out of her

mouth and nose and he had to stop. By the time a doctor got there she was

already dead.

 

As for Sri Hari, when the boat overturned, he was floundering in the

water. He grabbed Sujitendriya's brahmin thread in a vain attempt to save

himself. Three other passengers had panicked and had grabbed onto him to

save themselves and so he also drown. So out of ten passengers three

died--Gauri, Yamunangi and Sri Hari--Sujitendriya's wife, daughter and

brother.

 

The bodies were taken in the afternoon to Krsnanagar and offically

declared dead and laid in the morgue to await postmortem. Sujitendriya was

brought back to Mayapur, almost dead himself from ceaseless lamentation.

 

Meantime someone (we don't know who) had informed Vrindavan Candra

De that his daughter was in hospital in Krsnanagar but not that she was

dead. So at 7 PM he and his wife and son set off from Kolkata to Krsnanagar.

They arrived about 11 PM. We knew they had set off but we didn't know by

what means nor did we have Vrindavan Candra's phone number. So some men were

sent to the Krsnanagar railway station and also to the morgue to intercept

him. We didn't want him to hear or find out what had happened by chance or

rumor. We wanted to meet him personally to inform him. As it happened, the

family came by car, arrived in Krsnanagar at 11 PM and went to the hospital.

But it was the wrong one. Because noone knew anything there, they started to

think it was a false alarm. By this time we had managed to obtain his mobile

phone and just on midnight we were able to contact him. We simply asked him

to go stay the night with Nimai Sundara das who has a nice house in

Krsnanagar but we didn't disclose the tragedy then. We didn't want to tell

them over the phone. We wanted to be with them so that we could help them

handle the shock and grief.

 

The following day, yesterday, Thurs. 28, we went with Sujitendriya

to Krsnanagar by large motorized boat along the Jalangi since it is the only

way out at the moment. It took nearly 21/2 hrs. to get there. He was a

little more settled than the night before but only marginally. Everything

few minutes he would break down and beat his head or chest with his hands

and cry in anguish. Kurma Caitanya, one of our Mayapur pujaris, was a great

help, staying with him the whole night and remaining to help comfort him as

we went to Krsnanagar.

 

Waiting at Nimai Sundara's in Krsnanagar was Vrindavan Candra De and

his wife and son. They had wanted to return to Kolkata in the morning

thinking everything was alright, but Dayaram told them he needed to speak

urgently with them so they remained.

 

We got there about 1.30 PM and myself, Dayaram and Ramadevi had the

task of informing them of what had happened. It is without a doubt one of

the most difficult things one has to do in life. Vrindavan Candra was

stunned almost speechless, his wife and son both broke down sobbing.

Meanwhile we had brought Sujitendriya to another room in the house and after

some time Vrindavan Candra and the son met with him. Needless to say it was

an inconsolable scene ask Sujitendriya told them what had happened, in

between repeatedly breaking down himself.

 

After some time we had to get to the practical business of viewing

and receiving the bodies. It was getting late, the postmortem was only done

in mid-afternoon and we were told we couldn't get the bodies until 3.15 PM.

This being India that meant sometime later.

 

Thus about 4.00 PM we had to go and pick up the bodies from the

morgue. We only took Vrndavan Candra and family with us to view the bodies.

Initially the mother didn't want to see the bodies but finally came along.

We thought it would be too much emotionally to have Sujitendriya there as

well, and he would see them again at the cremation.

 

We thought the viewing of the bodies would be in a private room but

of course this is India. We had to stand around outside the broken down

building that passes off as the morgue and three cheap wooden beds were set

outside. People were milling around curious to see the event. Finally the

bodies were brought out and placed on the beds. At least they were wrapped

nicely and kept in clean white fine muslin bags. When Gauri's body was

unwrapped for her parents to see, the mother completely lost control. She

wanted to grab the body but she was restrained. After a few minutes the same

scene was repeated when she saw the body of her grand daughter, Jamunangi.

The body of Sujitendriya's brother, Sri Hari prabhu was also lying there and

his was identified by the devotees.

 

Then we sent Vrindavan and family back to Kolkata. They didn't want

to come to Mayapur for the cremation but wanted to return home. It would

have been too much for them to bear at that point.

 

By this time it was about 4.45 PM and we still had to get the bodies

back to Mayapur for cremation. A debate on where to have the cremation went

on until the last minute. The flood makes everything difficult. The

Navadvipa crematoriom isn't working right now, the Krsnanagar one is also

temporarily out of service and we were unsure about the where to do it on

our land. At one point a spot near the Gauranga Setu, the big bridge running

into Navadvip was considered, but in the end, Sujitendriya settled it by

telling us that his wife had made him promise that she would be cremated in

ISKCON Mayapur.

 

The devotees at the goshalla are expert with organizing this and

they assured us that we could get in by boat from the Jalangi and do the

burning on some higher ground there. So the bodies were sent from the

hospital by truck and we returned to Nimai Sundara's to pick up

Sujitendriya. From Krsnanagar we were able to drive to the house of

Bhaktivinoda Thakur where there is a small ghat, not far upstream from our

goshalla. Our boat was waiting there for us and the bodies were loaded onto

the deck. Again when Sujitendriya prabhu saw the bodies of his family he

broke down.

 

About 20 devotees were on board as we set off downstream in the

failing light to find a suitable spot to breach the flooded banks of the

Jalangi and sail into the goshalla. We achieved that within a few minutes

and started chugging across fields towards the buildings in the near dark.

 

Suddenly some low-lying power lines were upon us. We had to dive for

cover on the deck as they scrapped over us. Devotees sitting on the roof of

the cabin, including Dayaram and Naru-gopala prabhus, were almost swept off

by the wires; one wire snagged across the deck cabin and snapped, the rest

of the wires got caught on the wheel house and the whole lot ripped out of

the pole. Luckily noone was hurt or electrocuted. The devotees thence

expertly brought the boat into the goshalla area, between the buildings,

over fences and the road to dock right at the main cow shelter.

 

Then over the next two hours the bodies were washed, clothed in new

garments and and all the Vaisnava pujas were done for the departed souls.

They were then burnt. Sujitendriya was beside himself, collapsing on the

ground in mental anguish to see the sight.

 

So that was it. Now we have to look after him and his remaining

daughter, 10 months old Bhagirathi. He was also looking after the widows and

children of two other of his brothers who expired in the last couple of

years. Now there are three with the widow of Sri Hari prabhu. Its going to

take a while to help him and them sort their lives out but I am confident he

will get all the support he needs from the families here in Sri Mayapur

dhama.

 

Tragic as it is, at the same time these souls have to be seen as

most fortunate. Gauri was Srila Prabhupada's grand daughter. That in itself

would have been enough to gaurantee her liberated status. However, she was a

devotee not just by birth, but by choice also. She was serious about her

spiritual life and loved to live in Mayapur despite not having very opulent

circumstances. She was well liked by all the devotees here. She was married

to a young man who has practically lived his whole life in Mayapur, going

through the whole gurukula and then running a business in conjunction with

the Deity dept. selling beautiful photos and laminations of the Deities

here.

 

Although I don't know much about Sri Hari prabhu, as I understand

it, he was an ISKCON temple president in Bangladesh and he had started to

build a house here in Mayapur with Sujitendriya.

 

So while we lament the loss of their association, there can be no

inauspiciousness for them. They fulfilled their life's purpose and left

their bodies in the heart of Sri Mayapur dhama in the bosom of Mother

Ganges. Most certainly they all three went home back to Godhead. What more

can one desire?

 

Your humble servant,

Hari-sauri dasa

(Text PAMHO:12324664) -----

 

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