The Transcendental Departure of His Holiness Bhaktitirtha Swami Maharaja

June 29, 2005

Hare Krishna,

On June 27, 2005 at 3:30PM Eastern Daylight Time at ISKCON's Gita Nagari farm in Port Royal, Pennsylvania, USA , His Holiness Bhaktitirtha Swami Maharaja departed this world surrounded by a house full of admiring disciples, Godbrothers, and well-wishers who were intensely performing Hare Krishna Kirtan to bless him with transcendental send off to the spiritual world.

He was diagnosed with melanoma cancer in August 2004 and since then had been seriously preparing himself and thousands of followers for this day. In the months that followed he continued to teach the science of Krishna consciousness with great enthusiasm and ever-increasing insight. He drew upon his condition to address the

fears, struggles, and pains associated with facing death. At the same time, he began what would be his last book, a treatise on viewing death as an opportunity for spiritual growth, entitled Die Before Dying.

I had to the golden opportunity to meet with him recently. In spite of his rapidly approaching death he was the same blissful, effulgent, benevolent soul I have always known and loved since I first associated with him in 1978.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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Are You Becoming a Hare Krishna?

Are you becoming a Hare Krishna?

Yvonne

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Everyone is a Hare Krishna

My Dear Yvonne,

Please accept my blessings.

There is no question of the soul becoming this or that designation. The soul is eternally the same. He can either realize his eternal identity or in a state of illusion be unaware of his eternal identity. In his awakened state the soul realizes that he is in fact the eternal servant of Sri Krishna , the Supreme Godhead. Whether we address God in any other name or Sri Krishna, or all of the above does not change the reality that constitutionally we are all the eternal servants of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

The fact is that I have been an initiated disciple of the Hare Krishna Movement since 1971, not in the mood of a cult member, but because I've seen that it's founder, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, is presenting the original knowledge taught by Lord Krishna with perfect realization and purity like no other teacher in the world. I have fully surrendered unto him as my spiritual master and am assisting him in distributing Krishna consciousness all over the world because objectively speaking, Krishna's pure words are a

torchlight of knowledge that destroy all ignorance and suffering.

With that explanation as a preface I can now directly answer you that, I need not become a Hare Krishna again. Krishna consciousness is the original natural energy of all living entities. Therefore in the highest philosophical sense everyone is eternally a servant of Sri Krishna , the Godhead. In other words, everyone is eternally a Hare Krishna. It is not possible to become one because everyone already is one.

It is simply a matter of realization. The owl may not believe in the existence of the sun because his eyes are tightly closed shut during the day, but the sun goes on brilliantly shining nonetheless. The truth of Lord Sri Krishna, the Supreme Personality, eternally resonates throughout the entire universe. Those who have the ears to hear it will be enlightened with transcendental knowledge. Those who close their ears to it will remain in the darkness.

Hoping this meets you in good health and in a cheerful mood,

Your eternal well-wisher, Sankarshan Das Adhikari