Latest Update On Tamal Krishna Goswam

July 11, 2003

To all well-wishers of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami.

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I am writing to give another update on the health of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami. All seemed to be going exactly according to everyone's hopes and prayers from his surgery for prostate cancer last January 28th.

For reasons only the Supreme Personality of Godhead knows for certain, Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja has had another health-related setback. Thankfully, it is not a reoccurrence of cancer, which it seems the surgery was very successful in catching. However, a complication in the earlier surgery has caused a blockage in his left kidney. He received two relatively noninvasive procedures last week, but unfortunately both of them failed to remove the blockage. Now the current course of action is to perform a full surgery with general anesthesia sometime in the next few days. Considering that the surgery is actually quite serious and that it may be held as early as this Wednesday, April 7th, please check the Internet (or with your local leaders) for the exact schedule. Since the time is not yet fixed, we will send another update as the schedule is finalized. Many devotees will want to hold kirtan during that time, so please be prepared to adjust your schedules as necessary.

We certainly don't want to alarm anyone unnecessarily; however, it should be understood that there will probably be some sort of permanent kidney damage.

Only the surgery will reveal the extent of the damage and exactly how it will affect Goswami Maharaja's overall health and daily activities. The recovery time for this surgery will be another six to eight weeks and he will spend this time again in Dallas.

Goswami Maharaja feels confident that it is due to the sincere prayers of the Vaisnavas that his first procedure on January 28th was so successful in the removal of his cancerous prostate. We should be confident that the Supreme Lord will once again answer the prayers of His devotees to help this procedure on Wednesday go successfully. Anyone, who knows Goswami Maharaja well, knows how motivated he is to serve Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON as much as he is able.

Please join us in prayer that this surgery is 100% successful, so that Tamal Krishna Goswami Maharaja can be blessed with a full and long life of service to all the Vaisnavas within ISKCON and all of mankind.

Thank you all for your prayers.

April 6 Latest Update on Surgery for H.H. Tamal Krishna Goswami: My dear godbrothers, godsisters, and well-wishers of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I am writing to give another update on the health of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami.

The meeting today with the physicians to plan for the surgery went well and there was at least some good news. His right kidney is functioning at 100% and his left kidney (the damaged one) is at 60% with some hope of improving. Since we feared the damage was greater, this provided some relief of our anxiety.

The surgery is now scheduled for April 14th and as soon as the time of day is finalized, we will once again send out a message. Again, Goswami Maharaja is hoping that many devotees will want to hold kirtan during that time, so please be prepared to adjust your schedules as necessary. In the meantime, please join us in prayer that his surgery is 100% successful so that Goswami Maharaja may be blessed with a full and long life of continued devotional service.

On behalf of your servants in Dallas,

Yudhisthira dasa