Srila B.P. Puri Maharaja Health Report #8

July 11, 2003

Dear kind hearted souls, please accept our most humble obeisance's and thank you for all your kind prayers for the health of His Divine Grace Pujapada Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaja. After the past two weeks of ups and downs in the condition of His Divine Grace, I am most happy to be able to report to you all that our Guru Maharaja's condition has improved greatly.

Guru Maharaja is still being cared for at a private apartment in Calcutta attended by at least 6 servants, His Holiness Sripada Bodhayan Maharaja, Gopinath Prabhu, and others. Guru Maharaja's doctor lives only a few houses away and visits him daily. He feels that Guru Maharaja is improving daily. No more professional nurses are attending Guru Maharaja as these services are now all being performed by His sevaks and also a devotee doctor from Mayapur who is assisting them in Guru Maharaja's care. The devotees are chanting and performing kirtan for the pleasure of His Divine Grace around the clock except during periods where Guru Maharaja rests and chanting continues softly.

For those fortunate souls who have the opportunity to serve and attend to Guru Maharaja at this time, the experience is spiritually riveting with intensity. A combined state of intense joy and sober, focused attendance leave His sevaks in a state of spiritual meditation difficult to achieve outside the direct service of the Lord's pure devotees. As Guru Maharaja manifests His pastimes, all are thrust back and forth between hope and hopelessness. The thought of living without their Divine Master in this world dispels even the greatest illusion that something can be found here outside the seva of their Guru Maharaja. Guru Maharaja's condition seems to directly ask each individual disciple to stop all unnecessary activities and absorb themselves fully in Krishna Nama and Vaishnava Seva. Spiritual pain often dominates the atmosphere breaking the hearts of the devotees who are deeply absorbed in remembrance of His Divine Grace's compassionate blessings in their lives and His unique love and affection for all His

There is a great feeling of spiritual intensity in Guru Maharaja's room as we witness His deep meditation and samadhi. When the devotees chant, Guru Maharaja folds His hands and offers pranams when finished. Many times Guru Maharaja can be observed looking intently at a part of the room near the ceiling where there is no one we can see and folding His hands and offering His pranams spontaneously, appearing to be viewing another world which others cannot perceive. He continues to chant spontaneously from time to time. Guru Maharaja has not eaten however, and for the past two weeks and is still being fed through the rice tube. A few days he has taken a few spoons of prasada, but mostly nothing at all. Today Guru Maharaja did again eat a few spoons.

Over the past few weeks, and since His Divine Grace was released from the Hospital, His body has suffered from congestion in the lungs, a chronic hernia problem, and some degree of suffocation due to the lack of oxygen in His lungs. Over the past week, these conditions have all improved and as of today Guru Maharaja's breathing is normal and His lungs are uncongested. After fighting these ailments, His body can now focus on the recovery of His brain functions, which according to medical opinion cannot begin their natural recovery while fighting other ailments. The past 4 days Guru Maharaja has begun to speak more and more each day. A few days ago Guru Maharaja was visited by Pujapada Santa Maharaja, His dear godbrother and friend who is another of the last living disciples of our Param Guru, Prabhupada Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur. When Pujapada Santa Maharaja entered the room, Guru Maharaja said, " Oh Maharaja you have come, please bring Him a seat. I am not well. Please bless me. Please bring mah

Today, His Divine Grace was speaking often. The devotees feel His condition has improved almost 50% in the past few days. When the devotees perform kirtan and then stop, Guru Maharaja often asks, "why did you stop?" He often says, "I am not well, my condition is not good". Yesterday Sripada Bodhayan Maharaja asked Guru Maharaja, "Maharaja, where would you like to stay--Mayapur or Puri?" Guru Maharaja replied, "I do not feel well today, I will tell you tomorrow. Please make sure all is being taken care of properly in the Math." When devotees visit His Divine Grace he often holds their hands in recognition of the affectionate relationship which He has with them. All these symptoms are encouraging the devotees that His Divine Grace may remain in this world for some time to come. Guru Maharaja also asked Sripada Bodhayana Maharaja to bless him that he can rehgain His health. This is sypmtomatic of Guru Maharaja's intense humility as those who always come to seek His blessings are taken back by Guru Maharaja's si

We recently consulted with the chief neurologist at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. The doctor carefully examined Guru Maharaja's CAT scan and gave a detailed prognosis, which closely matched that of Guru Maharaja's neurologist in Calcutta. He stated that Guru Maharaja's stroke was not big, but not small either. He stated that Guru Maharaja's recovery period would be much longer than a younger person and can take up to one year. He mentioned that we might not see noticeable improvement until after 3-4 months, as some patients are much slower than others to recover. He was encouraged by the reports of Guru Maharaja speaking and felt that He could recover to a reasonable degree. The doctor asked no money for His consultation and by Guru Maharaja's mercy was also engaged in the service of the Lord.

While these are the physical factors of His Divine Grace's condition, the overriding element is the desire of Krishna for His pure devotee. The lives of the pure devotees are not ordinary and are always filled with purpose and teaching through the example they set. Seemingly ordinary things happen in their lives, but the ways in which they respond to those events from the platform of intense devotion and attachment to guru and Krishna, is always extraordinary. Guru Maharaja is certainly teaching the whole world this through His personal dedication and willingness to serve us all by remaining longer in this world. How fortunate we all are to witness His Divine Grace's continued presence in this world and the source of inspiration He continues to be for so many devotees. May He bless you all with the great affection and magnanimity of Nityananda Prabhu for which His Divine Grace is so well known. I pray that you are all well and successful in your seva to Guru and Gauranga.

Dandavat Pranams,

Ramdas das