PLEASE HELP ME, where is my mum?

[priyap]

namaste

 

i dont know if any of you remember me for i am writing after a very long time. i am 21 and a hindu, my mother passed away two monthes ago. she was a very religious hindu and a very good person who helped, gave alot and never took. she had cancer for 2years and then god took her away. i am deeply depressed and devastated for my world seems pointless without my mother. however i do pray and read and try to expand my knowledge about god and i know my mother is in the best place. but what has become of my mother?when she was dying we were told her all her karmas were complete, she had helped all she could have and now it was her time to go. we were then told her soul was in brahman lok until the 13th day where she had reached devyoni(told by a very knowledgeable shashtri)but i know my mother has no body and eternal peace but where?and how?i can honestly say my mother never harmed a soul, during her illness she read the gita over and over and alot of other religious texts. coping without her is the hardest thing i have ever experienced. please help me if any1 knows the ans to these questions i will be so grateful. i know her suffering was due to her past karmas, and there is no reason for her to be bought back to earth, but for me and my sister who have lost the most precious thing in our life, was id due to or karmas that our mother was taken away from us? also does my mother know of our existence?we dont know our past lives, when we pray to her in the morning to give us strength, does she even know we exist?what has become of her soul?

[theist]

No Krsna conscious priests on board to offer counceling? You are wearing that thread for what reason again?

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna. It sounds like your mother is very present in your heart. That which "died" was the physical body which became too damaged to hold the self anymore.

 

One who knows the bhagavad gita has heard from krsna as to what becomes of the self at the time of death. One whom is fixed up on Krsna, with love and devotion, goes to Him without a doubt. In the event of immaturity, there is also no harm coming to a devotee, because Krsna gives each person facility to continue the devotional path.

 

Krsna states that we forget each life, but he also states that He does not. So he is very aware of your plight, and is especially inclined to protect his devotees and keep them from all harm.. This is also true for family members of those who love Krsna, he gives them facility to continue.

 

The death experiance is a normal event. It is the subject of wild speculation because of the mystery involved, but when we think about it, death is an experiance of thoise left behind.

 

I was once told that the first experiance one has after death is that death did not occur, that the person is fully alive. I fully accept this, as I have had three near death experiances where adventure was there, and cessation of existance (the definition of death) was not in the least evident.

 

I cannot answer your questions about your mother having direct experiance of your present activcities, but I can say her direct influence is very much alive as shown by your expressions of deep love, respect, and devotion. All I can do is share in your mourning, as the world is bereft of such a kind hearted soul.

 

King David, the great ruler of the Earth Planet, reminds us all that "help is in the Name of the Lord". We chant in happiness and distress, and Krsna gives us protection.. Hare Krsna, your servant, mahaksadasa

[gHari]

Those were very wise words, especially "when we think about it, death is an experience of those left behind".

 

Priya, all I could think of was to suggest that you channel your love for your mother into doing what would please her, namely reading the Bhagavad-gita and finding out for yourself where she is and where you should want to be.

 

The three responders here all follow the saintly world-renowned Guru, Srila Prabhupada who has given a very knowledgeable commentary on the Bhagavad-gita here: http://vedabase.net/bg. Srila Prabhupada has immense knowledge and love of God. He will share his strength freely with you through his inspired words. You will know the absolute power of God and the tender compassion of His servant. Let it now become your protection and guide, and your life will be successful. Without doubt.

 

Wherever she is your mother would appreciate your studying these words of wisdom. Even Lord Krishna says that anyone who studies that sacred conversation between Himself and Arjuna actually worships Him with their intelligence.

 

Don't take anyone else's word for it. Find out from Krsna Himself. After all, it is He who is in charge of it all.

May I say that your overpowering love for your mother is most touching, Priya. Krsna must love her greatly for you to love her so.

 

 

gHari

 

[Avinash]

I remember you very well. You posted about your Muslim friend.

 

I lost both of my parents when I had just started a job and was making such a small income that it was difficult to fulfill even basic needs of food and shelter. Since I had to take care of my brothers and sisters, I tried a lot to make more money and now my income is very good.

 

Even after solving the economic problems, I was not at peace. My parents had passed away because they were suffering from ailments and we did not have enough money for their treatment. I used to wonder why I was earning so much when I could not make money when it was really needed. I often cursed myself because I had not done anything for my parents. Now also I feel sad when I think about earlier days, but I do not hate myself as much as I did earlier. Try doing the following things. I hope your sorrow will lessen. These are all based on what I did. It is not necessary that whatever made me happy will make you also happy, but I can only talk from my experience. Please give these a shot:-

 

1. Read teachings and stories that teach good qualities. Discuss on these with others, e.g., your sister. You will find many such religious books as well as other kinds of books that teach such qualities.

 

2. Do pranayam.

 

3. Keep yourself busy in things that interest you.

 

4. Help others. There are a large number of people around who cannot get even one time food in a day. Help them as much as you can. Provide education for free to some poor children. If it makes you happy, you can do so in the name of your mother.

[Guest guest]

The Death Phenomena

 

 

--

BY MAHAKSA DASA

 

EDITORIAL, Nov 11, 1999 (VNN) — Haribol, dear VNN readers and writers, PAMHO. This article is written for those who feel impending doom, either from speculations about Y2K, or from dabbling in the likes of Cayce, Scallion, Morton, and other seers. We should not give absolute truth status to the versions of the empiric scientist, but we need not reject them, either. Srila Prabhupada did not expect us to remain infants forever with overprotection.

 

We question and defeat them all, but their versions are not unfounded. Do we reject tornado warnings, do we stay on the beach just because a meat eater weatherman says the hurricane is coming? No, Srila Prabhupada raised practical children.

 

I have been cursed since birth with uncanny clairvoyance, it only gives me joy playing around with sports-page fascinations shared with my friends at work, at other times, not so much joy seeing the future of Kali. Just more and more deterioration, more demoniac activity, more misinterpretation, more chaos, quarrel, and confusion. My work mates ask me, "Is it the volcano, the tornado, the solar ejecta, the tsunami, the comet, the earthquake, the nuclear holocaust? Tell us." The answer is "all of these things". The answer is that a noble green skinned mahajana in red robes, with matted hair riding on a buffalo carrying a diamond thread to retrieve a soul under his jurisdiction follows our every move, because catastrophe is there. The answer is that Lord Sri Yamaraja, similar to us at work in our jobs, would like to sluff off, now and then, if given the opportunity, and we can help him in his desire by removing ourselves from his dutiful jurisdiction and becoming his friend instead. He is cent-percent pure Vaisnava acarya, so much so, that he is one of the twelve authorities on devotional service. Probably most of the readers here have read all of Srila Prabhupada's books, and a very nice project is to seek out the words of Sri Yamaraja (as well as his partial manifestations, Sri Vidura and Sri Yudhisthira) to find DHARMA. He is the first mahajana we deal with on the other side, and he would rather engage in joyful Krsna Consciousness with us at that time than just do his occupational duty, because He knows, He is the first created being to die.

 

This is not a doomsday scare story, just a realization of mortality. We are not interested in impending doom of the Ross Ice Shelf separating from Antarctica and raising global sea levels two-hundred feet, we cares not to hear of Popocatepetyl Volcano ready to give the earth a ring like Saturn. We only got a few years, max, so get with it.

 

Srila Prabhupada does not teach doomsday science, he does not teach us how to die. He teaches us how to live. He shows us that, if at all possible, even in an incapacitated condition, we should desire to circumambulate Sri Govardhana Hill in Remembrance of Sri Govinda, this act of life, and living, is what gives both the living entity and the stalking Lord Yamaraja transcendental happiness, destroys the time (and place, too) effect temporarily affecting our lives. The death phenomena is ONLY (my favorite word that Srila Prabhupada uses often) phantasmagoria, a will o' the wisp. I am remembering a dear friend, Bhava devi dasi, removed from our presence by the chemotherapy. She was young, full of life, and, though apparently only 80 pounds of dying flesh, taught fellow hospital patients in the same condition how to be pleasing to Yama, by pleasing his dear Sri Govinda.

 

Point is, when the lava flows and the water rises, the joy of performing bhakti yoga as taught by His Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada does not diminish. Because the word YOGA appears, all ideas of being ALONE are also phantasmagoria, a celluloid manifestation, illusion. Even as the body bursts into flames and the mind is disturbed by seeing such an event happen, Sri Govinda approaches, protects, rescues, never abandons. No artificial behavior influenced by loneliness is required, no need to place a picture of Krsna in front of the eyes. Srila Prabhupada teaches the facts that this process of devotional service is descending to us from the Groves of Goloka Vrndavana, our job is to take the wonderful gift only.

 

Some of us have lost a few as described, headed by our beloved Guru Maharaja himself, as well as dear disciples of his like Jayananda, Visnujana, Sudama, Gauragovinda, Bhava devi dasi, bahudaka, tusta krsna, and just the other day, Bhakti tirtha, yet we know Srila Prabhupada's Science (at least theoretically), therefore we do NOT say they are dead, and in some cases, imbued with advanced devotional symptoms, we do NOT even feel that they are away. The reason for this phenomena is the gift described, that bhakti yoga is SPIRITUAL LIFE, transcendental to both Samsara cycles and threefold miseries. So, though faced with doom, (collectively as I see in lucid dreams or appropriately as wonderful reality facing the individual), we can all take courage and give praise, again and again, for the fortune of association with the great gift-giver, Srila Prabhupada.

 

Haribol, your servant in cooperation, mahaksadasa

 

(edited from original, 6/30/05)

 

 

[Guest guest]

yes i was the one who posted about my muslim friend. he has been very helpful throughout. life does seem very hard, my mother was faithfully religious not a show, during the time we realised how selfish family can be as my mother put her heart and soul into caring for others. i know there are worse people out there than me, this was how my mother coped with her illness. i do read but i am so incontent because my life feels impure as such. i wish i could become closer to god, its hard as my sister is westernised, although my dad is religious he does not pt these perspectives into everyday life, as i try to do as i dont want to be ignorant of what i read. suppose its all time that will tell and heal. losing my mother i did so much with feels like 80% of me has gone into some empty space. we would read religious texts together and she was full of great stories, but now feels impossible and so depressing. i know god is the only one who can help me from this selfish world.

[Guest guest]

thankyou gary

 

i do miss my mother immensly, being at home with just my father and sister is like being at home alone with strangers. its impossible to describe how my mother was, a true saint. sure her life was a struggle, everyday was a challenge and people were always difficult, i know mums hard wouldve been hard her on this material world...i will read the gita, its my only hope. i just was to be content, be able to sleep and get away from this feeling of empyness and attachement. the nites are like hell, i dream constantly of my mother sometimes reaching out for me but never wanting to come home and wake up terrified. i hope to go to india in the next few months to disperse my mothers ashes. a close death really makes you realise there is nothing greater than wanting to be with the one above. i pray god can give my the strength to come away from this material weakness i have and let me be with my mother someday.

x