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The following is a poem written by
Mulaprakriti devi dasi shortly before her diagnosis.
Posted August 4, 2004
Where is my soul
Let me see her face
Sweet and shy and kind
Selfish not a trace
Let me see my soul
Another inside of me
Serving, loving, giving all
Radha-Krsna I will see
Take my hand Sri Gurudeva
Guide me to my soul
Let the light shine in my heart
Perfecting this life's goal
Oh alone I cannot travel
To that far and distant place
Where all is love and all is joy
Please take me by your grace
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The following was written by
Mother Manjari devi dasi
Posted July 20, 2004
Respected Vaisnavas,
On July 12, 2004 at
8:26 a.m., at the MVT in Vrindavana, our dear godsister and friend, Mula
Prakriti, gloriously departed from this world. Last September, during a
stay in Vrindavana, Mula was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. After a
courageous battle with the disease, she returned in order to leave her
body to this spiritual home Srila Prabhupada has given us all.
Those of you who know
Mula Prakriti will remember the intensity with which she lived her life.
She had a burning desire to serve Srila Prabhupada by preaching. She
joined ISKCON in L.A. in 1973, and in the early years, shot to the top of
the book distribution charts, distributing literally hundreds of thousands
of books all over the United States and Japan and collecting millions of
dollars for Srila Prabhupada’s projects. After the departure of Srila
Prabhupada, Mula and her husband, Gopavrindapal, lived and raised their
three children in California, Oregon, and the Big Island of Hawaii. There
they initiated unique programs to develop spiritual communities and foster
loving relationships between devotees. In each community in which they
lived, Mula was a driving force in the creation of a gathering place for
the devotee community. She and Gopa started and renovated several temples
and in Ashland, Oregon, had a popular storefront preaching center named
“Inquire Within.”
In more recent years,
Mula’s abiding desire to act as a bridge between devotees blossomed as her
horizon expanded to include the entire family of Gaudiya Vaishnavas. She
began a book of interviews of people who knew Srila Prabhupada before he
went to the West. She became inspired by Srila Narayan Maharaj, who
understood her great sincerity and encouraged her desire to glorify Srila
Prabhupada. She took her personal bhajan very seriously, arising every
morning at 2 o’clock to chant – gradually coming to one lakh – and worship
her Govardhana Shila. Mula also traveled widely and touched the lives of
countless devotees with her sweet, loving exchanges; exemplary humility,
and yearning for devotees to realize their common bonds. A storyteller par
excellence, she enthralled her listeners with stories of Srila Prabhupada
that we had never heard before.
When cancer struck,
Mula sensed that it was her time to leave this world. However, she
underwent various treatments until she could do no more. All the while,
she kept her sense of humor, once writing to a friend, “So, if everything
turns out all right (cancer in remission), I will be coming to Vrindavana
in June or July. If it is not all right I will also be coming then. So I
guess it is win-win for me!” Mula always felt that her real home was Vraj
Dhama. She was so happy and relieved to have made it back for her final
journey. Gopavrindapal recounts that as soon as they reached Kosi (the
border of Braj), she breathed a great sigh and wept tears of joy.
Medically, Mula’s
condition was a miracle. Although the cancer had metastasized into her
liver, intestines and chest, once she reached Vrindavana, she suffered no
pain. Liver cancer is generally excruciatingly painful. The strongest
analgesic she took was occasional Tylenol for her fevers. She was also
conscious until the end. In the last days, when she could no longer rise
from the bed or open her eyes, she dictated corrections, additions and
even one whole interview for her book. At times she confided that Srila
Prabhupada was blessing her with profound experiences. Before she lost the
strength to speak, she assured us she was chanting in her mind. Karta,
Vaijayanti Mala and those who chanted with her noted her lips moving
faintly in time with their chanting, her hands fingering japa mala even
when there were no actual beads. Her last audible words were, “Hare
Krishna.”
Mula’s book of
interviews, “Our Srila Prabhupada, A Friend to All, early
contemporaries remember him,” was her final offering to Srila
Prabhupada. Although it was still in production when she arrived in
Vrindavana, we were able to show her a sample copy, with the cover and
chapter layout. The book remained at the head of her bed throughout her
final days. We had very much wanted to include in it a picture of her
with Srila Prabhupada, but she knew of only one such photo -- that was of
Prabhupada in L.A. in which she is just a blur in the background. And she
didn’t even have it. Ranjit, at the BBT Archives, searched but was unable
to find anything. But shortly before Mula’s daughter, Nitya was to leave
for India, Ranjit, while searching for a photo of someone else, came
across a misplaced slide. This slide just happened to be picture of Srila
Prabhupada giving darshan in the courtyard of the Krishna Balaram Mandir
in 1975. A very young, serious Mula Prakriti is sitting near his feet. By
the time the picture was brought to Vrindavana, Mula wasn’t able to focus
her vision on small things, but we described it to her. It seemed to us
that the unexpected arrival of such a perfect picture of her with Srila
Prabhupada – one that no one was even aware of – was Srila Prabhupada’s
blessing upon Mula and her book. (See Picture
Below)
Mula Prakriti’s
departure in Sukhada’s apartment, which is shaded by a huge banyan tree,
was attended by great auspiciousness. Her husband, sons Sravana and Kirtan,
and daughter, Nitya, were there to support her. Aindra prabhu and his
brahmacharis; and Narayani, Sama Priya and the ladies sang kirtan for
hours every day. She had twenty-four hour sadhu sanga, Krishna-katha, and
Krishna-kirtan. A constant stream of Vaishnavas visited. Srila Narayan
Maharaj came and gave her his blessings, assuring her she had no need to
fear, that she would achieve the highest destination. B.V. Tirtha Maharaj
chanted mantras while doing anga nyasas for her protection. B.V. Van
Maharaj, Premananda prabhu, Uma didi, Rasananda prabhu, Krsnapriya Prabhu,
Yasomatinanda prabhu, Radha Kunda, as well as other godbrothers and
godsisters and many others came to have her darshan and to bless her.
Mula’s final stage was
not quick; the active dying stage lasted forty-two hours. Her godsister
and nurse, Sangita, and other medical attendants were amazed that she
somehow was able to breathe in lungs that appeared completely full of
fluid. “But there is nothing normal about Mula’s condition,” Sangita
repeatedly said. Somehow, Mula was still able to hear and respond to some
slight degree. When her son, Sravana, led mangal artik and morning bhajan,
she raised her hands to offer pranams when the songs mentioned various
personalities. In her last hours, Gopavrindapal, Nitya and other devotees
took her on Govardhana parikrama by reading from the Vraj Mandala
parikrama book.
In the end, she lay
under Radha Kunda’s beautiful portrait of Srila Prabhupada, with Krishna’s
thick Tulasi garland and Radharani’s flower belt encircling her face, her
beloved Deity, Giriju, touching her forehead, and impressions of Srila
Prabhupada’s lotus feet behind her head. The Holy Names were written in
gopi chandan tilak on her body and her hand was in her beadbag, as it
always was. She became restless as breathing became increasingly
difficult. Her godsister, Vrindavana Vilasini rushed to her side. “Don’t
be afraid, Mula,” she reassured her. “Take Prabhupada’s hand. He will do
your breathing for you.” Mula then relaxed. Vrindavana, Sangita, Mahadevi,
her children and other devotees began to chant by her side. Gopavrindapal
placed Tulasi, Radha Kunda water, Vrindavana dust and charanamrita on her
tongue, and placed Srila Prabhupada’s final volume of the Srimad
Bhagavatam (10.13) on her chest. Sangita recalls, “For about 30 seconds
it seemed as if the sky opened up. The room seemed packed with people –
auspicious personalities like sages. I couldn’t see them but I could feel
their presence.” On the CD, as Prabhupada began to chant, “Ceto darpana
marjanam…,” Mula’s favorite verse of Sikshastakam, a devotee walked in
bearing the Deities’ caranamrita and a garland from Sri Sri Radha
Shyamsundar. At that moment, Mula left her body.
In death, Mula’s body
was even more beautiful than in her last days. She was smiling the old,
million-dollar Mula smile. It seemed to get bigger and bigger. Her face
was rounder – the gauntness was gone. She was bathed in Radha Kunda water
then draped in a beautiful, violet-mauve Bengali sari with embroidered
golden yellow border. It had been chosen by Sasikala in Mula’s style:
understated and simple, but pretty.
Hearing of Mula
Prakriti’s passing, devotees stopped whatever they were doing and came
from all over. Yasomatinandan prabhu, in his Bhagavatam class in the
Krishna Balarama Mandir, had just finished speaking of the passing of
Haridas Thakur when the word came. The entire Keshavaji Gaudiya Math in
Mathura emptied out and the brahmacharis, sannyasis and Mathuravasis all
came to honor Mula and have her darshan. The kirtan in Mula’s room
intensified as more and more devotees squeezed in. Sripad Tirtha Maharaj
performed her last rites. She was then placed on a palanquin and taken in
procession with kirtan to Srila Prabhupada’s Samadhi and in
circumambulation of the Krishna Balarama Mandir. By this time it was the
early afternoon and quite hot. Then the devotees, men and women,
accompanied her in a sankirtan procession through Vrindavana town to the
burning ghat. There, as the form that we had known for so long merged
with the elements, we said our last goodbyes and paid pranams to the great
Vaishnavi, Mula Prakriti devi dasi, who had graced our lives with her
friendship and love and taught guru nishtha by her life’s example.
Your servant,
Manjari dasi
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