Where To Die?

Is Vṛndāvana the only choice for devotees of the Lord?

By Sārvabhauma Dāsa

DEVOTEES OF Kṛṣṅa traditionally go to Vṛndāvana, the divine place of Kṛṣṅa's pastimes, when their time comes to leave this world. The great devotee Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura praised residence in Vṛndāvana—especially at death—without mincing his words:

I pray that this land of Vṛndāvana, which great sages experience as sweet nectar, give me shelter until the moment I leave this body....They who somehow or other remain up to the moment of death here in Vṛndāvana, which with its splendor bathes all moving and non-moving creatures in an ocean of bliss, are at the head of all great Vaiṣṅavas....Brother, do you know for certain when you will die? Do you think the mahā-mantra will check powerful death? Do you think death will patiently wait and allow you to die at the time you prescribe? Is it for these reasons that you again and again fearlessly leave Vṛndāvana? Even if my heart were pierced by thousands of thunderbolts, I would not leave Vṛndāvana. (Śrī Vṛndāvana-māhimāmṛta, Śataka 1.17, 43, 50, 6)

Scriptures describe earthly Vṛndāvana (Gokula Vṛndāvana) as essentially identical to Kṛṣṅa's supreme abode in the spiritual sky, Goloka Vṛndāvana. Although to conditioned souls earthly Vṛndāvana may appear similar to other rural towns or forests of this world, the scriptures explain that its spiritual nature is inaccessible to mundane vision, just as the sun’s brilliance can be obscured by a thick, dark cloud.

Regardless of how one perceives Vṛndāvana, Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī explains that contact with Vṛndāvana gives immeasurable spiritual benefit: “If one lives in the earthly land of Vṛndāvana, touches it, sees it, travels to it, meditates upon it, bows down to it, sings or hears about its glorious qualities, carries its dust on his head, or has any relationship with it, then this purifying earthly Vṛndāvana will carry him to the supreme abode of Vṛndāvana in the spiritual world.” (V.M. 6.29)

He adds that in earthly Vṛndāvana “all people automatically and effortlessly obtain pure ecstatic love for Kṛṣṅa” and that Vṛndāvana “transforms sinners into saints” and is pāvana pāvane, “the most purifying of all purifiers.” (V.M. 1.47, 39, 41) For these reasons and many more, serious devotees of Kṛṣṅa have always valued the chance to reside in Vṛndāvana, to perform devotional service there, and ultimately to depart from this world in that sacred land. [See Sidebar: “Leaving and Not Leaving Vṛndāvana.]

As a consequence of this, in Vṛndāvana today you will find samādhis, or sacred tombs, honoring great devotees of Kṛṣṅa who passed away there. His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda left this world in Vṛndāvana in 1977, and a large samādhi, part of the Krishna-Balaram Temple complex, stands in his honor.

Shelter For Iskcon Members

A number of ISKCON devotees have traveled to Vṛndāvana to leave this world. Gaurī Dāsī, a shy, warm devotee who overcame her timidity and became a compassionate and empowered distributor of Śrīla Prabhupāda's books, departed in Vṛndāvana. She is said to have had ecstatic experiences of communion with Kṛṣṅa in her final days. Buddhimanta Dāsa, a pioneer of book distribution in the West, also departed in sacred Vṛndāvana, graced by a chanting party led by Aindra Dāsa, which came just at the time of his departure. A book has been written about Vraja-līlā Dāsī, a saintly young disciple of Indradyumna Swami who took shelter in Vṛndāvana in her final days.

Lohitākṣa Dāsa from New York traveled to Vṛndāvana in serious condition, taking the risk that he might die en route, but was able to exit within days of his arrival. The Italian devotee Nāmānanda Dāsa, once ISKCON’s number one book distributor in the world, passed away at the Prabhupāda-vani Ashram, perhaps getting special mercy for his years of intense endeavor to share Kṛṣṅa consciousness with others. Kṛṣṅa Māyī Dāsī, a rather new and inexperienced devotee, by special good fortune made her way to Vṛndāvana in her last days. She departed as her spiritual master, Dhanurdhara Swami, was singing the devotional song Jaya Rādhe, Jaya Rādhe Rādhe. An elderly pūjārī from the Nairobi temple named Tulasī Priyā Devī Dāsī visited Vṛndāvana and came down with pneumonia, which proved fatal. Although she had no family there, Aindra Dāsa and other brahmacārīs chanted at her passing, and the gurukula students and teachers took her body to the Yamuna for cremation.

These are a few examples of the many devotees who departed in Vṛndā-vana. Most had enough notice of their impending demise to allow them to go to Vṛndāvana, but some, unaware of their impending death, were the beneficiaries of a special arrangement by Kṛṣṅa.

Kīrtidā's Story

Given the choice and the means, it seems unlikely that a devotee would choose to depart in a materialistic city in the West rather than a holy place like Vṛndāvana. Still, no one who saw my dear friend Kīrtidā Devī Dāsī in her final days argued that she should have departed in Vṛndāvana, rather than Dallas, Texas.

Despite the onslaught of cancer, which ravaged her frail sixty-one-year-old body, Kīrtidā remained blissful and Kṛṣṅa conscious through her final days, spent in a small room filled with pictures of Vṛndāvana. On her altar were many deities brought by local devotees. The home she departed from stood on Gurley Avenue, just across the street from the temple of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kālachandjī, the Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa deities installed by Śrīla Prabhupāda in 1972.

Considering earlier events in Kīrtidā’s life, that she chose to leave this world from anywhere but Vṛndāvana was surprising. She had nearly died from health problems in the late 1980s while working as a surgical nurse in Dallas hospitals. Devotee friends often repeated to her Śrīla Prabhupāda's instruction that Vṛndāvana is the best place for the soul to depart from the body, and she began to resolve to spend her last days there.

As early as 199l, when doctors estimated that Kīrtidā had only six months to live, a devotee gave her a free plane ticket to India. She gratefully accepted it, seeing it as a sign of Kṛṣṅa's sanction of her desire to go there and pass from this world. Soon she retired, bought a flat in Vṛndāvana, and spent six years there, always aware that each day could be her last. Remarkably, the spiritual atmosphere gave her new life. At first she survived in Vṛndāvana only by taking intravenous chemicals. But after praying at sacred Govardhana Hill, she found she was able to take solid food again for the first time in years.

Kīrtidā grew to truly love Vṛndāvana, and whatever energy or strength Kṛṣṅa gave her, she gave back in the form of devotional service. She became a volunteer nurse at the gurukula dispensary and took visiting devotees on tours of the holy places. She even started walking barefoot on arduous pilgrimages, such as the twenty-six kilometer parikramā (circumambulation) of Govardhana Hill, while devotees half her age struggled to keep up. As years passed, Kīrtidā was no longer a visitor: she was a resident of the holy dhāma (abode).

So why did she leave Vṛndāvana and die in the West? In 1997 her spiritual master, Tamāl Kṛṣṅa Goswami, began academic work in England, but after some time he was diagnosed to have cancer and underwent surgery in Dallas. Kīrtidā offered her assistance, even if it meant leaving her beloved shelter, Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma. For six months Kīrtidā offered medical service twenty-four-hours a day as Tamāl Kṛṣṅa Goswami recovered at the Dallas temple. Then, when he went back to England to resume his studies in less than full health, she offered to go there to assist him.

It was in England that Kīrtidā herself was found to have cancer. She underwent a major surgery in London that appeared to cure the cancer. She began recuperating in sunnier Dallas, where she could also get the audience of her beloved deities again and visit with her old devotee friends. But during this happy visit to Dallas came the bad news: tests revealed that her cancer had returned. She began treatment at a local hospital, but the cancer got worse. Finally she decided to stop all therapy, check out of the hospital, and prepare for death.

Tamāl Kṛṣṅa Goswami, who for years had instructed Kīrtidā to pass away in Vṛndāvana, suggested that she stay in Dallas rather than try to travel to India. One consideration was the heat: it is swelteringly hot in Vṛndāvana in May and June, and many devotees leave the dhāma at that time. In Dallas she would have more devotees to chant with and give her support. And her departure could be instructive, since no elderly devotee had ever died in the community.

So it was that Kīrtidā Devī Dāsī passed away in Dallas, surrounded by loving devotees, her spiritual master, and the continuous chanting of the holy names of Kṛṣṅa.

Glorious Departures In The West

Many devotees have chosen to pass away in the West in Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Jayānanda Dāsa, famed for his humble service attitude in the early days of ISKCON, died of leukemia in the Los Angeles temple community, serving Śrīla Prabhupāda until almost the end by organizing the Rathayātrā festival.

Other devotees who were unable to always practice Kṛṣṅa consciousness strictly nonetheless were able to associate with devotees at the end of their lives. Hayagrīva Dāsa, who had been away from the devotees for some time, returned to New Vrindaban (in West Virginia) at the end of his life and benefited from the devotees’ association in his last days. Sudāmā Dāsa, once a personal servant of Śrīla Prabhupāda and a preacher in Japan, had also drifted away from strict practice of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. But when he learned he had a terminal illness, he moved to the devotee community in Los Angeles and passed away surrounded by well-wishing devotees chanting the holy names. He was covered with garlands from the deities Śrī Śrī Rukmiṅī-Dvārakādhīśa, and at the time of his passing, his mother was entreating, “Go back to Prabhupāda, Sudāmā! Go back to Prabhupāda!”

Upendra Dāsa, also a former personal servant to Śrīla Prabhupāda and a pioneer of Kṛṣṅa consciousness in Australia, had left the association of devotees and was near death in San Francisco. Kūrma Dāsa, from Australia, raised money so that Upendra could pass away with his old devotee friends at the New Govardhan farm in Australia. Kūrma describes the flight and ensuing events:

Upendra ended up going into a coma and almost dying on the plane. The United Airlines flight to Sydney was almost forced to make an emergency landing on the way. He stayed in intensive care in a major Sydney hospital for over two weeks. His health improved enough for him to move up to the farm, where many devotees looked after him until his departure a few months later. At the time of his passing, Jayādvaita Swami suddenly arrived on the farm. He was rushed up the hill to the house, where a resounding kīrtana was in full force, and he took over leading the kīrtana. As Upendra gazed at a picture of Gaura-Nitāi held at the foot of his bed, he passed away peacefully.

When Ratnarañjinī Devī Dāsī, a senior devotee in Scotland, learned she had a brain tumor a few years ago, devotees booked her a flight to Delhi. But just two days before her scheduled departure, she had a seizure. Doctors changed her destination from holy Vṛndāvana to Glasgow’s Western General Hospital. After another seizure, when everything seemed bleak, she told her husband, Balabhadra dasa (now Bhakti Balabha Purī Goswami), “The Lord is so merciful! All the time I was having the fit, all I could see was Vṛndāvana Śyāmasundara’s face in my mind. He is so kind!” After this, Balabhadra helped his wife perform Vṛndāvana pilgrimage in her mind, meditating on each sacred landmark in perfect order. She was blissful in her final days, always chanting the Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra. A small book about her life and passing has recently been published.

Community Benefits

Mālatī Devī Dāsī describes how a Kuntī Dāsī, a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda in New Vrindaban, accepted the news of death’s approach:

Kuntī could have gone to India. Although it would have been a difficult trip, there were devotees ready to pay the extra cost of arranging a bed for her on the flight. I reminded her that New Vrindaban is nondifferent from Vṛndāvana in India, and with that in mind she chose to remain. It was a glorious passing, and every member of our community benefited from the experience in so many diverse ways. Many served her personally, many came to chant again after a lengthy absence, many came to speak to devotees again after a long silence, and everyone saw the closeness of death as a reality. She who was the closest to the door of death remained calm, sanguine, and immersed in topics of Kṛṣṅa, blissfully going about the process of exiting the physical body. She also kept up a tremendous sense of humor. She said that she had taken her second birth [spiritual initiation] in New Vrindaban and that she would leave her body here.

Sunītā Devī Dāsī, a senior disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, was born in Mathura, near Vṛndāvana, but she passed away in the devotee community in Alachua, Florida. Her passing inspired an outpouring of support and emotion by a great number of devotee friends and acquaintances.

Savitri Priyā Dāsī, a seemingly ordinary housewife in London who took initiation from His Holiness Bhakti Cāru Swami, received a tremendous boost from devotees who visited at her hospital and home in her final weeks. Many devotees from Bhaktivedanta Manor visited and poured affection on her daily. Interrupting his filming in America, her spiritual master came to London and gave her many valuable instructions. She received phone calls from Tamāl Kṛṣṅa Go-swami and visits from Śivarāma Swami, Vipramukhya Swami, Rādhānātha Swami, Rādhā-Govinda Swami, Maha-Viṣṅu Swami, and many other devotees. Although she had planned to go to Māyāpur or Vṛndāvana to die, travel was deemed too risky when her condition deteriorated rapidly. At the moment of her passing, Savitri Priyā lifted her chanting beads to her forehead and chanted Hare Kṛṣṅa.

At a talk at the ISKCON center at 26 Second Avenue in New York, Rādhānātha Swami discussed the passing of his dear disciple Abhirāma Ṭhā-kura Dāsa, a great devotee of Kṛṣṅa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṅī. Abhirāma passed away in Mumbai in the association of his dear devotee associates and close to his worshipful deities, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Gopīnātha.

Nāmācārya Dāsa, who chanted incessantly and lived a simple, Kṛṣṅa conscious life, left this world peacefully and nobly in deepest China, surrounded by devotees.

Mahātmā Dāsa, of the Hare Kṛṣṅa community in Dallas, explains how Kīrtidā’s presence there in her final days benefited all the devotees: “Because there was so much hearing and chanting going on, we saw a tremendous change in the consciousness of the devotees. The whole community was thousands of times more Kṛṣṅa conscious than ever before.”

When a nurse named Jerry, assigned by a local agency to attend to Kīrtidā, arrived at the devotee home and saw forty devotees chanting sweetly, she was deeply moved. Within days, Jerry, a devout Christian, learned to chant on beads, took prasādam, wore a sari, and watched Kṛṣṅa conscious videos—all while taking care of Kīrtidā.

Bīr Kṛṣṅa Dāsa Goswami, who guides a Kṛṣṅa conscious community in North Carolina, notes, “It is very important for devotees to see realized Vaiṣṅavas leaving their bodies. This is another consideration for having the devotee pass away close to his or her associates.” He adds, “When I die, I wish to die near my deities of Rādhā-Golokānanda in North Carolina, because my heart is dedicated to Them. I could not bear to be anywhere else. I consider where my deities are to be identical to Vṛndāvana. Or anywhere there is pure devotional service is identical to Vṛndāvana.”

Flying Our Own Plane

In one sense, death is a very personal, internal, and solitary experience. We may die in Vṛndāvana or surrounded by loving devotees in the West. Or it could happen when we are alone at home, in a hospital at 1:00 A.M. with no devotees around, in a bus station, or on an airplane. There is no certainty exactly what our environment will be at that unknown time. But, our own consciousness or inner state of being will be there; that is certain. And ultimately that is under our control alone. Prabhupāda made an analogy with the airplane: “So you go high in the sky. But if you are in danger, no other airplane can help you. You are finished. Therefore you must be a very careful pilot to take care of yourself.”

In commenting on a verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.19.15), however, Prabhupāda explained that the association of devotees significantly helped King Parīkṣit go back to Godhead. Even though he “flew his own plane,” he also had assistance: “The atmosphere created by the presence of great devotees of the Lord on the bank of the Ganges and [my emphasis] Mahārāja Parīkṣit’s complete acceptance of the Lord’s lotus feet were sufficient guarantee to the king for going back to Godhead.”

The presence of devotees—sādhu saṅga—helped King Parīkṣit go back to Godhead. Prabhupāda considered it helpful when devotees chanted while he and others were departing from this world. He wrote a disciple, “You have done your duty at the last moment of your wife’s life, so that she could hear them chanting.”

Returning to the analogy of the airplane: Although a pilot controls the plane, who can deny that a pilot has assistance? He has associates on the ground (air traffic controllers) who give him constant guidance, and he has technicians and staff who help him on the plane as well. Similarly, devotees can help dying friends remember Kṛṣṅa at the time of death.

A dramatic example of how a devotee can assist another at the time of death is that of Keśava Bhārati Dāsa, whose elderly mother passed away a few years ago in her home in Northern California. Keśava Bhārati read the book Kṛṣṅa to his mother, a devout Christian, to help her stay conscious. She began to enjoy hearing about Kṛṣṅa and finally asked her son “Who is God?” When he replied that Kṛṣṅa is the same God she had worshiped her entire life, she nodded that she understood. In her last days she received Vaiṣṅava initiation by telephone from His Holiness Śivarāma Swami. Although she was far from Vṛndāvana at the time of her passing, Vṛndāvana and its king and queen came to her by the association of her devotee son. This is not surprising, because Kṛṣṅa is bhakta-vatsala, never failing in His affection for His devotees.

Vṛndāvana Anywhere

Radhika Desai, a devotee in Dallas who spent part of her youth in Vṛndāvana and chanted long hours for Kīrtidā in her final days, expressed how although Kīrtidā’s departure did not take place in Vṛndāvana, Kṛṣṅa could manifest Vṛndāvana in a materialistic city in the West for His devotee. She recounted two pastimes in which the Lord’s mercy made it easier for His devotee. In the first, Sanātana Gosvāmī, a leading disciple of Lord Caitanya, was so old that it was difficult for him to go on the arduous circumambulation of Govardhana Hill. Lord Caitanya then told him that if he just went around the Govardhana śilā (a sacred stone from the hill) in the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple seven times, that would be equal to walking the twenty-six kilometers around the hill. In the second, Kṛṣṅa's parents, Nanda and Yaśodā, wanted to visit the four chief holy places in the four directions of India as was the custom of pious people. But because His parents were old, Kṛṣṅa summoned the holy places to Vṛndāvana.

Who can put a limit on Kṛṣṅa's mercy?

Sārvabhauma Dāsa, a disciple of His Holiness Tamāl Kṛṣṅa Goswami, is based in Texas, but for the last few years he has been doing devotional service in England.