This year for Sri Krsna Janmastami, I sit at the deathbed of a vaisnava – my uncle, Kundara das.
He has not complained in these weeks of his body’s demise at the hands of cancer; he has not protested. He has embraced this time – this opportunity, with a gentle smile.
We may ask ourselves, what opportunity can news of one’s immanent death bring? And what is the duty of a person about to die?
For vaisnavas, death is an opportunity to make their lives successful. The vaisnavas happily absorb themselves in hearing, chanting, and remembering the glories of the Supreme Lord, Sri Hari (Krsna), leaving all worldly duties and considerations aside. And so it goes as no surprise that my uncle took his rendezvous with death as an opportunity to immediately purify his body, mind, and senses, and to focus on the ultimate goal of life.
He requested that his life be celebrated; so, without time to say all that could be said about his beautiful life, I simply collect these thoughts as an offering in the approaching moments of this astami twilight:
To some he was a father, a lover, a brother, and a son. He had nick names with curious stories behind them: “Wedgie” — a boy with fantastic adventures from the Nevada desert lands; “Kun-Dawg” — a surfer guy, a free sprit, a singer / songwriter, and a poet.
But most significantly, Kundara das is the disciple of a pure devotee of Lord Krsna, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Svami Prabhupada. After taking shelter of the lotus feet of his spiritual master, Kundara das lovingly served him to the best of his capacity. He offered his youth for the cause of hari nam sankirtan yajna, giving up personal comforts and sacrificed many things within himself to fulfill the desire of his divine master. He served on the Radha Damodar traveling sankirtan party and distributed Srila Prabhupada’s books. In 1977 he had the great fortune to be with Srila Prabhupada in Sri Vrndavan dham. Through studying and distributing transcendental Vedic literatures and singing the glories of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna and Sri Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu, he became very dear to sri sri Guru and Gauranga.
In the absence of the association of his spiritual master in later years, he seemed to drift and toss in an ocean of suffering, tasting the bitter fruits of material failures, frustrations, and heartbreaks. Yet through everything, he nurtured his nistha in sat-guru and his faith in the power of hari katha (narrations of the Supreme Lord’s name, form, qualities and pastimes). In good times and in bad, he continued reading the sastras, especially Sri Caitanya Caritamrta.
At fifty-five years old, he has become humble, tolerant, compassionate, gentle, at peace within himself, and detached from material ambitions. He shared an infectious mood of joyful light-heartedness with everyone he met, and was always ready to share the wealth of his heart (his bhakti) with them. He was a very natural devotee, never pretentious or artificial. He was charming and witty and could burst into song at any given moment. He was very human and very wonderful. Now he lays across the threshold of the most important transition of his life.
This morning Srila Gurudeva sent instructions to my family on how to perform his final rites when the time comes, and he sent my uncle the following blessings:
“My special heartly blessings are for Kundara prabhu. Your uncle is about to leave his body. He is a sincere devotee and all of you desire that he will receive Krsna’s causeless mercy.
I pray to Sri Giriraja that very soon, without any difficulties, Kundara prabhu should leave his body and receive the constant association of pure devotees in his next birth. This will give him the golden opportunity to perfect his bhajan and obtain pure Krsna Bhakti.”
Sri Krsna Janmastami ki jai!
Srila Gurudeva ki jai!
Srila Prabhupada ki jai!
Sri sri guru gauranga gandharvika guiridhari sri sri radha-vinode bihari jiu ki jai!
