After returning from Kenya to Germany, I spent one week at the temple in Cologne - catching my breath, doing a few programs and getting ready for my tour around Europe. Cologne has become my base in the Western world - I consider it to be the center of Europe. It is a convenient place for me to stop over, and the devotees are always welcoming and hospitable - eager to give support in so many ways. So it has become one of my homes...
From Cologne I took a train to visit Goloka Dham for a week - a nice rural community with Sri Sri Radha Madana Mohan being their residing Lordships. Goloka Dhama was established in 1996 in the beautiful forest landscape of the idyllic Hundsrück National Park. The former wooden mill has been transformed into a spiritual oasis of contemplation and spiritual development in bhakti, amidst old trees, crystal clear streams and enchanting forest clearings. The many forest paths invite us to take long walks in the clean, fresh air, where we will only meet playful deer and watchful foxes.
I was scheduled to offer a weekend retreat on the topic of "Meeting Death With Joy" which included also a section on the Vanaprastha Ashram. We began with an introduction on Friday evening, followed by a 2-and-half-hour session before and after lunch on Saturday, and concluding with a 2-hour session on Sunday morning, instead of the SB class. Death is always a fascincating and intriguing topic relevant to everyone, and we had thought-provoking discussions while receiving insights into the importance of the Vanaprastha Ashram. Furthermore, I was requested to offer the Sunday feast lecture which was well attended and received, and I met with the devotees from Ukraine in a small circle who had moved here due to the war situation. So it was action-packed and well spent time.
When engaged in preaching, we sacrifice our blood, sweat and tears to bring a person to Krishna consciousness. The culmination of all our preaching work is giving our support to a person at this crucial moment of death. Throughout our devotional journey, we definitely need the association of devotees very much; but we need it now more than ever, when taking our final exam. We can reflect on the following key points and guidelines to be considered:
• It is a blessing to receive a final warning of approaching death. We can attempt to plan our departure with a peaceful mind, knowing well that the ultimate outcome is in the Lord’s hands.
• Death strips all the externals away, thus giving us an opportunity to connect intimately with a person on a soul-to-soul level. Accompanying a devotee on this final journey is a taxing, yet sweet and rewarding service.
• A departing person is in a weak and vulnerable position. It is important to refrain from exerting power and control over that person or imposing on them what we consider to be good.
• Serving a person during his departure requires the spiritual vision of being (to a certain extent at least) off the bodily platform.
• Some medical knowledge and experience are helpful when rendering this intimate and personal service.
• Simply expressing sorrow and pity does not help the departing person.
• Giving spiritual knowledge in relation to what takes place at the moment of death takes away fear, which is always a sign of ignorance. It is good to discuss in detail how a person would like to have things arranged.
• Best to always have some transcendental sound permeating the atmosphere: kirtan, katha, etc. It should be played very softly, making it just audible enough to deeply enter the consciousness. There is no need for a loud and blasting kirtan! When facing death, most people are very sensitive to noise and desire to have a peaceful and quiet atmosphere around them.
• Colouring the pictures of Krishna conscious colouring books to engage the mind and looking at paintings depicting Krishna or Mahaprabhu help to take the mind to the spiritual world.
• The sense of hearing is the last sense perception that continues till the end – even when someone is in a coma.
• It is important to give the departing person space to gradually withdraw. Ultimately, dying has to be done alone – we have to fly our own plane. Most people don’t want to have big crowds of people around them.
• Leaving one’s body is not a public performance for onlookers to come and gawk at.
• Best to avoid having people of the other gender being in close proximity to the departing person, which includes also family members. The attachment to the other gender is deep and binds us the most to material existence.
• Best not to be cared for by family members, as the emotional connection can easily complicate and strain those relationships.
• In order to leave this world in dignity, it may be good to fast from food and water for the very last days in order to speed up the process of departing. It requires some experience to determine the right time for starting the fast. As a rule, the appetite naturally decreases – an indication that the body does not want to accept food anymore.
• To keep one’s consciousness clear and focused, it is recommended that we minimise the intake of strong painkillers, tranquilisers and morphine. The less we take these medications, the easier it may be for us to focus on remembering Krishna.
• Assisting a person in departing from this world brings a relationship to its perfection, no matter how many imperfections and tensions there may have been. A devotee should endeavour to perform this service for their parents – especially if they are not devotees – as they have served us for many years. If they are devotees, we may leave the care to other devotees and remain
invisible, supporting them from the background. This will help them to give up their family attachments and remember Krishna alone.
• Funerals are always excellent opportunities for preaching and distributing prasadam. These are rare circumstances when people are more sober; they are inquisitive about death and the higher meaning of life.
On the 9th of July I flew on to Kishiniev/Moldova...
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
I was scheduled to offer a weekend retreat on the topic of "Meeting Death With Joy" which included also a section on the Vanaprastha Ashram. We began with an introduction on Friday evening, followed by a 2-and-half-hour session before and after lunch on Saturday, and concluding with a 2-hour session on Sunday morning, instead of the SB class. Death is always a fascincating and intriguing topic relevant to everyone, and we had thought-provoking discussions while receiving insights into the importance of the Vanaprastha Ashram. Furthermore, I was requested to offer the Sunday feast lecture which was well attended and received, and I met with the devotees from Ukraine in a small circle who had moved here due to the war situation. So it was action-packed and well spent time.
When engaged in preaching, we sacrifice our blood, sweat and tears to bring a person to Krishna consciousness. The culmination of all our preaching work is giving our support to a person at this crucial moment of death. Throughout our devotional journey, we definitely need the association of devotees very much; but we need it now more than ever, when taking our final exam. We can reflect on the following key points and guidelines to be considered:
• It is a blessing to receive a final warning of approaching death. We can attempt to plan our departure with a peaceful mind, knowing well that the ultimate outcome is in the Lord’s hands.
• Death strips all the externals away, thus giving us an opportunity to connect intimately with a person on a soul-to-soul level. Accompanying a devotee on this final journey is a taxing, yet sweet and rewarding service.
• A departing person is in a weak and vulnerable position. It is important to refrain from exerting power and control over that person or imposing on them what we consider to be good.
• Serving a person during his departure requires the spiritual vision of being (to a certain extent at least) off the bodily platform.
• Some medical knowledge and experience are helpful when rendering this intimate and personal service.
• Simply expressing sorrow and pity does not help the departing person.
• Giving spiritual knowledge in relation to what takes place at the moment of death takes away fear, which is always a sign of ignorance. It is good to discuss in detail how a person would like to have things arranged.
• Best to always have some transcendental sound permeating the atmosphere: kirtan, katha, etc. It should be played very softly, making it just audible enough to deeply enter the consciousness. There is no need for a loud and blasting kirtan! When facing death, most people are very sensitive to noise and desire to have a peaceful and quiet atmosphere around them.
• Colouring the pictures of Krishna conscious colouring books to engage the mind and looking at paintings depicting Krishna or Mahaprabhu help to take the mind to the spiritual world.
• The sense of hearing is the last sense perception that continues till the end – even when someone is in a coma.
• It is important to give the departing person space to gradually withdraw. Ultimately, dying has to be done alone – we have to fly our own plane. Most people don’t want to have big crowds of people around them.
• Leaving one’s body is not a public performance for onlookers to come and gawk at.
• Best to avoid having people of the other gender being in close proximity to the departing person, which includes also family members. The attachment to the other gender is deep and binds us the most to material existence.
• Best not to be cared for by family members, as the emotional connection can easily complicate and strain those relationships.
• In order to leave this world in dignity, it may be good to fast from food and water for the very last days in order to speed up the process of departing. It requires some experience to determine the right time for starting the fast. As a rule, the appetite naturally decreases – an indication that the body does not want to accept food anymore.
• To keep one’s consciousness clear and focused, it is recommended that we minimise the intake of strong painkillers, tranquilisers and morphine. The less we take these medications, the easier it may be for us to focus on remembering Krishna.
• Assisting a person in departing from this world brings a relationship to its perfection, no matter how many imperfections and tensions there may have been. A devotee should endeavour to perform this service for their parents – especially if they are not devotees – as they have served us for many years. If they are devotees, we may leave the care to other devotees and remain
invisible, supporting them from the background. This will help them to give up their family attachments and remember Krishna alone.
• Funerals are always excellent opportunities for preaching and distributing prasadam. These are rare circumstances when people are more sober; they are inquisitive about death and the higher meaning of life.
On the 9th of July I flew on to Kishiniev/Moldova...
Your servant, Devaki dd
Please visit www.theholynameretreat.net
www.therootsofspiritualculture.net
https://www.facebook.com/instituteforspiritualculture/
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