Next morning on October 8th, Prabhupada’s horoscope arrived from Delhi and he had Tamal Krishna read it out to him. It mentioned several days which were particularly inauspicious. The 8th, 9th, and the 11th.. And then other dates later in the month, and in the following months. Prabhupada listened in silence. Now as each day goes by, Prabhupada seems to be becoming more and more resigned within himself. All we can do is simply chant and pray to Lord Krishna that we will relieve Prabhupada from any difficulty, and hope that he will be alive to stay with us.
Prabhupada lay very quietly all morning simply listening to the kirtana. At one-point Prabhupada said out loud,
“Jaya Radhe, jaya Krishna, jaya Våndavana”.
In this way he indicated that he wanted this song to be sung. At about 11 a.m. Hansadutta Swami was there and Prabhupada began talking.
“……. in this way organize as far as possible. Even in Ceylon or anywhere. At the same time chant Hare Krishna. Do not be allured by the machinery civilization. There is enough land, especially you Americans. Wherever you can inhabit, it is not very difficult. A cottage, you can produce your own food anywhere. Am I right?”
“Yes Prabhupada, we will do it”. Replied Hansadutta.
“Our money is spent for Krishna. On Krishna palace, Krishnas temple, Krishna worship, for Krishna glorification. Not for personal. This is human life. And organize this varnasrama. Divide the society: brahmana, ksatriya, so there is division. As there is division in the body. Do not waste the human form of life by sinful living. I wanted to introduce this. I have given the idea. You can read, you are all intelligent, all of you. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said para upakara. So do good to others. Do not exploit all others. Any human being who is being bestowed by this body has the capacity to chant Hare Krishna. Give them chanting and make the situation favorable. Is that clear?”
“Yes Prabhupada. You have made everything very clear”.
To Brahmananda Svami, Prabhupada again repeated the same message,
“Have sankirtana. All Europeans, Americans, Africans. United Nations under Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s flag. Do everything as I have tried. It is possible. This is the real United Nations. You try under the protection of Caitanya Mahaprabhu; things will be successful. Others will simply waste time and be disappointed and change their body and suffer”.
Then Prabhupada requested us,
“Sing two songs especially, cintamani prakarasadmasu and Hare Krishna maha-mantra. These are to be continuously chanted”.
Tamal Krishna Gosvami asked Prabhupada if he wanted something to drink now. Prabhupada replied,
“When I shall want, you will give me caranamrta”.
In this way Prabhupada stopped taking any more to drink, except a few drops of caranamrta.
“A little can be given, but do not take me to the hospital”.
When he was assured that under no circumstance would he ever be taken to the hospital, Prabhupada said,
“Yes, I am quite all right here”.
Then, after a pause,
“I came back from London on account of fearing these hospitalizations. You can all go on now chanting Hare Krishna”.
A few minutes later Prabhupada requested that his wrist watch be given to Upendra prabhu upon his departure. The atmosphere by this time was becoming more and more intense, as daily we were seeing that Prabhupada was becoming more and more resigned to leaving, and he was making less and less effort to maintain his body. We had even gone to find out about making arrangements for Prabhupada’s samadhi, from one of his God brother’s disciples who lives in a Mathura Math. We were fearing that his departure was imminent. The only request that Prabhupada had from any of us, was that we should simply go on chanting. In the evening Prabhupada called us in, and asked for one of his God brothers to be brought to him. Hence, the car was sent out, and a man was brought.
As Prabhupada waited for him to arrive, he discussed with one of the local men, whether Våndavana management would go on after his departure. Everybody was resigned with despair at this point.
The atmosphere was very heavy and we sat silently, four of five of us massaging the different portions of Srila Prabhupada’s body while he lay listening to the kirtana. When Narayana Maharaja finally arrived, Prabhupada began to speak to him. Prabhupada told him that his Guru Maharaja had wanted that they should preach in Europe and America. That was his desire. And his other desire was that they would all work jointly together and preach. Prabhupada said,
“I did not waste a single moment. I tried my best and it has been successful to some extent”.
At this point Prabhupada was almost crying with emotion.
If we work jointly, then as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama. It has great possibility. My life is coming to an end. It is my desire that you will all forgive me for my mistakes. My God brothers, when you are preaching, at times there are some disputes, some misunderstandings. Maybe I also committed some offenses, like that. Please ask them to forgive me. When I am gone you all sit together and decide how you can arrange for some utsava, festival for me”.
Narayana Maharaja assured Prabhupada that whatever he instructs, he will follow. He told him that he considers him as his guru. Prabhupada asked that he look after his disciples,
“They do not have anything hereditary. They are born in mleccha and yavana family’s. Whatever I could, I taught them and they are also doing with their full capacity. If you all work jointly then the whole world is there”.
In this way, even in his final hours, Prabhupada was thinking of his disciples. Again, Prabhupada asked them to forgive him if he had committed any offense during his preaching. They assured him that there was no offense. Rather than anybody who thought there may be some offense on his part, they were the offensive persons. Then one of the Bengali brahmacaris began to sing very softly, Sri-rupa-manjari-pada and everybody silently listened. The room was dark and Prabhupada was laying very quietly on his bed, and about twenty devotees were all gathered around. Narayana Maharaja then went on and said,
“It is very nice that you have come to Vrajabhumi from the west”.
“Yes, I told them that my condition was very bad”. Replied Prabhupada.
And then Prabhupada asked Tamal Krishna,
“You have consulted with Narayana Maharaja?”
He was referring to the burial ceremony of the departure of a Vaisnava. He inquired of us where would his samadhi be, in relation to the temple, and he took assurance from Narayana Maharaja that the service would be performed properly. Then Narayana Maharaja told Prabhupada,
“All the work of your life is very well performed. Nothing is left to be done. There is nothing to worry about. You have fulfilled everything”.
Then after a pause,
“They (meaning Prabhupada’s devotees) should be told that they should not get motivated by their own self-interest. They should make your mission successful”.
Then Prabhupada looked at us all and lifted his hand, palm open, and said,
“Do not fight amongst yourselves. I have given direction in my will”.
Then another God brother of Prabhupada’s, Indumati prabhu came. Prabhupada turned to him and said,
“I called you just to tell you that my end is nearing. First, I want to say, forgive me for all my offenses. I did not want to hurt anyone, but while preaching one must sometimes say something that may offend others. Will you forgive me?”
Narayana Maharaja replied,
“Maharaja, you did not commit any offense; we never thought that you did anything wrong. On the other hand, you bless us, we need it. You never did anything wrong. If someone is offended by any of your actions then it is his fault”.
In this way, it was very moving and very intense. Then they all left and Prabhupada settled back to hearing the kirtana.