By Bhakti Prabhava Swami
I made a seminar presentation, in which I shared my experience of attempting to help terminally ill devotees to prepare for death, I asked the seminar attendants the question: “What would you do if you were told you have terminal cancer and you have two or three months to live?” Some devotees replied that they would go to Vrindavan or Mayapur to prepare for leaving their body. Others said that they would chant constantly and hear Krishna Katha without interruption. Bhakta Pol was able to visit the holy dhamas and intensify his sadhana and association with devotees because, until his sudden heart failure, he was in reasonably good health. But a person suffering with advanced cancer is generally not able to perform these activities. Therefore, Hamsagati Krishna Das, who left us at the age of sixty-one, reacted differently to the news of his imminent death.