A girl on her deathbed finds peace in Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
Purushottam Kumar: A Polish girl suffering from cancer finds peace when she begins chanting and hearing the Hare Krishna Mahamantra
Dying peacefully
HH Indradumnya Maharaj writes about her in his diary.
“The girl was 16 when she discovered that she has cancer & the cancer had already spread all over her body. The girl was undergoing through tremendous physical pain but fortunately she had discovered a medicine which would help her to bear the unbearable pain. She would find solace & comfort in singing the Hare Krishna kirtan (song). Slowly her condition deteriorated further & it became impossible for her to even speak. Then she requested her brother to sing the kirtan for her.
Her brother who was studying in a college used to phone her and sing the kirtan for her everyday from 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. It continued for 2 months. And one fateful night the girl left this world while her brother was singing the kirtan for her. Her brother was not aware that his sister has already died. He continued singing the Mahamantra. His mother who was with his sister during her last moments picked up the phone and informed him that his sister is no more. Controlling her tears, she thanked her son for singing the Mahamantra and said, “Your sister died peacefully.” (Reference: travelingmonk.com, I-never-Cry, Volume 11, Chapter 10, Oct 11, 2010).”
The girl was able to withstand tremendous physical pain because she was able to raise her consciousness from material to spiritual. No doubt, her physical body was suffering but her soul was experiencing peace and happiness when she chanted or heard the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
When can we transcend physical pain?
Our real identity is that we are spirit souls, part and parcel of the Supreme Lord. Just like our dress covers our body, similarly our physical body covers our soul. The dress we wear does not last forever, similarly the body we wear goes through wear and tear before it makes it final journey to the graveyard. When we give up our old dress, we wear the new one. Similarly, our soul takes up new physical body when our present body becomes unsuitable for living.
If you and me can understand that we are souls and as souls, we are eternal then physical pain and unpleasant material circumstances won’t trouble us much. We will transcend all the pains.
Why don’t we experience we are souls?
But the problem is that we do not experience that we are souls?
Just like we feel that we are sitting inside a car, similarly why don’t we feel that as souls we are sitting inside our body?
Scriptures say that it is because our consciousness is contaminated in this world. It is covered with the impurities of lust, greed, pride, anger, envy, illusion, false ego.
If you make a person wear glasses covered with thick layer of mud, then he won’t be able to see anything. For him everything will look same i.e. black.
Similarly, since we are engrossed in matter, and our consciousness is covered with multiple layers of impurities, so we cannot distinguish between matter and spirit. They look same to us and so we always identify ourselves with our physical body.
Now, if the person cleans the mud from his glasses, then he can see things clearly. Similarly, if we remove the impurities which is blinding our consciousness then we will be able to see ourselves as souls residing in temporary physical body.
Is it possible to clean the impurities? If yes, then how?
Cleaning the impurities is a difficult task, but it is not impossible. Merely by thinking or by verbally saying that we are not this body, but spirit souls will not make us realize that we are spirit souls.
For this, we will have to make conscious efforts. Scriptures have given us a process to remove these impurities. The holy books say that in the present age, chanting the names of God is the most potent way to clean the heart of all the vices. But what mantra to chant? All the authorized mantras of the Lord are great, but the best is the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
When we start cleaning our heart, we slowly begin to differentiate ourselves from the physical body and physical world. In the beginning our understanding is at preliminary stage but gradually our vision becomes clearer and when we become completely pure, we clearly see that we are souls sitting inside the body.
As souls we belong to Krishna. The greatest benefit of chanting is that it not just purifies our heart, but it also helps to re-establish our relationship with Krishna, our Supreme Father.
When an orphan child reunites with his father, his joy is unlimited. Similarly, when we reconnect to Krishna, we experience incalculable bliss. As soon as we start the process of reconnecting with Krishna, happiness starts manifesting in our heart.
What happens when heart is completely cleansed of all the impurities?
At the onset of dawn there is some glimpses of sunlight, but darkness is also there. Similarly, when we start the process of Krishna Consciousness by chanting the names of Krishna then slowly darkness caused by impurities from our heart starts dissipating. Transcendental happiness starts appearing in our heart but because the impurities are still not completely purged so we do not experience complete joy. So, we suffer too.
When sun appears completely in the eastern horizon then darkness is completely gone. Similarly, when by our sincere chanting, Krishna’s love illuminates our heart then our heart is cleansed of all the impurities. In that spiritual light our consciousness awakens, we forgo all our physical and material attachment and joyfully swim in the ocean of transcendental bliss.
Conscious efforts to connect to Krishna
The fortunate young Polish girl was able to minimize her suffering because she intelligently took the medicine of the holy name. She could not do much about her physical pain. But she uplifted her consciousness by making conscious effort to connect to Krishna. She found joy in hearing the kirtan of Krishna because chanting and hearing nourished her soul.
Physical pain and pleasure are flickering. It comes and go. But spiritual joy is eternal and unlimited. So, we should make conscious efforts to connect to Krishna by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra, it will bring peace and happiness.