In life or Death, Take Shelter
After leaving the hospital a few weeks ago, my firm determination was to never return. It was by far, one of the most painful experiences of my life.
Yet today I did.
This time, to the ICU, the Intensive Care Unit, a place I cringed to think about. So many people on life support, young and old, just barely holding on.
The daughter of a devotee from Pune passed away at a young age in the California Medical Center Hospital here in San Francisco. The cause of her death was organ failure.
A group of devotees and I had the opportunity to be next to her body and pray for her. Life is so fleeting and can pass through our fingers at any time. It’s so shocking that it almost feels unreal.
Death and pain don’t discriminate, do they? Time and tide wait for none.
I noticed a feeble young girl on her bed in the ICU, around my age, smiling at me. I waved at her, and she waved back. I took the liberty to walk into her room, and her sister welcomed me with a warm embrace and tearful eyes, as though I was a part of their family.
“We were just waiting for someone to come by, smile at us, and give us some warm feelings of love amid all this suffering,” the sister said, firmly holding my hand. “Thank you for stopping by. You don’t know how much it means to us.”
I let them hold the Bhagavad Gita, saying that this is a book of prayer and a source of spiritual strength. They eagerly took two copies.
While I was leaving, the parents folded their palms in gratitude and bowed their heads saying, “Thank you so much. I’m sure our daughter will get better soon. Thanks for sharing the love.”
Death is all pervading, so unstoppable. There is nothing in our human power that we can do to prevent it. It's all a cycle of every individual's personal karma. Surprisingly, though, we do have control over and responsibility for the situation. Srila Prabhupada has given us our only shelter, Krsna, and His words in the Gita. We are encouraged to drink the nectar of its contents to our fullest, and to make it a goal of our lives to distribute it to our suffering brothers and sisters.
Priya Kishori-devi Dasi
