By Srutakirti das
She told me yesterday a black snake came up to the door and Gopi simply closed the door on it. She sees it as Krsna’s messenger.
I received the most disturbing news that our Godbrother, Gopiparanadhana prabhu left his body a few hours ago here in Govardhan.
I’ve just returned from his house, which is next door to Iskcon Govardhan Mandir. I will give a short report here as told by his wife. He was seen early in the morning and was ‘fine’. One devotee was waiting for an hour to see him. When he finally got in his place he found him lying on the floor and probably been there for a few hours…..
His wife told me that he had just returned from the Polish festival and in two days he was going to China. Krsna arranged for him to leave his body here, at his home in Govardhan. She told me yesterday a black snake came up to the door and Gopi simply closed the door on it. She sees it as Krsna’s messenger. It certainly could have been an asthma attack but no analysis has been done yet as the police hadn’t yet arrived.
His body was almost straight on the floor of his room. He was lying on his back and would be in a dandavat position with his left side facing Govardhan Hill. I was his first Godbrother in the room and after a few minutes chanted Nrsingha prayers. Looking around his small room I saw the following on his desk. A framed picture with the following words:
“Do not hear from mouths of persons lacking proper conduct. If your conduct is below par you should not publicly preach about the Lord. Close the door and preach to yourself. Bhajan really begins when one’s outside and inside are the same.”
Also on his desk was a large copy of Upanisadbhasyam and two books in Chinese, at least one of them was a Chinese/English Dictionary. ————— Gopiparanadhana dasa was a scholar of Sanskrit and a practising ISKCON devotee. Born in 1950 in New York City, he received his BA in linguistics from Columbia University in 1972 and was initiated by Srila Prabhupada in 1973. Under Srila Prabhupada’s guidance, Gopiparanadhana developed an expertise in Sanskrit and served as an editor for the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust (BBT). After Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance Gopiparanadhana helped complete the Srimad Bhagavatam, Mukunda-mala-stotra and Narada-bhakti-sutra. He continues to translate Gaudiya-Vaishnava literature from Sanskrit, and he is also training editors and translators for the BBT. He has worked on the BBT production of Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrita. He lived in India with his wife, his son, and two cows.
