His Holiness Srila Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami departs this world to the transcendental realm
My beloved Guru left his body early October 1st in the morning while at the Bhaktivedanta Institute in Calcutta.
Affectionately know as Srila Sripada Maharaja, he was a very dear disciple of His Divine Grace Swami Prabhupada. He was a scientist and organized many important conferences with many spiritual and scientific leaders. He managed the BI (Bhaktivedanta Institute), wrote many books, opened the Manipur Temple complex, opened hospital & yogic cure center. His Holiness has been placed in Samadhi at Radha-Kunda, the holiest place in the worlds on the 4th of October. Now Sripada Maharaj is bestowing all sincere soul all over the world from his Samadhi. Samadhi means sitting for proper meditation of Supreme Lord. Now Sripada Maharaj is sitting at Radha-Kunda for distributing amongst us the Divine Love of Srimati Radharani, our ultimate desire for practicing the path of devotion.
Srila Sripada was well known and loved for this friendliness, gentleness & humility.
I received 1st & 2nd initiation from him in 1993 in Berkeley, CA. The last time I had seen him was briefly at Ratha Yatra in Washington DC 1999. Most time was spent with him in Denver, CO.
October 2, I went to the temple that morning with the kids for Greeting of the Deities not knowing yet that he had left. His Holiness Bir Krsna Goswami was here and he Mother Krsna Priya were whispering during the announcement time. His Holiness BKG informed us that a dear senior devotee may have left but it wasn't yet confirmed. Suddenly I got a lump in my throat, could it be? As soon as Mother Krsna Priya began to approach me, I understood what was happening. I immediately took shelter in front Sri Sri Radha Golokananda. HH BKG and Mother KP were very kind and merciful unto me giving me immediate shelter. I was very grateful how they handled this difficult news with me and hearing the news in the temple with devotees rather than coming across it on my computer alone at home! The next day HH BKG lead the pushpanjali prayers while my husband offered the arati. That day also happened to be the holy appearance day of HH BKG so many devotees were present and I got to spend the day at his Vyasa Puja gathering for which I was also very thankful. I was also grateful that my dear friend, Campakalata dd got to be at the ceremony in Radha Kunda and offer prayers & flowers on my behalf.
I was also relieved that since the bomb blast happened, myself & many disciples and well wishers of Sripada Maharaja got to send their letters expressing their love for him before he left. In retrospect it was like a warning.
I feel closer to Srila Sripada more now than ever before.

'Entering Rasa Lila' - The Glorious Departure of Srila Sripada Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Swami
by Sripada Maharaja�s servants attending Him in Calcutta
Posted October 13, 2006

Vijaya Dasami, 2006

Srila Sripada Bhaktisvarupa Damodara Maharaja, beloved spiritual son of Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, disappeared from this mortal world during the Ratrilila period of Lord Sri Krishna�s Astakaliya lila on Vijaya Dasami, which according to this year�s Panchangam, is the most auspicious day of this calendar year, 2006. Sripada Maharaja�s disappearance took place in Calcutta, the holy appearance place (Janmasthan) of his divine master Srila Prabhupada. Calcutta is also the holy site from which His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur chose to disappear. Due to Sripada Maharaja�s deep and intense love for his divine master Srila Prabhupada, he not only chose Calcutta as his place of work but also as his place of disappearance.

Sripada Maharaja�s unwillingness to compromise on Srila Prabhupada�s instructions is well known and we hope that his dedication to Srila Prabhupada�s instructions will serve as an illustrious example for the world-wide devotee community, now and for all times to come.

As most of you may have heard, there was a serious bomb blast inside of ISKCON Manipur�s temple complex on August 16, 2006, Sri Janmastami day. Six devotees including two children left this world and over forty devotees were seriously injured. Sripada Maharaja�s body was also injured during this blast. He had a deep cut and a fractured bone in his left forearm, a small puncture in his left eardrum and a tiny shrapnel burn on his back. After preliminary treatment in Manipur and performing the sraddha ceremonies for the departed devotees, Sripada Maharaja came to Calcutta on August 25, 2006 where he was admitted into the Apollo Hospital. There, he underwent successful operations on his forearm and ear. He was discharged from the hospital on September 9, 2006. On September 19, 2006 Maharaja visited the hospital for a routine checkup. At that time the burn on his back had almost healed and the doctors were surprised by how quickly the fractured bone in his forearm was setting. The cut on his forearm was also healing well.

While returning from the hospital to his flat Sripada Maharaja asked us to search his room and find his Manipur Nat Sankirtan (Rasa Lila) audio cassettes. From September 10, 2006, until the day of his disappearance, Sripada Maharaja�s mood and behavior was different from what we had previously experienced. Everyday, he would listen to and sing along with these cassettes for the entire day except for when he was taking his medicine, prasadam or a little rest. We thought that Maharaja was taking it easy during his recovery, as his normal schedule was very active and he never previously took the time to listen to Kirtan cassettes. The Manipuri Nat Sankirtan cassettes that he was listening to are Kirtans sung in the Manipuri language, which describe the pastimes of Lord Sri Krishna and Srimati Radharani. Since we do not understand the Manipur language, Sripada Maharaja, during his lunchtime, would sometimes explain to us what was being sung on the tapes. He said that the songs describing the Rasa Lila are so absorbing that one can completely forget this world. He said, �This world is on one side and that world is on another side.� He was always in an extremely happy mood and said he was feeling more enthusiastic than ever.

One afternoon, Sripada Maharaja explained to us that one of the Manipuri songs described Srimati Radhika�s walking to be like that of a graceful female elephant. Sripada Maharaja expressed many other details about the pastimes of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, however, due to our unfortunate lack of qualification we could not understand them nor did we make any recordings of Sripada Maharaja during this time. Sripada Maharaja described how the Rasa Lila is performed according to the ancient Manipuri tradition. He also told us that once he discussed the Manipuri Rasa Lila with Srila Prabhupada and said that Srila Prabhupada was very pleased with the profound Manipuri Vaishnava culture.

We asked Sripada Maharaja how the Gaudiya Vaishnava culture and these peculiar Manipuri tunes originally came to Manipur. Sripada Maharaja said that the songs and devotional culture are from Narottam Das Thakur whose disciples came to Manipur and initiated King Bhagyachandra Maharaja. The tunes were developed by Bhagyachandra Maharaja himself and some subsequent Manipuri kings. While explaining more, Sripada Maharaja described how the performance of Rasa Lila is done in the Manipuri tradition. It first begins with the glorification of Gaura Lila wherein Lord Gauranga is requested to come and be the principal witness of the Rasa Lila. The glories of the Yuga Dharma Hari Nam Sankirtan are extolled, and prayers are sung to Lord Nityananda. Then only does the Rasa Lila begin.

>A week before his disappearance, Sripada Maharaja, in a deep mood, wrote down a wonderful transcendental song in the Manipuri language. He then sang and recorded it for all of the devotees. Many devotees now have a recording of this wonderful transcendental song. It was sung in what we, his disciples, call his gopi voice. Sripada Maharaja's written words for the song and translation by him are as follows:

VRAJAPREMDA LUPPE
ANGAOBAGUMLE
RADHABU THIRAKLE
SRI GAURANA
Translation: Immersed in the loving thoughts of Vrajaprema, Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu is searching for Srimati Radhika like a mad man.

KEIDANO BRINDAVAN
KEIDANO KUNJAVAN KADAIDA LEIKHRE
SAKHISHINGDUNA
THIRAKLE RADHABU
SRI GAURANA

Translation: �Where is Vrindavana
Where is Kunjavan