Mayapura, India. At approximately 7 a.m. local time, His Holiness Tamal
Krishna Goswami left his body after sustaining injuries in a car accident. He
was traveling in a taxi with two devotees, bound for the Calcutta airport
after leaving Mayapura at 4:15 in the morning.
Vrindavanesvari Dasi of Auckland, New Zealand, the wife of Kalasamvara Dasa
also passed on. She was born on this date, March 15, in 1961. Kalasamvara
Prabhu was injured, but not severely. The status of the taxi driver is not
yet known.
The taxi had driven approximately halfway to Calcutta before the accident
occurred. It was reported that the driver ran into a tree while trying to
avoid a truck on the road. Tamal Krishna Goswami, Vrindavanesvari dasi, and
Kalasamvara were taken to the Anulia Hospital in Ranaghat.
Announcements were made at the Mayapura temple shortly after the accident,
and several carloads of sannyasis and godbrothers rushed to the hospital. At
the temple it was initially reported that Tamal Krishna Goswami and other
devotees were unconscious from the accident. Tamal Krishna Maharaja's and
Vrindavanesvari Dasi's passing on was announced at approximately 7 a.m.
The accident occurred at Phuliya, near Shantipura, about sixty kilometers
from Mayapura. This very sacred place is mentioned several times in the
Caitanya-caritamrita in connection with the pastimes of Srila Haridasa
Thakura. Phuliya is the place where Haridasa Thakur lived in a cave and
chanted 300,000 names of Krishna daily. There Haridasa also resisted the
temptation by Maya, and this is also where he was beaten in twenty-two
marketplaces for his devotion to the holy name.
All seminars and courses in Mayapura have been cancelled for the day. The
devotees will be holding kirtanas and glorifying Tamal Krishna Maharaja in
special meetings throughout the day. Speakers have noted that today is the
anniversary of the disappearance of Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja and
Rasikananda Prabhu.
During a mid-day session of remembrances by senior devotees, Kesava Bharati
Prabhu read from Tamal Krishna Goswami's will, which had been forwarded by
phone from Dallas, Texas. In the will, Maharaja had stated that he wanted his
body to be placed in samadhi at Govardhana; but he specified one alternative,
namely, that if he were to pass away in Mayapura, then his body should be
placed in samadhi in Mayapura.
"Tamal Krishna Maharaja was a great pioneer," said GBC Chairman Giridhari
Swami, a close friend of Tamal Krishna Goswami's. "He led the society and the
preaching for Srila Prabhupada. He served on the first GBC body. He was
empowered to purchase the first land for Mayapura, he infused energy into the
book distribution in America through the Radha-Damodara party, and he was the
first to go to China."
"Maharaja had not been to the Mayapura annual meetings for several years
because he had taken a leave of absence from the GBC to complete his
doctorate work," Kesava Bharati Prabhu said. "Every evening after the
meetings this year, a large group of devotees, including many sannyasi
godbrothers such as Niranjana Swami, Radhanath Swami, Sivarama Swami, B.B.
Govinda Swami and Jayadvaita Swami, packed into his rooms and chanted
together for a couple of hours. Tamal Krishna Goswami was absorbed in a mood
of relishing the chanting in the dhama. Just as he was leaving this morning,
he spoke to me again about this chanting. He said that kirtana is so
wonderful; it is the way to purify our hearts and solve many problems."
Tamal Krishna Goswami was completing his doctorate work at Cambridge
University. According to Ravindra Svarupa Prabhu, Maharaja was completing the
last chapter of his Ph.D. thesis, which is about Srila Prabhupada. He was
serving as the Governing Body Commissioner for Taiwan, China, the
Philippines, Fiji, Texas, Mayapura and Calcutta. He was the author of several
books on Krishna consciousness. He was 55 years old.
"A prominent limb of Srila Prabhupada's legacy has left the world," said
Radhanath Swami. "The list of Tamal Krishna Goswami's accomplishments is so
vast; he was empowered by Srila Prabhupada to accomplish many difficult,
difficult tasks."
Submitted by Anuttama Dasa
ISKCON Communications Minister
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