Friday, November 8

Written by Nimai

After leaving Vrindavan, Kadamba Kanana Swami flew from Delhi to Coimbatore in South India (06 May), where he was warmly received by a group of devotees who had all come to the airport to meet him for the first time. We didn’t drive to the temple though, but made our way straight to the hospital instead. This is where we would spend the next three weeks, at the AVP Ayurvedic clinic.

The hospital is a nice, green place with a temple close to the rooms of the patients. They worship the form of Lord Vishnu who is called Dhanvantari and they say without this worship, the treatment does not work! We got a double room which happened to be right next to the temple. Coinciding with the start of our stay at the hospital, a 40 year anniversary celebration of the hospital was underway and every day a group of drummers played for many hours. In the evenings, there were performances by other musical groups as well and lots of visitors came. There was a big elephant procession on the final day, with a parade of people dressed up in different forms of the Lord – the most outstanding of all was Lord Nrsimhadev!

Shortly thereafter, the main treatment began. Until then, they had been building up Maharaj’s immune system. Now, six people come in the morning to massage Maharaj. There are many rules for the patient which come with the treatment. Maharaj is not allowed to be on the phone for longer periods of time or even leave the room AT ALL. He is not allowed to read, watch videos, do any kind of exercise, answer mails or sleep during the daytime. One may think of Maharaj as a rebel, but he actually follows everything very strictly. The hospital provides his meals, part of it are tasteless boiled bananas but Maharaj still takes it nonetheless.

There are two very nice devotees, Bhakta Vatsala and his sister Man Beharini from Pune, who arranged most of our stay here and have been very helpful in general. During the day Maharaj speaks to us about all kinds of different things. Sometimes it is more personal and sometimes it is like a Bhagavad-gita class. We also heard about Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes in Jagannatha Puri and other things from the CC. The staff here are really friendly, and doctors as well as cleaning crew refer to Maharaj as “Swamiji”. They are very respectful and appreciate Maharaj’s singing too which he does in his room. A few days after our arrival, HH Bhaktivinod Swami came to visit. He’s a very nice person with a good vibe and spends a lot of time in Coimbatore. He told us, that HH Radhanatha Swami also stayed in this room once, some years ago.

Kadamba Kanana Swami’s stay at the hospital will continue until the end of this month…

3 Comments

  1. Sudha Mehta on

    Hare krsna
    Nice to see that Maharaj is recuperating. What is the name of this hospital? Can anyone help with the name

  2. Shirley Prins on

    Thank you so much for this wonderful blog. It is good for my heart to hear about KKSwami Maharaj, who I have deep feelings for. I pray to Lord Nrshimadeva to protect and bless him during this treatment. Hare Krishna, Sachimata dd