Everyone should hear of this account of Mother Lore's passing from this world. Those who doubt of the possibility of miracles will become believers, and those who are believers will be refreshed in their faith. If you think that such phenomena are only unseen events, ethereal, felt in the heart or just 'known'... or unknowable and unexplainable. By reading this account, you'll be given the eyes to see what we witnessed with ours........
Kirtan at Lore's home started out as 3x a week.
On the first night of chanting, Lore was still active and talking... 'not quite right' as she would say.. Her eating had diminished and sleeping increased. At one point during the kirtan, I went into her room because she had gotten up and was sitting on the edge of her bed. I sat next to her. She asked me "Who's here?" I told her that some devotees had come to sing. Her answer was "Well, we can do without that!"
I was thinking... at the last, she would probably fall into an inactive state to hear. That's exactly what happened.
And so it began.
Her condition deteriorated. From Sunday on...devotees came every night to chant.
Lore became anxious with a high level of pain. For 3 days, starting on Friday, she refused to eat or drink, forcibly pushing away any attempts made to feed her, unable to swallow. Her pain and panic was closely observed and managed with medications.
By Tuesday morning, the day of her passing, we knew that she was not long for this world and the Hospice nurse came and confirmed what was evident. Amazingly enough, she was peaceful and pain free. I began to look for signs of an actively dying state. The first sign came. The bottoms of her feet became darkened, a mottled color as the live force began to withdraw from the extremities. Rasikendra was there, I told him of the situation, but he had to leave to pick Priya up from school. Padaduli was on her way. Devotees were in the house chanting.
Almost as soon as Padaduli arrived, she went in to visit Grandmother and came out in a rush, "She's leaving!"
Immediately, Giriraja Sila was put at the top of Lore's head and within a circled garland, Nrsingha Shaligram was placed on her abdomen. The devotees and kirtan came into the room like a rush of wind and filled it with the Holy Name.
It seemed like a moment...it seemed like an eternity. Lore sucked in a breath and we silently counted 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8......to 20 before another sharp in- breath.
Then, like a miracle, Lore voluntarily moved her hands. Hands that had been limp and lifeless for 2 days, moved toward Nrsingha Shaligram on her abdomen. Padaduli noticed. "Look she wants to to touch Shaliram. Put her hands there." I gently guided her hands to rest on the shiny black Nrsingha Sila.
Then again.... counting. This time until 24. Then another in- breath and counting .....past 20, past 24. Padaduli and I looked at each other ...was this it? No! Another inhale startled us. Again counting... past 20, past 24, past 30, past 35 watching and waiting for another breath that never came.
The time? 1:08pm. The most auspicious number.
We both agreed. There were no more breaths.
The kirtan swelled and soared and devotees were tossed in the ecstacy of the Holy Name. Rasikendra had returned and stood by Lore's bed to lead a kirtan deep in emotion. I told Padaduli that Grandmother was going to sit up and say, "Is that Rasikendra singing?"
Lore is very attached to Rasikendra. We think that she chose to leave when she knew he had gone out of the house. We never spoke medical information in her room.There is a sign posted in Mother Lore's room that reads.."Hare Krsna ONLY Spoken Here." She probably heard his voice as he was leaving. The sense of hearing becomes the most acute and the only working sense left, as the end nears.
I placed a Tulasi leaf and Ganga Jal in Lore's mouth, Padaduli marked her body with tilak and tied her big toes together, to keep her legs from separating. Her body was anointed with sacred waters.
The front room, where she was to be moved, was prepared with a simple mat sprinkled with Vrndavana dust. Devotees rolled the edges of her sheet to make a hand hold and carried their Dear Mother into the front room, and placed her on the floor mat sprinkled with Vrndavana dust. Everyone had the opportunity to offer flower petals, circumambulate, and pay our last respects. The front room filled up and devotees spilled into other rooms and the hallway. For 5 hours, the kirtan went on and on and on.
Lore's body was scheduled to leave for the funeral home at 5:30pm. Then, at that time...there was a divine shower. The sun was shining and rain was falling from a dark cloud that moved overhead. A beautiful, soft warm rain that sparkled like glitter as it fell from the sky. It is understood that the rain of a divine shower is very auspicious. The demigods are showering flowers.
At 6:00, Lore's tiny mortal frame was carried out of the house in the devotees loving hands to a waiting vehicle accompanied by kirtan. The long shiny black car drove away
and made the turn at the end of the street, to drive past the temple and then on.
The devotees offered their obeisances on the wet pavement, freshly washed from the divine shower.
Last rite services and cremation will be held the following day, May 1
