Discussion With The Chaplain

Discussion With The Chaplain

May 24, 2022 - This early evening, I had another discussion in my hospital room with the Chaplain at Boca Raton Regional Hospital. I had already spoken with her once (twice?) since I arrived at the emergency room here on May 13, 2022. I was admitted later that day with severe chest pain.

On May 19, 2022, I had follow-up surgery here to have my sternal plates removed from my chest and a wound vacuum installed to suck out the severe infection within my chest. On March 9, 2022, I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery here, including the insertion of sternal plates instead of wires to hold my broken sternum (breastbone) together.

l am scheduled for yet another surgery at 8 a.m. tomorrow (May 25, 2022), when a plastic reconstructive surgeon plans to remove the wound vacuum within my chest; clean out the remaining infection within my chest ("washout"); and then close my chest. He may decide to leave part of the wound vacuum attached.

Because of my upcoming surgery tomorrow morning and my flirtations with death in recent years, the Chaplain decided to speak with me about any psychological, emotional, and/or spiritual concerns that I may have been experiencing in this regard. I told her that long ago, someone told me that everyone dies from something and that when your time is finished, it's finished.

This evening, I taught the chaplain the basics of my religion, "Gaudiya Vaishnavism" ("Hare Krishna"), which is a sect of "Sanatana Dharma" ("Hinduism").

I explained to her my beliefs about life, death, reincarnations, and where one ultimately goes after all reincarnations have been completed. The idea is to go "Back To Godhead," which is where Lord Krishna (God) resides. Godhead is somewhat like Heaven.

I told her that when someone dies, it is said that the person has "left his or her body." The body is merely a disposable covering for the soul. When one dies, the body is just discarded as one would discard old clothes or an old coat that no longer has any use.

After corporal death, the soul soon re-enters another living being (a blade of grass, a tree, a horse, a man, a woman, etc.) and lives within that living entity until that reincarnation has been completed. When the soul experiences everything that there is to experience on Earth throughout these many thousands of reincarnations, the soul returns to Godhead (Heaven) to live eternity with Lord Krishna, His consort Radha, and the Gopis (dairy maidens).

As a young woman, the Chaplain was quite interested in my explanations of my religion. I told her of the Maha-Mantra (Hare Krishna Mantra), which I need to but do not recite at least 108 times per day, but is constantly within my brain. I told her my favorite quotation, which is by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; He is a reincarnation from the 15th Century of Lord Krishna, who is God from about 5,000 years ago). This quotation below best explains how I live my life.

I also told her about my spiritual master (His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda) and how He founded my religion in New York City in 1966.

I also told her about my pilgrimages to the Hare Krishna Temple in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and also to the Ratha Yatra Festival that I attended in Toronto on July 19, 2008. During the summer every year, these festivals in honor of the Hindu God "Jagannath," a representation of Lord Krishna (God) who lived in India about 5,000 years ago, are celebrated in small villages up to large cities all over the world. The first festival was held in the year 1558.

During the festival in Toronto, using ropes, I helped to pull one of the three colorful chariots for a few miles throughout the streets of the city. These chariots are about 45 feet high, and about 35 feet in length and width.

About an hour after I pulled the chariot down to the lakeside (Lake Ontario), I was taken to the hospital by an ambulance with heat exhaustion. My wife and I were to take a ferryboat to the islands near Toronto to enjoy spiritual, vegetarian food.

(After all of these years, I continue to thank my wonderful wife for accompanying me on my spiritual pilgrimages.)