The 10th of December 2006 is a significant day in the Singapore Yatra of the Hare Krishna Movement as it was the disappearance day of Devaki Mataji, the beloved mother of His Grace Sundar Gopal Prabhu.
Although one did not see her in the frontline of the yatra, she played a very significant role in establishing the Singapore Yatra as was revealed by His Grace Sundar Gopal Prabhu on the day of her funeral, the 11th of December 2006. Her life was exemplary. His Grace Sundar Gopal Prabhu shared some of his memories of her.
When her children were kids, she used to take them to the Krishna Temple in the Waterloo Street. It was only later when her children contacted the Krishna Consciousness movement of Srila Prabhupada that she revealed to them that whenever she had taken them to the Krishna Temple her only prayer to Lord Krishna was that all her children become His devotees. Sure enough, Krishna fulfilled her desire!!
Sundar Gopal Prabhu shared with us one more incident which happened in 1979. At that time, he was the sole bread-winner for the family. He had five sisters to maintain apart from his mother. But his only desire was to serve the instruction of his beloved spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, by spreading the Krishna Consciousness movement. He wanted to quit his job and join the movement full-time. When he asked permission from his mother to do so, his mother at once agreed to his proposal. "Yes, you should do this immediately.", she said, although she knew of the financial constraint the family would have to face owing to this decision. This was the beginning of the Singapore Yatra of the Hare Krishna movement.
Another incident was when Sundar Gopal Prabhu decided to marry after a long time in Brahmacari life. Devaki Mataji was extremely upset that her son did not take sannyasa in order to preach!! This is extremely unique as no mother wants her son to renounce the world but to our greatest surprise, here is a mother who is upset that her son is getting married!!
Before departing, she visited all the holy places namely Vrindavan, Mathura, Kurukshetra, Jaipur, Hardwar and Rshikesh although she was advised by many not to go as it might pose a danger to her life. But she insisted, "If I have to die, let me die in the holy land of India." While returning after a successful completion of the yatra she suffered a massive heart attack in Mumbai. But she tolerated the pain for nine hours before she reached Singapore. From the airport, she was directly admitted to the Singapore General Hospital ICU on the 6th of December. She was there for 4 days before she suffered another fatal attack. 2 hours later, she departed on the 10th of December, at 2053 hrs in the presence of loud kirtan in the ICU chamber.
These are some of the incidents which depict the mood of a devotee. A devotee is always wanting to spread the glories of Lord Krishna. Thus she played a behind-the-scenes role in the spreading of the Krishna Consciousness movement in Singapore which is now expanding beyond the frontier of this island.
We would like to thank all the devotees, donors, well-wishers and friends for all of your kind and generous support for the recent bereavement of late Srimati Devaki Mataji who departed from our association.
