Remembering Kadamba Kanana Swami

Dear Kadamba Kanana Swami,
please accept my respectful obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Glories to Shri Krishna Caitanya and all His devoted lovers!

I have received the news that on the 9th of March you have left your physical body in the most sacred of places: in Sri Vrindavana Dhama.
I feel in my heart emotions of different rasas: friendship, tenderness, affection, sadness for your disappearance and deep esteem for you.
The night before your departure, I was hit by a long wave of memories - all very beautiful and stimulating – which connected me to you, remembering those three years in which we served together for the completion of Srila Prabhupada's Pushpa Samadhi Mandir in Sridham Mayapur.

How many good memories of intense exchanges we had on the road, when you accompanied me by car from Calcutta airport to Mayapur and back. How many ideas we have exchanged on the different opportunities of sankirtana. How many meetings with Jaya Pataka Swami and other GBC members, talking with them about the functionality of some accessories in the sacred structure, aesthetic concepts and practical realization of the works according to the shared common goals and the planned funding.

How many trips from Mayapur to Calcutta and vice versa. How many conversations with civic engineers, craftsmen, suppliers, technicians, and so many visiting devotees; our inspections around the construction site to check the quality of the work in progress or sitting there somewhere to plan and implement further works.

I remember that we spent many full days at that makeshift table set up in the construction site, under the dome that would later be made of glass and porcelain mosaic showing eight significant scenes from the life of His Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. A few times alone and many times surrounded by our collaborators, in the naked skeleton structure of reinforced concrete where we later, I remember with trepidation that day, officially inaugurated the Pushpa Samadhi Mandir of Srila Prabhupada. What a beautiful ceremony!

A crowd of tens of thousands of people flooded the opening of the sacred site, the speeches on the stage by the secular and religious authorities, the kirtans and the great shower of mercy from the blue sky of Mayapur, under the shelter of the lotus feet of both Srila Prabhupada and Sri Caitanya!

I also have vivid memories of our daydreams about the “aftermath” of the Pushpa Samadhi Mandir’s construction... You, serving as president of the Krishna Balaram Mandir temple in Vrindavan Dhama; I, serving as the president of Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta and lecturing at universities. Then, you sannyasi all over the world, singing, teaching and spreading Krishna consciousness. I, traveling through Italy, to spread Krishna consciousness at cultural institutions, hospitals and so on.
Since I witnessed an important part of the transformations of your life, in which you were planning to become the person you later became, I can say that your position was at that time totally reliable, fully foreseeing the glorious game you fulfilled today with great success.
Therefore I can't imagine any other destination if not the supreme abode of Shri Krishna!
I feel that now all your efforts have been rewarded and that your true success is assured!
With spiritual love, I wish for you a magnificent life of happy eternity in full ecstatic service of Shri Krishna!

Your friend, always.
Matsya Avatar das