Mother Yasoda's 85-year-old foster father passed away two months ago.

During his stay in the hospital, Mother Yasoda prepared a tape recorder and played the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra all day long in his ward. Her foster father was actually in a semi-coma, but miraculously when he heard the Maha Mantra, gradually he awoke and with closed eyes he appeared to be enjoying the music and the sound vibration. He started to follow the tempo by tapping his hand on the edge of his bed. The ring on his finger made a sound like "don, don, don…"  He looked like he was totally meditating on the Maha Mantra.

Suddenly he spoke, "Look! There is a huge 5 clawed man, and his head looks just like a lion's, he is coming into my ward. Don't you see him? He is coming."
The foster father still with eyes closed said, "Oh, yes, I forgot you all cannot see him, but he is really here. But I do not know who He is."

At that moment Mother Yasoda and her daughters looked at each other in great surprise and answered, "Father, He is Lord Nrisimhadeva". "What dev?" the father said, "I don't know Him. But He is nodding His head to tell me that He is".  Mother Yasoda felt great ecstasy in hearing this, for in her house she keeps a model of the Nrisimhadeva Deity from Mayapur and had been offering heartfelt prayers to Him so that her father could leave his body without any attachment, and that his soul can become Krishna's devotee in his next birth.

Continuing, her father said, "Look, He is smiling to me and starting to speak again. Oh, He is telling me that I have to learn to chant what you are chanting now. What exactly are you chanting?" he asked. "It is a mantra to call the Holy Name of The Lord", Mother Yasoda replied.  "I don't know the mantra, but please teach me", he said. "All right father, please repeat after me and listen carefully - Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare", Mother Yasoda mata taught the Maha Mantra to her foster father word by word patiently. Without taking a long time, he learned and tried to chant, and chanted so nicely.

The next day, he passed away in tranquillity. During that weekend, we devotees congregated together to do kirtan. Mother Yasoda prepared the prasadam garland, Ganga water, tulasi, and put tilak on her father, which were all done nicely and properly according to her Guru Maharaja, His Holiness Giridhari Swami's telephone instruction. Her foster father's face looked so peaceful, his cheeks were a little pink, and his body was soft. After some customary ceremonies, the body was sent to the incinerator.

A few hours later the people who work in the funeral parlour came to us and exclaimed in amazement - "We have never seen anyone's ashes look so white and beautiful like jade as your father's! What happened to him? What were you chanting for him? Could you write it down for us? We want to learn and we think we can also chant while doing our service here."

Why the Lord Himself personally appeared before someone whom we consider not to be a devotee, proves the sastric statement - that if one is always engaged in the devotional service of the Lord, their family members will be benefited as well.

All glories to the matchless mercy of Lord Nrisimhadeva!