Hemalavanya Prabhu was born in 1957 in Hungary. Later his family had moved to Austria where he went to the school etc.
I met Hemalavanya Prabhu in 1995 in Israel where he was serving as the police officer on Golan Heights. We became friends immediately and stayed close friends till his last day.
He was much older than me, so I always respected him as an older brother. We both received initiation in 1996, he got initiated by Harikesa Swami and me by Kavichandra Swami.
We kept in touch over the years. He was travelling a lot because of his occupation as a military United Nation officer.
We met again in 2001 in New Vraja Dhama, Hungary. He was so kind and affectionate to me and my friends when we came for a festival there. From this time our relationship became closer and he invited me to tour around Europe to visit different Temples and Premantura festival in Croatia. It was in the summer of 2002.
This time was amazing because we travelled together in his car, starting from Hungary, Austria, Germany,Belguim and finally Croatia. His spirit was very high, his sadhana exemplary. He was always waking up very early, chanting his rounds, attending morning programs. At that time he took shelter at the feet of Jayapataka Maharaja. Hema Prabhu always searched for better and additional ways to serve his spiritual master.
After his wife left him, he never tried to associate with other ladies. The separation was very painful for him as he was worried for the spiritual life of his 4 children.
Hema Prabhu took the opportunity to be more engaged in devotional service. He had moved to New Vraja Dhama in Hungary, he had a house there and some land. His main service was to take care of visiting devotees and take tours around the project; he was fluent in 3 languages (Hungarian, German and English).
Hemalavanya Prabhu was also good in giving advises, so we also purchased a house there, near the farm, just in case of a big war in the Middle East.
Later in 2003, he decided to move to Mayapur to be closer to his Guru Maharaja. He sold his Hungarian house and purchased a flat in Grihastha para. Since that time he became 100% Mayapur man. He helped in developing security system, being himself a trained military officer. Then he took the service of a secretary and assistant of his Guru Maharaja. He told me he couldn’t even dream about such grace. Because him being such an organized and trained person, his Guru Maharaja had chosen him. Previous secretary told him that it will take around 3 to 4 months to get the transaction done to start travelling. After just a few days one of his God brothers came and told it’s time to start. He was shocked, but surrendered to the will of Guru and Krsna.
First two months he was thinking it’s impossible to continue due to a hectic schedule and every day was a struggle for him. HH.Jayapataka Maharaja during those years had around 50 flights per year. Sometimes he gave lectures 3 times a day in 3 different countries. Often those who invited Maharaja didn’t really provide much care for his servants. Sometimes he had no room to stay. He had to unpack and pack Maharaja’s luggage, which was around 60kg! That was the time when Hema Prabhu had surrendered 100%.
HH.Jayapataka Maharaja was very affectionate to him and appreciating his abilities, kept him as his servant for almost 4 years. When the stroke happened Hema was there by his side.
After that Hema Prabhu had returned to Mayapur, doing a lot of research on how to help his Guru Maharaja and community of devotees to take care of their health.
He had invited me many times to Mayapur. I stayed with him in 2004 during the installation of Sri PanchaTattva Deities and on many other occasions.
His children were not inclined to take up devotional practices, he urged me to come to Mayapur to provide devotional education for my own children. So, my family decided to move to Mayapur in 2009. We became neighbors and he would often visit for prasadam and had helped me a lot in the beginning of our move to the Dhama.
He had an idea to build a house in Mayapur, and he immediately told me we have to look for some piece of land. At that time he had no money; we found a piece of land in Saci Nagar and agreed to build a house on it. I had some savings, so I made the down payment and he had to leave to earn some money in Damascus. In the meantime I was taking care of his apartment and dealing with the land department to prepare the papers for the land.
He came back in the summer of 2011 and we immediately started the construction. He was the main engineer as he had an experience back in Europe working for the construction company. His idea of a building was to make it strong and beautiful. I always followed him because I had 100% trust in him. It was a very intense time for both of us dealing with the construction, the workers, money, etc. We supported one another making a good team. Our relationship had deepened.
House was more or less ready in June 2012, so both of us moved in.
Hema Prabhu was also engaged on working on the project together with Ajamila Prabhu and Doyal Gauranga Prabhu on Mayapur development. He always had a strong opinion, not compromising.
His sadhana during the last stage of his life was very strong, though he didn’t go to the Temple often, he would still wake up every day at 2:00am, listening to Srila Prabhupada and his Guru Maharaja’s classes, chanted his rounds. He had stayed mainly in doors sometimes for months, working on his computer. His mood was very internal and deep.
Although his departure was very sudden, he seemed to be very focused and prepared. Always hearing kirtans, lectures and chanting japa.
Even though we feel immense separation on a loss of a dear friend, simultaneously we are happy and sure he went back to his eternal service to the Divine couple and Srila Prabhupada.
I would personally like to thank very much Ganga Prabhu and his son Bhakta Avatar Prabhu, Ganga Prabhu had stayed with us doing all the necessary things after Hema Prabhu’s sudden departure.
Hemalavanya Prabhu ki jaya! Gaura Bhakta Vrinda Ki Jaya!
Your servant,
Jagadisa das
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