Hare Krishna Gurudeva!

Danvadat pranam

please accept my humble obeisances

All Glories to Srila Prabhupada

Gurudeva, my father Michael has been diagnosed with dementia for a few years now, and has been losing coherence more and more.

This surprised the family because no grandparents or older relatives had it.

My Mom has to look after him and when he leaves, usually will get a phone call from someone witnessing an odd behavior like him walking in the middle of a road with a cane, or with boots that have the strings tied together.

My Mom, Fay, is Catholic, and is of the paradigm that we live once and then get a pass or fail to heaven or hell based on whether a person has taken shelter of Lord Jesus and avoided harming others well enough or not.

There are a fair number of verses in the bible that state that there is nothing wrong with eating animals. I think there is also the notion that only humans are granted a soul, the animals that are slaughtered for food do not have a soul and that action does not also create consequences for a person.

She prays for the salvation of her Family, and believes that this kind of prayer invokes the Lord’s mercy to forgive us our sins and grant us eternal life in heaven. According to this idea she has faith that her Prayers will be answered and the members of our family will not burn in hell for all eternity.

I believe that we have had many births prior to this one, and that our activities, habits, and attachments, our consciousness all predicate how we continue in our next assignment, what situation we continue in after leaving this body. I hope every living entity escapes/ is delivered from samsara and finds an engagement/ engagements that completely fufill them.

I'm thankful to them both for all they’ve done, giving their best to us according to their best knowledge.

i usually see them once a year around Christmas.

Do you know of a way that i could help my father? Or where I could look for this info?

HpS - Not directly. My constant companion here is Nitai-gaurasundara Das. Dr. Ravi P. Singh. He is just retiring after decades as Director of Geriatric Psychiatry at local hospital.

I will ask him tonight.

We stayed at New Vrindaban for Gaura Purnima. We toured Prabhupada’s palace of Gold there together. They’ve had Prasadam there and at Sadhu Sangha retreat in north carolina. They have a Bhagavatam set and Bhagavad Gita in their home. I've given them all one of Prabhupada’s books each year as one gift for Christmas. I believe we each have a unique relationship with Krishna, and that our journey home will be unique according to our desires and consciousness. My Father’s been a wonderful provider, but due in part to the harsh way my Grandfather raised him, i wouldn't say he is kind to himself or has a great self-image. Also for that reason has not always been as ‘interactive’ with his kids. As his condition worsens, is there a way to help him? I know Krishna as the source , maintainer and destination of all living entities, is our actual friend and benefactor. Can i bring tulsi to live in a home where they are eating chicken and beef?

Thank you for your time, care, and your mercy Gurudeva 🙏

your servant/aspiring to be of service,

Loka Bandhu Rama Das

HpS - I will ask NgD tonight.

Basically as you dedicate yourself more and more to the austerity of serving Krsna rather than you vanity, Krsna can take more and more personal responsibility for your current social connections. Bhisma was old, Drona was old, Krsna's instructions in BG were for how Arjuna could help them.