March 3rd, 2024, was one of the most auspicious moments in the life of HG Krpamurthi Krishna Dasa because on that day in the holy land of Mayapur, Bengal, India, by the mercy of Sri Pancha Tattva, Krpamurthi met his Spiritual Master, HH Jayapataka Swami for the 1st time in his life, after being initiated in 2009, in Taiping prison, Malaysia.
In 2009, my wife, Sarva Devi and I met HH Jayapataka Swami at Port Dickson during Malaysia Hare Krishna Convention and spoke to Maharaj about Krpamurthi (Krishna Rao), a death sentenced inmate who was practicing Krishna Consciousness nicely. We told everything about Krpamurthi and asked Maharaj, “Maharaj, is it possible if Maharaj could accept him as your disciple?” Maharaj was silent for a few moments and said,” I will give him initiation if he’s willing to appeal for pardon from the King”. All the while, Krpamurthi refused to appeal for pardon from the King as he said he was willing to face hanging as death sentence as punishment for his crime.
A week after meeting HH Jayapataka Swami, I went to Taiping prison to meet Krpamurthi and asked him, “Prabhu, how are you?” and Krpamurthi said, “Prabhu, everyday I’m eating at the door of death, everyday I’m sleeping at the door of death and everyday I’m living at the door of death, but I’m always happy in Krishna Consciousness.”
Later I asked Krpamurthi if he has any desire to accept a guru. With tears in his eyes, Krpamurthi replied, “Prabhu, only yesterday I prayed to Srila Prabhupada and Krishna that I want a guru.” After that I told Krpamurthi about my meeting with HH Jayapataka Swami and his request for Krpamurthi to appeal to the King for pardon. Krpamurthi later wrote an appeal to King of Malaysia as well as the Sultan of Perak state. By the mercy of Srila Prabhupada and his Spiritual Master, Krpamurthi received pardon from the Sultan of Perak, Malaysia on the auspicious day of Srila Prabhupada Vyasapuja in 2014 and his sentence was demoted from death to life imprisonment.
After one week of Krpamurthi’s pardon, as I was walking out of the prison after my weekly class, I met a Punjabi warden officer who told me, “This Krishna Rao(Krpamurthi) is 99.999% confirmed hang. Only his God helped him.”
Later Krpamurthi was transferred to Jawi prison in Penang state. In 2023, the Malaysian government abolished mandatory death sentence and all the death sentenced and life imprisoned inmates in Malaysia have their cases reviewed. Krpamurthi was given 36 years prison. According to prison calculation, Krpamurthi had overstayed, and was released from prison immediately on November 16th, 2023. The judge considered the strong recommendation from the prison authority and ISKCON Taiping before giving her final verdict.
Krpamurthi has been daily following spiritual practices and has become an examplary inmate who was liked by everyone in Jawi Prison. After Krpamurthi was released from prison, he told me that he wanted to follow us to Mayapur and see his spiritual master. And by the mercy of Sri Pancha Tattva he did and had audience with his spiritual master immediately after reaching Mayapur.
On 3rd March, as we were standing near the Temple of Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) office after the opening of the new Narasimha altar at TOVP, we suddenly saw HH Jayapataka Swami being wheeled to his ashram by his servants. We spoke to his servant HG Radha Ramana prabhu about Krpamurthi and he immediately brought us to Maharaj and told him about Krpamurthi wanting to meet him.
HH Jayapataka Swami was glad to see his disciple for the 1st time and asked him, “How do you like Mayapur?” Krpamurthi raised both his hands and said “Haribol!” That moment was unforgettable for Krpamurthi, as It was the 1st time Maharaj was meeting his disciple after 15 years.
Krpamurthi’s life proved that the mercy of the spiritual master has no limit. From the day he was initiated and released, his spiritual master’s mercy has always been with him. In Mayapur, Krpamurthi has been attending mangala arati and morning program daily and was very fortunate to attend the opening of TOVP Narasimha wing, Sri Pancha Tattva abhishek, fed mother cows in Mayapur goshala and took bath in holy Ganga.
"Prabhu, everything in Mayapur has been so wonderful and the prasadam was simply amazing. I could not believe I’m in Mayapur prabhu.” Krpamurthi said.
Scripture mentions that by the mercy of guru, one gets Krishna and by the mercy of Krishna, one gets a guru. I told him that whatever happened in his life was simply the mercy of his guru, HH Jayapataka Swami and told him again that there’s no limit to Guru’s mercy.
Yaduraj Krishna Dasa
ISKCON Taiping, Malaysia
6th March, 2024