06/05/2026
His Grace Prana Das, ACBSP
It is with mixed sadness and joy that we inform you of Prana Prabhu's auspicious departure from this material world last night, Thursday, June 4, 2026, during the most Holiest month of Purusottama! He was surrounded by Srila Prabhupada chanting and even on his way out of this world, engaged his nurse in devotional service. The nurse applied all auspicious items from our Sacred Care Kit to Prana Prabhu's body and decorated it with a Maha garland from Radhe Shyama. She made sure Srila Prabhupada was chanting the whole time! Our gratitude goes out to her and to Krishna for making all arrangements for His devotee! 🙌🙏🌻🪷
We will post any further information as it becomes available. What follows is a eulogy written by Chaturatma Das.
Eulogy of Prana dasa, disciple of AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
Prana joined Krishna consciousness in St Louis in the late 1972 or early 1973. He was initiated in December of 1973 along with about a dozen other devotees of which I was one of. One of his first services was selling Spiritual Sky incense with his friend and god brother, Kodandin das. He eventually gave that up and took up services in the temple. Like many of us, he did it all. Cooked, Hari Nama sankirtan, book distribution, deity worship and temple management. He assisted in arranging for the installation of Sri Sri Nitai Gauranataraja in St Louis under the guidance of Bhakti Madhurya Govinda Swami (Makanlal das at the time). Prana and myself would worship Nitai Gauranataraja daily. One day he would worship Nitai and myself Gaura. The next day we would switch. Daily in the afternoon we would study together in the quiet of the brahmacari ashrama.
He had a strong memory for verses and Prabhupada’s teachings. When we travelled together on book distribution it would be three of us in a van. He, I, and one other devotee who would be rotated. During these times he and Makanalal composed what became known as “The Juice Book”. Unlimited quotes from Prabhupada books and lectures about taking shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, particularly Nityananda. A couple copies of that book still exist today.
Fast forward to 55th Street in Manhattan where he was famous for his amazing abhiseka caritamrita for the silas that were worshipped there. He was equally detailed orientated in overseeing many aspects of the deity program. He was also working with some other devotees in the workshop producing various wooden items for the Lord’s service. This was the time that he became affectionately known for his “hurdy gurdy” style of keyboard playing for bhajans. He recorded many of these.
He was one of the first to record readings of pastimes from the Srimad Bhagavatam.
One of his famous skills was making amazing off the charts pizza’s from scratch. He had a secret method and would lock everyone out of the kitchen to accomplish this. Those of us who were blessed to taste this prasadam will never in our lives forget that taste. Neither will we ever be able to eat “regular” pizza with quite the same thrill. He and I shared a number of pastimes engaged in stealing vast quantities of maha prasadam. We were never greedy and always shared it with a small crew.
During this time he was also one of the early if not earliest devotees to travel to Muktinatha and Kala Gandaki. This was before the ease of travel that it is today and was extremely challenging. He brought back a handful of silas which are still worshiped to this day.
After the NY glory days, he served in a variety of places. Lake Huntington, Westwood, Puerto Rico, Dallas and ended up in the Baltimore area. It was during this time in Dallas when he was serving as a security guard that he was introduced to Harsharani dasi and they were soon married.
In his later years, like many of us, he took a job. His expertise was in refurbishing old home to their original condition. He was very successful at this.
Eventually, Prana and his wife, retired and moved to Alachua. It is here that he passed from this world to the eternal service at the feet of Srila Prabhupada.
I will always remember all of the many services he and I did together and how he was always focused, dedicated and faithful to Srila Prabhupada. May I one day again serve Gaura Nitai sitting by his side.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada! All glories to His Grace Prana Das!
