Dear Editor,
As I write these few lines Shri Prakash Goosai would have been cremated after hundreds of speeches had been made and thousands of Bhajans sung world-wide over the past 48 hours in honour of this great Guyanese. I hope that his family has plans in train to have some of his ashes taken to Guyana and rendered into the mighty Atlantic Ocean after relevant prayers and rituals; after all, even though he spent nearly half of his life in New York, I am sure that not a day would have passed without him thinking about his brothers and sisters back home.
My memories of him take me back to the early nineteen seventies at Gandhi Youth Organization (GYO) where under the watchful eye of Shri Darshanji then leader of the GYO Kirtan group, he very quickly demonstrated his immense natural gift for devotional singing, eventually leading to his winning national competitions, etc. Clearly, after excelling academically at Cummings Lodge Secondary and at the University of Guyana he was ready to take on bigger challenges in the international arena, which we all know he did with great relish.
I had the distinction of introducing him at an immensely successful ‘homecoming’ fund-raising show at the Gandhi Bhavan grounds in 2006 with the opening words “Prak is back.” Little did I realize that he was back for only a very truncated period. At the planning meeting for this show he told me in his characteristically humble fashion, “Chris, I don’t want anything; I am doing this for GYO which I consider to be the real launching pad for what I have become today.” I remember fondly the late President and one of the founding members of GYO and Dharma Acharya, Pandit SP Sharma saying to me how much he enjoyed Prak’s singing during the regular Sunday Satsang.
However, Bhagwan Ram has greater plans for Shri Prakash Ji, and I envision after a well deserved rest in Vaikunth (heavenly abode), he will be sent as special assistant to spread the message of Sanatan Vedic Dharma in his own inimitable way wherever needed.
To the family and close friends of Prak, I wish to express my sincere condolences to you at this time of great personal loss, but I ask you to be proud and celebrate the life and achievements of our ‘Maha atma.’ To all Hindus: you must pick yourselves up and vow to carry on the mandate of our great Dharma.
Ayee be Akela Jaye Be Akela (I came into this world alone and will leave alone) was his composition, and that Bhajan will forever ring in our ears, but remember Prabhu Mila Jayenge (literally: Lord when will we meet?) Prak is smiling as he looks down on us.
Hari Om
Yours faithfully,
Christopher Persaud
Former Senior Vice-President GYO
