Hare Krishna!
I currently live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada and is the smallest province in Canada. Since summertime, the brahmachari that resided here have been travelling, and due to this fact, I feel Nova Scotia is neglected because it is a small province and our biggest city is small compared to say, Montreal or Toronto. I am curious to know if there is something that can be done to change this, due to my resent change spiritual direction and religious following towards krsna consciousness, I feel that our Sunday feast is not enough to feed my spirit that is crying for devotion to krsna, I currently need help to go from eating meat to eating vegetarian and quitting smoking cigarettes. And also when I do feel ready for initiation, there are no spiritual masters in Nova Scotia, and the few and far between that do come, I am not sure if they are the spiritual master for me.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Replies
If you read the nectar of instruction, there are few things you can do and few things you must avoid to grow as a devotee.
Perform Sankirtana and pretty soon Krishna will become your best friend and he will reciprocate. Relationship with Krishna is not one way. Lord will talk to you in many ways. Through children, sometime by closing a door, sometimes by turning on a computer that is on idle.. suddenly you have Little Krishna playing on the computer, just at the right moment...
Associating with devotees or sadakas on the same path, here is also a great idea.
Since you are young, you may also wanna consider moving to a place where Sankirtan is performed regularly.
Near Los Angeles Iskcon temple might be a good option.
Don't worry about the visa, when the Lord of the Universe is your best friend, and you have a single minded purpose of following the instruction of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Cheto darpana marjanam.... Vijayate Srikrishna Sankirtanam you will surely be blessed. Later on you can go back to Nova Scotia and start a Jagannath temple and grow devotees by performing Nagar Sankirtana everyday.
At this time this is not possible for me, Because although I am young, I have a 1 year old son, in which him mother and myself are no longer in a relationship, So I have obligations in Nova Scotia, and it is my duty to stay here at this current moment in time, I do appriciate your advise, But I must Spiritually Develope myself here not leave here and leave my Son, I cannot.
Hare Krsna!
Please dont get me wrong
I am not asking you to do anything crazy.
Stay with your kid and perform Sankirtana every day in your town.
Krishna Consciousness does not mean running away from resposibilities.
We must perform Krishna Conscious activities like Sankirtana while doing our duties as a father/householder.
Hare Krishna