It had been a busy day. Some of that busyness had to do with the fact that our Govinda’s Dining Room, open only for takeout, is under the same roof as our temple/ashram. People are coming for the food. We are cooking extra. I hopped into the kitchen to pitch in. I crafted a mixed veg prep — cauliflower, squash and baby potatoes with curry leaves and a host of spices. No chilies!
Dwarkanath, our food chief extraordinaire, made a big batch of dahl. That was triumphant. All the regular fare and extra got consumed.
Then I had calls. One person phoned from Calgary and wanted to know about how far rules can be bent? He was just curious about the three categories of food — satvic, rajasic and tamasic. What of onions and garlic? What about fermented foods? No vinegar in the salad dressing? Where do jalebis, that fabulous sweet, fed by a bacterial culture, fit in? Yogurt is old and cultured. He had lots of questions and had been convinced that there must be a clear line drawn in black-and-white standards.
My position on these matters is that, for temple standards, we should be very orthodox. At home try to maintain the same. When on the road, in travel, reach a reasonable compromise. I explained how our guru, Prabhupada, was practical.
The day with bhakti classes and food issues became full. Finally, at 9 p.m., it was time for a stroll. David, our maintenance resident man came out of the park as I was entering. “It’s really peaceful in the park,” he said.
He was right. A neat closure to the day.
Source: http://thewalkingmonk.blogspot.com/2021/03/sunday-february-28-2021.html
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