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A sign went up at the entrance of Govinda’s. “Closed for January 2”, it read. That’s today. I conjectured that the staff for Govinda’s Dining were bushed, exhausted from the two prior days. The crowds were overwhelming.

A nice problem.

The donation income from the eating facility is doing well and is now the temple’s major source of income. It was our guru’s desire that the distribution of sacred food be implemented. People would benefit. 

My eyes caught a glimpse of the sign just prior to my Polar Bear Circle. It is a brief ten-minute walk around the block with the temple situated as the core. Circumambulating the deity of Krishna is one of the holy things you can do. In the past few mornings, I have been doing just that with a regular partner, who was absent today, however Gabriel, Venkatesh, and Nirmalla were there in the temple, so I invited them. They concurred it was a good idea and went to the basement to retrieve their shoes. When they came back up (took longer than I expected) they not only had shoes but the whole winter coat regalia.

“The idea was to tough it out, be a polar bear for only ten minutes, as you are, and get energized,” I explained. 

On the previous night, one of our devotees in Barrie organized a Polar Bear swim in just above freezing weather and so 200 swimmers came out. It was that type of bravado that I anticipated with the Polar Bear Circle. Oh well!