We have such a great philosophy. I am not this body. I am spirit soul. I am here to serve. All good stuff.
When this body receives pain, the pain is eased because you tell yourself, “That is not me. It may be connected to me but it is not me.” I have to convince myself of this reality from time to time. One of those times is now. Weaning off painkillers and accepting some uneasiness. That’s the way to go through the healing of my left leg.
It was so generous of my friend, Paramahamsa, to drive
“You’re one of the top five,” said the therapist at Toronto West General Hospital.
“Meaning?” I asked.
“Of the five years I’ve looked at knee replacement patients you’re in the top five for recovery.”
Well, that certainly made me feel good. I had mentioned I’m a monk, a walking one, and I wore down my cartilage. The reaction to the marathon walks I’ve done astounded the physiotherapist, as did the Vietnamese doctor and a local assistant from Canada. Yes, I had three guys look at the leg and giv
Bhagavad-Gita 10.7 and 10.8 offer a strong message of realizing our true position in this world; I am small and everything else collectively (God) is big. The moment this thought awakens in us then we are big — MAHATMA. This understanding of my smallness, compared to the greatness of all else, compels me to act in humility and devotion.
There’s something very attractive about humility. It means you are willing to learn, be on an adventure and ultimately crush the ego.
I would like to say that i
From the Introduction of Bhagavad-Gita:
We can easily see that every living being is constantly engaged in rendering service to another living being. A living being serves other living beings in various capacities. By doing so, the living entity enjoys life. The lower animals serve human beings as servants serve their master. A serves B master, B serves C master, and C serves D master and so on. Under these circumstances, we can see that one friend serves another friend, the mother serves the s
I’ve walked by the above-mentioned park (actually it’s more like a sunken garden) several times off Yonge St. I never ventured inside. There are flowerbeds, trees of all kinds (northern breeds), perfect sod-lain sections for lawn bowling, tennis courts and then there is a grassy area perfect for kirtan. This very special place is tucked away from the world and is ideal for groups singing and dancing. That’s just what we did — a bunch of us — Russians, Indians, Canadians — whatever that means.
U
I want to thank Paramahamsa, from Guelph, who came to do some physio work on me today. I’m also grateful to Jhorom, who came as a special guest when I hosted him in the sitting quarters of our guru, Prabhupada, who spent a few days there in June of 1976.
Jhorom is loving the Bhagavad-Gita, As It Is, and since reading this exceptional text he’s been asking me questions. He is just intrigued with the conversation based on a fratricidal misunderstanding.
“Most misunderstandings, if not all, have t
We have gone back, steadily, to our older program of stairway kirtan. Neighbours who pass by love it. As long as we don’t perform with symbols, drum, harmonium “in-their-face,” so to speak. Gentle, sweet and melodious is the way to go. Actually, the weather is conducive for outdoor kirtan and our group’s intent is to gain as much mileage with this presentation as possible.
In addition to the kirtan, which is now regular at night, 7 pm punctual, the morning and noon chants are also steady. I can
“Perhaps you’re one of the few centres that’s really taking care of older Vaishnava men,” remarked an observer, a friend, the other day. Mind you, we do have younger men as residents in addition to the five who are average 71 years of age. Yes, I am one of those golden boys who joined monkhood in the 70’s. I’m in that age bracket, naturally.
We scheduled a meeting in our new seminar room and called it a “Seniors Meeting” to delve into the conditions of our remaining lives for the coming years.
I’ve known Devananda for many years. He grew up in London, Canada, area. I know little about his Jewish descent, but he adopted to eastern ways like I did. Pursuing life in India; living like a yogi/sadhu of sorts was his calling. He’s been active in China and India and teaches shiatsu and massage therapy.
It’s great when he comes around, being about the same age we have something to share about experience in the yoga field, although my chosen approach has been more in the bhakti line. There is
When I walked in the Cabbagetown area of Toronto, an Asian woman standing in front of her residence, a high-rise building, noticed me and instantly asked her question.
“What religion?”
“Hare Krishna!”
“Oh! From India!” she concluded. We chatted.
My answer was simple; there’s a lot included in those two words, “Hare Krishna.” There’s a whole culture, philosophy and way of being. Today, I came to affirm what that means in a practical way.
Madhava, Govinda, Sarthak and I headed for Niagara Falls.
It is quite the achievement, first of all, that there is a leadership college that trains men and women to be just that – leaders in a spiritual organization. I was invited to the GBC College Graduation and here’s a message from our graduate from Canada. His name is Anuttama. He sent me a letter tonight.
“Hare Krishna Maharaja (that’s me) and Prabhus (other blessers),
I wanted to inform you that I graduated from the GBC College leadership for Zonal Supervisor today. It was a longer journey than
So, it’s the first day of summer but I was reminded of one other aspect of today. It’s Father’s Day. I spent the night with a family in Bracebridge. They have a gorgeous shrine in their front room. At 7 a.m., we all came together for chanting, puja, and a discussion on the Bhagavad-gita, 14.4, referencing Krishna on the topic of fatherhood, where He claims, as God, to be the ultimate Dad.
We drove south to Toronto and on very short notice I was requested to give a class for our Vancouver Centre
It’s a long day for sun endurance. Yes, we are approaching summer solstice. I enjoyed the bench and stretched my neck back to just catch some rain drops the size of tiny ants. The nostrils couldn’t help the perfumes projected from trees surrounding me. And there were people all around. I’ve never seen picnicking on the scale it is these days.
There’s so much to be grateful for. That is the way I’m viewing the chanting I’m doing. The japa technique is soft and I like to say with it “Thank you a
Last year my brother, Jerry, popped by to drop off vintage photographs of our biological family.
They came in two cardboard boxes with one of them labelled “Brownies,” which my sisters were members of. Likely that box contained Brownies chocolate bars or cookies, which were fundraisers for the organization. That one box, still kicking around with old pics in it, has been around for 55 years. The box itself is vintage.
In any event, I’m copying some of these photos for posterity’s sake and I’m h
It is clearly sandal weather. Only the evening is enticing for the outdoors so I hibernated inside most of the day engaged in chanting, delivering classes, reading, poetry writing, eating (and napping after that). Several initiatives took up a portion of the day such as preparation for the next MANtra retreat (for November 12, 13, 14) and planning for this year’s garden/farm conference.
The evening reading was from the Chaitanya Charitamrta (the CC) and the story was about the interaction betwe
I had a great picnic with Parama, Rukmini and their young 19-month-old darling who was totally mesmerized by people, the dogs and the trees. It’s not that she hasn’t been to a park before. This one, Ramsden, according to her parents, is new and full of activity; something different.
The heat was on. That may account for the smaller than usual turn-out of people. Attendance did pick up in the evening, which was my second visit to the green space. At this point Nimai and Vishal joined me on the g
It’s been a while since I met cousin Corry and our young Muslim friend, Victor, so we decided to meet again, as we used to before the dawn of winter and the Covid lockdown. A third person also came along; much to my surprise it was a distant relative, Jeanette. She’s not just an ordinary Jeanette. She’s “ScubaJeanette” and, as the name implies, she loves the water and has spent many seasons in clear and salty water exploring. She also has a shark scar bite on her left leg to prove her escapades
I was so happy to receive another submission from a godsister in Los Angeles. She had given her story of the early days in the movement in Canada, to add to the compilation of our upcoming book Krishna in the Maple Leaf. Her spiritual journey began at the young age of fifteen, when she heard about the Bhagavat philosophy. Interesting it is that the guidance counselor at her school encouraged her in her spiritual pursuit.
For myself it was just a pleasure to deliver two classes virtually for two
It happens frequently enough — poor Wi-Fi reception. Every Thursday I conduct a class hosted by a sweet couple in Florida. Practically every week, over the course of my call, which is actually a Bhagavad-Gita class, I get disconnected and end up disappointing both those on the call and myself. This is a managerial problem that must be solved. The class unfortunately had to terminate, so far as my delivery was concerned. However, two people on the call, Murari Gupta from Florida and Gaurachandra
It was our fourth time together. You may have heard of Vande Arts, an arts initiative driven to create a camaraderie among bhakti artists. Well, you might say that this next reincarnation of that direction is called BhaktiArt Hub S.O.S. Shaping Our Soul is a piece of our vision statement.
Through Zoom our group of a few, for starters, is comprised of Gaura Vani, the bhajan singer, a sweet couple from San Antonio, Texas by the names Bhagavan Narada and Naradi, Govinda Gopal from Jersey City, Par
