I have never seen such a large pool of blood within the confines of our walls at 243 Avenue Road. Our head priest (pujari), Brahma, entered the temple at 3:40 AM, and when he reached the bottom of the stairs, a blood vessel burst at the base of his leg.
Fortunately, our young men of the Bhakti Academy assisted him, cleaned him, and hurried him to Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment and advice. Brahma then returned when the Academy head, Visahka, and her husband, Punya, drove him back home.
thanAryan gave me a packet of breadfruit chips to include in my luggage for the trip which touches three countries. I love that breadfruit, prepared in almost any style. I had my snack. I’m set to go.
The longest portion of this flight on Caribbean Airlines was going to be from Trinidad to Canada. Seat 5 A was roomy, especially for the legs. It was my thoughts that became the major occupant in that space. Past, present, and future become the three phases of that time. When memories
It is primarily Prabhupadadev who coordinates my programs in Guyana. The latest topic was held at the seawall right next to the Atlantic. “Youthful Ambassadors of Krishna Consciousness” was our focus. The night before in Berbice, we spoke on the topic “Bridges” since the venue was near the bridge over-arching the Berbice River. A bridge can be seen as a metaphor in spirituality. Through the system of Parampara, disciplic succession, one bridges the gap between a teacher and a listener. In
Congratulations to three new initiates in Crane. Vikram has a new name, Vamana. Satya Gopal is now Satyahit, and Rajeeta is Rasalila. I have spoken at the above venues on the topics of “Strength Come from Service,” and “The 7 Purposes of ISKCON.” Below are the 7 purposes:
To systematically propagate spiritual knowledge to society at large and to educate all people in the techniques of spiritual life in order to check the imbalance of values in life and to achieve real unity and peace
Thoughts of the wildfire in Los Angeles are reeling in my mind as I walk the dark early hours. My mantras are prayers of concern and help for the many victims. It is a very troubled world.
Meanwhile, the world is quiet here on Kwatta Street going westbound. The occasional car comes by. There is no honking or any agitation from motorists who are viewing the four of us in dhotis on a narrow two-lane in single file. Dogs barking is occasional. Once the sun hints at rising, we see Indian co
My flight to Trinidad and Tobago was with Caribbean Airlines, boarding in Toronto. The distinguishable hummingbird insignia, flying backwards and flapping at high speed, was my lead to the proper queue.
I was surprised that devotees who booked me put me on business class seat 1A. That was kind of them. When the flight attendant came around asking for a preferred breakfast, I made it clear, “No animals!” Anyways, she got it.
When I went through customs at Port Au Spain, I handed in my form.
I’m on a crystal thawing trail
At the state before snowmelt in Cedarvale
My footstep makes a splash in the slush
You just cannot trudge in a rush
I take careful baby steps moving in time
To avoid a slip and a fall and getting out of the rhyme
I’m accidentally creating some jazz music
Which could turn into some hopeful classic
With a crunch, crunch in snow, a swish, swish in slush
In the dreamy dark night everything is hushed
There is even some ominous fog setting in
I hear other footsteps which
It’s good to start young. Such is the case of a young six-month-old daughter of Gangadas and Rohini Shakti. Vrnda Hladini was receiving her first grains in a sacrament (samskara) called anna prasana. Friends and family came to support the ceremony which involves a fire or agni invocation. Nityananda, 23, officiated the program.
The family insisted that I spoon feed the little baby, and so I felt happily obliged. While the ceremony went on, I noticed Vasey, Laksmi, and their two girls ent
Hundreds of years ago, December 25th was the kickoff for a twelve-day celebration. There was no such thing as Boxing Day right after Christmas. Remember the song, “12 Days of Christmas?” Quite sweet!
To avoid the agitation of Boxing Day, Chirag and I took to a walk in a quiet corner, the region of Casa Loma, the much-visited castle in Toronto. We first ventured to the nearby Spadina Museum. There was a crowd there, but security checked us at the front.
“This is for paid tickets only!”
There was a new face in our downtown temple in Toronto. Temperatures had dropped suddenly to -16 Celsius. It was our first service for the day at 4:30 AM. He braved the weather at what a secular person would call a crazy hour.
Our guest introduced himself as Farrow. He sports a braid on each side of his head. He looks Indigenous and is tall, although he says he’s the shortest on his basketball team. He loves the game. He also loves the Krishna tradition and has been reading The Ramayan
On the first Wednesday of every month I have the privilege of being virtually with the Caribbean devotees for one of those Gita chats. I am on regular calls with people interested in the Gitas dynamism and what this great documented conversation has done for meaningful transformation. I relish each call. What a treasure it is to hear from the words of God and sharing it.
One thing I have noticed is how each group of people has its own personality. The devotees on todays call (we missed Wednes
With days being so short and darkness long, there’s little opportunity to see the solar body. Its day number 2 for our conference which is in a nice basement facility
A windowless situation it is, so you feel something missing.
6 am was our agreed upon starting point for a trek in an urban sprawl. Though gloomy we had the 8 of us had each other. We decided quite spontaneously to make the ISKCON temple the Radha Govinda Cultural Centre our destination. Sumeer was on foot on foot with us an ext
Our arrival at the Ramada Inn four hours later concluded a job well done! Shifting drivers is always a good idea in the wee hours of the m
I sat comfortably at Gate B14 for a West Jet flight to Grande Prairie when I reached into my navy blue suitcase to pull out my blog book to enter my thoughts of reflection from the day before. When I unzipped that compartment, I found the side pocket of the suitcase empty. Perhaps I misplaced it and put it on another pocket, but, no its not there either. I suddenly realized that at security I picked the wrong piece of luggage and that someone. Has mine. An innocent mistake, nevertheless, I had
He’s 24. He drove me around to places I needed to go such as Brampton and Uptown Toronto, and he didn’t say anything about it being his birthday. That’s humility, I would think. Moreover, he’s funny and always smiles. He has a keen love for kirtan and like to serve those in the mission. He has a respect for all, whether the men or the women in the Bhakti Academy. He also has a knack for distribution of the books published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.
The above is a list
When three of our young men from Bhakti Academy came into Prabhupad’s quarters to do an interview with me, they were quite impressed. Not having been in this sitting quarters before when I was present, one of those men asked, “Is this your room?”
“No, this is our guru Prabhupad’s room. Then I showed the next room, the bedroom where His Divine Grace had his rest for three nights in June of ’76. “Is this your room?” came the question again.
“No, this is Pra
Thanks to AI assistance here’s the first of Chapter One, Bhagavad Gita, sounds like
#1 Dhrtarastra: Yo Sanjaya! So, my squad and the Pandu pulled up at Kurukshetra, ready to throw down. Whats the scoop?
#2 Sanjaya: Ayo, King! Duryodhana took a good look at the Pandu crew, and he sprinted over to his guru like, “Bro we gotta talk starategy”.
#3 Duryodhana: Teacher,check out this army! The Pandus are flexing hard, thanks to your genius disciple. I mean, Drupada’s son is a total vibe!
#4 D
No one can complain about weather and the spirit that moves in this section of the world - control Ontario by some gorgeous lakes. With Surya, the sun god, in our presence, and the most vibrant colours that autumn has to offer, we wheeled along on Highway 400 to destination, the city of Barrie, where devotees of that community rent a space at a United Church for kirtan, discourse and eats.
Verse 10.19 from the Gita was where I spoke from. The focus was on the opulences of God. I think it is e
