Blog

Two young guys scurried along as I came around the corner. There was no doubt that I frightened them. The maple tree came in most handy as they tucked away behind the trunk at a best attempt to conceal themselves. Well, I could spot one, at least a tail. I poked my head as I moved in closer for our little game. I went to the left, they went to the right. I moved to the right and they went to the left. I pulled out my phone for a camera shot. One by one they pounced onto the bark and ascended to

I did not get much of a walk in today, just a wee number of indoor strides. My only outside touch of the elements was the stairway at the temple’s entrance. There our kirtan crew met with the night. The lamp-post lit up by its sensor and we, too, got lit with the kirtan. We were in a happy state. We could have chanted the night away.

I did, however, accomplish a number of things; responding to emails, counseling people, reading “The Chaitanya Charitamrta,” as well as publication and proofreading

David, who lives with us in the ashram, drove us north to the very base of the Bruce Peninsula, which divides the Georgian Bay from Lake Huron. It is quite the waterway, an amazing expanse of H2O, minus ocean salt, with clean air. I would call it a place of opulence.

Clavering is a small hamlet. To reach there, David and I got adventurously lost, however, this displacement brought us through some of the prettiest scenery. Then, once we gained our bearings, we coasted by the shores along Collingw

Birthday wishes came flooding in. Thank you all, from across Canada, Africa, India, Florida and, of course, South America. It’s nice to know I have a big family that cares. I’m 68.

For starters our Monday group comprised of cousin Correy, Eric and Victor. A cake came to the Yorkville Mall, complements of the group. We come together to talk of Christ, Krishna, Mohammed as well as humanity and of how the world is in a tussle. The serviette for the cake bore the image of a fall landscape print, by

There is this sunken area full of trees, green and red, and has a flat surface with grass. Located right next to the Rosedale subway station, it is tucked away and a secret space, which makes for a perfect, private area. We found it ideal as an outdoor drama-practice venue.

This intensely maple-red trees defined our area of work. We scanned this park area and it was clear that here was where we should be. We carried with us no props. However, we found, conveniently, an antique wooden chair. “Thi

Jay Gopal, a resident of Stratford in Canada, pointed to the new $100 million theatre that just recently had to close up without ever opening its doors, because Covid-19 muscled its way in. This edifice, along with other live theatre halls in town, have been vacant for months now. “The show must go on!” Doesn’t apply here, and in most other places were thespian talents of a world-class nature are staged. It’s a shame. Shakespeare has been put to sleep.

Jay Gopal drove Karuna and me to Wildwood C

Here’s a poem about “guru” dedicated to Prabhupada written after a brief walk.

I was sitting in the room

Made a call by way of Zoom

Looked at verse 4:34

What a seeker’s looking for
 

Why is it so advised

To get vision beyond the eyes

While a passion hungry heart

Yearns for pleasure from the start?
 

Self-help goes so far

Alone—you’re in a jar

We have a certain limit

Think it over for a minute
 

To accept a real good guide

Who tells of the other side

You access essential wisdom

Taking you closer

I sleep in a very special room, the place where our guru, Prabhupada, laid down his divine body for slumber in June of 1976. Where my head is positioned on a captain-style bed I can see perfectly, framed by the rooms only window, the celestial position of Mars, as I look towards the south-east sky.

I’m not alone. Mars is the one observing my existence in the reclining pose. We are never alone. Whether it is Mars’ influence, or something else, my sleep was not good. I warned Devananda, who was to

It always pays off. This walking I do, to a nearby park, in any direction, almost each day, gets attention by some individual and leads to a spontaneously established friendship.

Today I made my way southbound to Queen’s Park to meet a newly made compadre, Saurav, where we would be going over a discussion on chapter 1 of The Gita. He tells me he has accepted me as his teacher and also admitted it’s hard for him to spark an interest in spiritual talk with his buddies. With me it’s 90% all about t

Despite cooler temperatures most trees in the area remain a rich green. Some, like the maple, are starting to show its true colour. At the end of the street from the temple/ashram you have got a majestic maple that is not just “showing” but it’s “showing off.” And it’s under that tree where, in two days, I’ll meet with my philosophical/spiritual friends for discussion. For now, a lit park lamp-post in the night is all that is necessary for the splendor of this tree to catch my fortunate eye.

Wit

A good friend of mine, a former schoolteacher, sent me images of the subject: “The Scale of Things,” featuring a seven-foot long leatherback sea-turtle at 2000 pounds, and a whole bunch of other astounding statistics of what’s big on Earth and in our universe. One picture he forwarded featured an eagle’s talon/claw as enormous. Another one lined up a cut-and-paste Titanic next to a modern cruise liner. Quite the difference in size, showing how modern-day shipbuilding has truly excelled in 100 ye

These days many numbers are thrown at us—stats about Covid. How many people are infected this very day? How many died from the virus? Stay at home and keep your number of people gathering down to ten. Outside you can have twenty-five, etc.… The numbers are on the rise for those found with the virus. It’s not good! It’s a second wave. The number two.

However, someone sent me some figures about saving lives if the world switched to a plant-based diet. It reads like so:

If the world switched to pla

A yogi friend of mine, Devananda, who I’ve known for forty-five plus years, came by. He spends half his time in India and half in China. It looks like he retreats to his native Toronto now and then. We always have a good chat. Today we covered everything from The Gita, bhakti, jnana, smarta brahmins, Covid-19, transgender, vaccines, Indian history, Islam, you name it. We spoke while eating prasadam, nice blessed food, in the environment of “Govinda’s” dining hall.

Devananda is cool, a Canadian,

I went for a blood test in a downtown lab. Great walk! I paced through the neighborhood frequented by the famous impressionist artists, the Group of Seven, to make it to the lab. There I met an amiable woman, an Afro-Canadian.

“My name is Aretha,” she said.

“Oh! As in Franklin?” I thought, Of course, she was named after her.

“After the vocalist, yes.” She said.

“That gal was the best. She had an incredible voice.”

This Aretha made a remark about my attire, the colour, and how she especially appr

It is definitely a pretty part of the province, near the quiet city of Owen Sound, where several waterfalls embellish the natural beauty of the place. Nanda, Aisvarya and I took a stroll at Harrison Park, on a trail leading to the awesome, cascading Inglis Falls. Our trek was short (and more walking awaited us along Georgian Bay) but sweet, it was near escarpment cliffs and under the canopies of still-green trees. A breeze picked up and sent down residual raindrops from those trees. It took us b

My feet didn’t go far today but, on a set of wheels, I did venture to Oakville. We were going to have our first ISKCON Oakville gathering but due to the number of Covid-19 victims rising, that was canceled. It was regrettable, however, Kasyapa and Panchami saved the day. This couple, who have successfully run a centre in Saskatoon for eight years, are back in the Greater Toronto Area, and they opened up their home for a smaller group event.

I asked them if I could bring Cameron, Chris, Nick and

Some of us will never forget this date—September eleventh—a sad day in human history. On a positive note, it is also the date that marks the birthday of a dear follower of Krishna. His name is Keshava and I remember this day of his, not because he is a terrorist, by any stretch. He is a kind-hearted Malaysian Canadian. I wish him well. Very well!

I walked to Saint Jamestown, to a clinic, to intimate a medical check-up for next week. A queue of people were standing in the hall, waiting for the gr

A brahman (priest) had just finished dealing with the call of nature, and took a quick look at what had come out of his system, remarking, “You are so disgusting!” His output responded back saying, “I was a sweet ladhoo until I entered your company for a few hours.”

That was, perhaps, a lesson in gross humility.

I was chatting today with the foreman overseeing the renovations going on in our ashram. He was speaking about the sewage pipeline in our building. “This building, which is well over 100

A last little touch of the boreal forest marked the end of my stay in Thunder Bay. The Beaver Meadows Trail takes one through a sweet boreal forest, a forest that occupies so much of Canada, holding a treasure of a huge collection of freshwater. Check out maps of this extraordinary spread of trees, ancient rocks and lakes. People speak of rainforests, such as the Amazon but, as I understand, the boreal bush impacts the globe in a similar, environmental way.

If you are a walker you have to love n

It has been relaxing here for me, and also for Ananda, who came from Regina. Both of us are getting some walking in—a piece of trail here or there. A treat was to get to Kakabeka Falls, which translates as “steep cliffs.” That they are. It’s always inspiring to be at this location, where I marvel at the cascading Kaministiquia River.

A twenty-five minute walking trail is connected to the falls, as an added feature. A sweet smelling boreal forest cuts the high winds of the day and makes you appre