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It has been more than twenty-four years since I developed this callous and corn on the sole of my right foot.  It doesn't cause pain, but more—aggravation, from the point of view that it remains hard, and in some subtle way causes an uneven walk when I’m going barefoot. 

Personally, I have been hacking, or chiseling, away at this stubborn entity, on and off.  Today, I asked Radha Madhava, the person whom I stay with in Calgary, to finish it off.  So I handed him a rasp-type instrument suppli

Sanjaya had a successful business and his family was doing well.  Then ten years ago, he suddenly was hit by a stroke and hasn't been able to physically do much since.  It has put a strain on the family financially, and his good wife is working extra time to compensate. They do receive some income due to his disability.  He has had time to think over the misfortune and has come to a redeeming conclusion. "Had this not happened I would not be spiritual.  It brought me closer to Him," he told me.

Chandan is an enthusiastic and energetic fellow, father, husband, bhakti-yogi.  He took a forward step this morning by sitting at the fire for his diksha (initiation).  His new name is Chandramauli, in reference to Shiva, who carries the moon.  He's happy.

 

My walking time was under the moon in Calgary, after the sangha program, the Sunday Open House.  My dear Dhruva came out to see me as i was leaving the building.  He came in his flip flops with snow all around.  Luckily for me, the temperat

Spiritual seekers at Southminster Steinhauer United Church (my venue) were my audience for a talk on "Tails from Trails".  That was last night.  The congregants who came were really sweet.  I think they found the life of a mendicant walking across Canada very interesting - everything from the practical aspects of trekking day to day, without stoppage, to the theology I've adopted, which drove me on with a passion.  Mantra meditation followed the talk, with a slew of questions.  

Tonight a prog

 George Harrison passed away eighteen years ago.  He was not only a great musician but a good human being.  He attracted thousands of people to the lifestyle of bhakti/devotion, through his music.  He once wrote:

 

Everybody is looking for Krishna.  Some don't realize that they are, but they are.  Krishna is God, the Source of all that exists, the Cause of all that is, was, or ever will be.  As God is unlimited, He has many names.  Allah-Buddha-Jehovah-Rama.  All are Krishna, all are One. 

 

Go

The decorated Christmas tree came crashing down.  A metal barrier at a construction site also collapsed to a horizontal position and lay there.  Clear plastic bags flitted in the air, here there.  It was surreal and it was happening within a certain solitude.  A strong gale whipped through the downtown where I was walking.  It was 3:30 a.m.

 

I needed that walk.  It has been a sleepless night.  The hike through the gale inserted energy while I held onto my dhoti (lower garment). 

 

I entered th

Before Clare got lured away by the junkie, I shared with her a quote from W.C. Fields, whom I admired to some extent before I became a monk.  She had a good laugh at it.  Here it is.  "Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else.  We start drinking early.  And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus, we'll be seeing six or seven.” 

Now, that was yesterday at the park.  Today was a rather moist day.  Jaya and I drove to Wasaga to see a

 The day was irresistible at ten degrees Celsius, with the sun beckoning.  Spontaneously, I decided to pick up the mrdunga drum, get a ride, and do some chanting in Kensington during that fabulous window of opportunity.  It may be the only day left for such freedom, before Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind, sets in. 

I began to chant, with the sun on my back and my two arms in sufficient motion to get the rest of me warm.  The chanting, I kept low key.  I believed it would do its own mag

It struck me, that right across the street from where I live, there's a shop which sells clothing for women.  And in the window display, there are two mannequins decked out in the latest fashionable apparel.  I couldn't help but take a picture of the display, because it said to me, "We don't walk!"

 

I actually found it humourous, at the thought, and carried on with my own stroll along with Jaya.  I will caption them as ‘Anti-Walkers’ because essentially they don't move.  Anyway, what to expect

 

Anita Sharma was just a little girl when she and her parents and two brothers started coming around.  Her dad and mum came from the Punjab, and the family is now in their third generation here.

Successful?  Yes!  When she mentioned she has a nephew who's now a doctor, I was quite surprised how fast everything evolves with the generations. 

 

Does she have her own family?  I asked her and she smiled and said something about "updating."  Anyway, she's married to her career as an anchor/reporte

This morning was a time to look forward to, for the seven of us - Nicholas, Pariksit, David, Oksana plus her two kids, and myself.  It was the first visit for most of us to Vishal's farm.  What a treat!  Vishal was generous with kisses to the young bull (I forget his name).  He walked us to the foundation of his barn.  To follow will be a house and greenhouse.  Who knows what more?

 

Part two of our day's anticipation was a seven kilometre walk on the Great Trail.  The most excited among us was

 From Roxborough Street going east, I made it to Moore Park Ravine, and then came upon a new switchback at Chorley Park.  For years that has been one of my walking routes, but what's different in the newly renovated Chorley Park is that zigzag of a trail called a switchback.  Systematically, the city Parks Commission has been making improvements and completing a makeover during the last two years.  I'm noticing it and loving it.

 

However on my ascent, half-way up the switchback, I asked the on

We walked during a drizzle of rain - Jaya, Raymond and myself.  We made a commitment to keep our fingers on our japa beads and utter the mantras so well known to us Hare Krishna.  By the time we got to the crossroads of Bloor and Spadina, one of those companions confessed, "Maharaja, I've been doing terribly with my rounds.”  (meaning a lack of focus on the sacred sound)

 

This remark expresses a common enough concern by chanters of japa.  I indicated that he should make use of prayer, which ca

 

Well I walked a minor trail today

My version of how I get some play

Been in a plane, been in a car

Don't really get you anywhere far

The trail makes time stretch so nice

A place where there's little or no vice

In my opinion it's how to go

Whether dry, wet or with some snow

I moved along in so much bliss

It feels like mother nature's kiss

Dog sitters and runners I did meet

It's so awesome movin' on my feet

The smells were so fragrantly fine

My nose took in all but the sweet pine

 

A number of us were regrouping at the Buenos Aires Airport when a Chinese gentleman, who had just visited Antarctica to see the penguins in action, stopped in his tracks to look at me.  I guess I was his next penguin.  Our eyes met.  I offered my pranams(palms together). He smiled "Who are you?" 

 

I read his eyes and responded with lips and tongue delivering my name and identity: "I'm a monk, a Krishna monk.”

 

Somehow, he had some reference to the ‘Krishna thing’ and the India connection.  

We had a farewell walk… Does that make any sense?  It's been my tenth year here.  I'll be making it back for the fest next year, so how can it be a legitimate good-bye?

The farewell walk to Regatas Lake was a spontaneous stroll, more exclusively for our drama team. Like all the components that made up the festival, the work was hard. But at least I could see that while everyone else around the temple took time to relax, our actors and crew pushed it a little harder and made this walk under a b

 The troupe I've practised with for the last five days was ready and eager to perform "El Gita".  Since yesterday's dress rehearsal, we had the chance to make adjustments with costumes and make-up.  Well, at show time, they were in pretty good form.  It was so much appreciated.  One math university professor came up to me to express, "You made the dialogue and science of the Gita so comprehensible.  I admit, I was crying." 

 

I was asked to end the program after the rock band "So What!" finish

In our Vedic lifestyle, a common theme is ‘team’.   You do things together.  Our approach to spiritual life has little to do with a yogi sitting under a banyan tree in solitary meditation.  Rather, we bond together to accomplish work for the mission.  We're like a bunch of beavers.  

 

For instance, I'm working with a group of committed individuals dedicated to rehearsals in the play, "El Gita", which involves all the ins and outs of making the drama ‘gel’.  It is real team work.  And each day

In Buenos Aires, I had the pleasure of walking up and down a street in the company of friends while inhaling the great, breathable air that the city is known for.  I wouldn’t have dared in the daytime.  The sun can really bake alive a northerner like me.

Earlier in the day, word reached me that a pop star walked across the U.S. Congratulations to singer Mike Posner, best known for the song "I Took A Pill in Ibiza".  Yes, congratulations for the feet-feat.  

According to Mike, the just-shy-of

I'm staying at Cdad. de La Paz 394, the location of the Buenos Aires ISKCON, and it’s an interesting building.  If I was a kid (and who’s to say I won’t be one again), I would be in bliss within this structure.  It was a former school.  It has all these neat hideaways and narrow-to-wide staircases, some of them so tucked away.  Whoever designed the place was artistically eccentric, I would think. The only thing missing are tunnels.  I mean, we don't have architecture or building codes like this