the walking monk (462)

Concerning Talks by Bhaktimarga Swami

7950904489?profile=RESIZE_584xA 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,

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Went for the Blood by Bhaktimarga Swami

7947941070?profile=RESIZE_400xI 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

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Jay to Be Found by Bhaktimarga Swami

7944385700?profile=RESIZE_400xIt 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

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Gathering Good by Bhaktimarga Swami

7936682490?profile=RESIZE_400xMy 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

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Greater Beauty by Bhaktimarga Swami

7932466894?profile=RESIZE_400xSome 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

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7929823667?profile=RESIZE_400xA 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

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Last Little Touch by Bhaktimarga Swami

7923229860?profile=RESIZE_400xA 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

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7915544859?profile=RESIZE_400xIt 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

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Drench and Dry by Bhaktimarga Swami

7905899091?profile=RESIZE_400xNature was conjuring up a storm of water. Ominous clouds were ever present in the sky and lightning made its periodic flash, accompanied by the rumble of thunder. Hey, that’s the name of this place!

It was at this time, early afternoon, that I began my mere two kilometre walk (my physiotherapist suggested I reduce daily treks and work on stretches to counteract stiffness). In any event, I decided to go at strides at a critical hour of nature. I don’t mind the reminder to be humble. The elements

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Before the Fest by Bhaktimarga Swami

7886602667?profile=RESIZE_584xJim is a First Nations person, who had cycled over the creek’s bridge when he stopped to ask, “Are you a monk? Have you been to Tibet?” So I answered. He knew I was about to cross the bridge myself and mentioned there are lots of spirits that go to this bridge. When I handed him my mantra card and the mantra’s translation, he liked the word, “Creator.”

“Do you believe in a creator?” I asked.

“Yes.”                         

A young man, about twenty-five, Ray, was my next encounter. There was no

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From Wind to War by Bhaktimarga Swami

7864667483?profile=RESIZE_400xFrom Christie Pits Park we took ten minutes for contemplation. Sanjit, Chris and I sat on a bench, tilted our heads back and did a bit of stargazing. The moon, Jupiter and Saturn were close to each other. Clouds, white ones, skirted by, obscuring those luminaries. The wind was just the best of breezes. It was a wind bath. “Of purifiers I am the wind,” Krishna states.

The morning began with contemplation on Krishna’s words from 13.21 of the Gita:

“Nature is said to be the cause of all material ca

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From All of This by Bhaktimarga Swami

7855783053?profile=RESIZE_400x“Govinda’s,” the dining facility, which some people call “the restaurant,” was open today for the first time since the Covid-19 closure, and patrons are back. It has been a patient wait for folks. Over the months past I’ve been approached plenty of times by Govinda’s fans, in the course of my evening walks. It has been tough to tell people, “We’re closed!”

But now, that’s over. We’re closed on saying “we’re closed.” The food (prasadam) is the big attraction, as well as the atmosphere being a spa

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Being Inn by Bhaktimarga Swami

7824660455?profile=RESIZE_400xIt was sweet going from home to home with Savyasacin, not by foot, but in his red Jeep, following the caravan headed by Jagannatha deities. It is the Covid version of the Chariot Fest and, because it is relatively small scale, executing this mini party is very doable. All that is required are mantras, rituals, musical instruments, some satvic food—gas in your tank—companions, and a lot of bhakti. Today it took place in the burbs of Milton and tomorrow it’ll be Kingston. With the heat it felt lik

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Bridges by Bhaktimarga Swami

7816684882?profile=RESIZE_584x

The life of a monk is so much about building bridges and closing gaps. The endeavour one takes is to connect jivas to the Divine; bringing two worlds together.

I have always admired bridges—those who engineer, those who construct and also those who repair them—while on my walking travels. I had a flashback of men at work on bridges over the Fraser, in Hope, British Columbia, in the rain.

There are many kinds of bridges. One is for the mouth, as in dentures. At noon, over lunch, my temporary bri

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Out of the City by Bhaktimarga Swami

7550413893?profile=RESIZE_400xRudradeva took me out of the city to Niagara-on-the-Lake, after we met with Vaishnava to open a bank account for our registered ISKCON Niagara. I was taken to see another property. Unbeknownst to me, this impeccable piece of land, ten acres, has animals on it—alpacas! Beautiful! And, in addition, we had a gorgeous chalet to view what operates like a B&B at rating 9.7.

This area is peaceful. One coyote comes around to catch the field mice. He moves around the pond which is in the shape of a figur

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Got Around by Bhaktimarga Swami

7537688266?profile=RESIZE_400xI got around today, but not too much. That Credit River, running through the hamlet of Terra Cotta, is full of prana, living force, although it’s a tiny flow of water that meanders for about 100 kilometres. Keshava and I went looking for land, thinking about a senior’s home for Vaishnavas.

We did not get the pleasure to swim in it, since time was limited. It was important to maintain my schedule, a Zoom live-streaming of an ongoing series on The Gita studies. It’s going well.

I also was pleasant

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A Jesus Look Alike by Bhaktimarga Swami

7482958296?profile=RESIZE_400xChris is a Canadian, Catholic-raised guy who looks like Jesus. He came back from Thailand and India in the nick of time before Covid 19 slammed everything into lockdown. He, along with Sanjit, joined me for my evening walk. We talked about each other‘s upbringing and we discovered we had something in common — the Catholic connection.

Chris was a devout Catholic. He was an altar boy and he had nothing but a good experience. I would attend mass in church before going to school. I liked the peace o

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Hankering by Bhaktimarga Swami

7458427070?profile=RESIZE_584xI’m Hankering to be on the trail again

Where there’s nature and, yes, women and men.

A time for openness, interaction and then

A harmony, a calm, like a pure state of Zen.

 

I’ve taken to walking the land of the maple leaf

And foot-cruised the U.S. like a runaway thief

Through clover, corn, desert to the west coast reef

In a rhythm unstoppable beyond my own belief.

 

Took the challenge of Israel, its sand so dry,

And ventured under Ireland’s rare blue sky

Sugar cane countries where fish are put

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Ego by Bhaktimarga Swami

7369481459?profile=RESIZE_400xFrom Bhagavad-gita As It Is, purport 13.8-12: “False ego means accepting this body as oneself. When one understands that he is not his body and is spirit soul, he comes to his real ego. Ego is there. False ego is condemned, but not real ego. In the Vedic literature it is said, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: I am Brahman, I am spirit. This “I am,” the sense of self, also exists in the liberated stage of self-realization. This sense of “I am” is ego, but when the sense of “I am” is applied to this false body it

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7349517299?profile=RESIZE_400xThe Greater Toronto Area has entered into its third phase of lifting restrictions imposed due to the pandemic. At Gage Park in Brampton, Stephen Philips and I could see how the public there was taking advantage of trees, grass, benches, flowers and the gazebo. I remember that gazebo. At eighteen years of age, a friend, Ron Casier, and I hitchhiked from Chatham, a good 300 kilometres through country roads, for an experience, and reached as far east as this gazebo. We took a nap at the shelter. It

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