Acclimating to the cold is fairly easy for me. Apparently, several centimetres were to land on surfaces in all directions on this day. Sure enough, a storm hit delivering generous amounts of the white magic. It came down quite fiercely. It’s humbling.
I am looking forward to some walking once it clears somewhat.
I was so touched that members of our Bhakti Academy are alternating at giving classes for the Bhagavatam session. In my absence, the program has been going on. Today’s presenter was Leo
The road to the Delhi Airport was quite smooth. I asked our driver what the name of the road was, but there’s a language barrier. Shame on me. I should know some Hindi by now. There were the shortcuts. They were rough.
Parama Karuna, the professional dancer who was part of our drama troupe, left for Paris from here. The rest of us – Chris, Anya, Dhruva, Kunti, Vya, and I – waited at our gate for Lufthansa Airlines for a stop at Frankfurt before proceeding back to Canada.
Reflections of India
This morning after my sadhana, spiritual exercise, I put some attention to my machinery. I’m speaking more particularly about the bridge of my upper teeth. Keshava, our dear friend from Malaysia and former ISKCON Toronto temple president, is also a dentist. It took some time to break the old bridge that was cracked. One main reason for the crack is my excess grinding which I apparently do during sleep. My night guard is something I used to be proactive at using for protection and dental care, b
Our theatrical warmup practices look something like this:
Participants stand in a circle and chant the pranam mantras to our guru, Srila Prabhupada. Then mantras to the five features of the Absolute. Then mantras to the divine female and divine male, Radha and Krishna
Voice projection then involves the mantra, om namo bhaghavate vasudevaya.
Mouth muscle exercise with vowels A-E-I-O-U.
Surya namaskar, salutations to the sun – yoga stretches with Kunti from Canada.
Further body stretche
DEAR READERS!
Off we go! Six of us on the way to Mother India where Father Dharma rules, or at least did so at one time. Who are we? Chris, Anya, Dhruva, Vya, Kunti, and I go up, up, and away in Air Canada for a stopover in Heathrow, bound for Mumbai and finally Kolkata.
2020 was my last visit to the place of the essence (dharma). I am blessed to have this company that I’m in. At our waiting gate our crew of six grabbed a final bit to eat and then engaged in our reading of the script “Witness Gopal,” a way t
What a blessing today was, like all days! I say that because I receive an affirmation almost every day. Today was no exception. My stomach confirmed that beet root and I just don’t get along. I love the flavour and the colour, but tummy-wise, it doesn’t work. The truth is simply underscored.
In preparation for my India trip which begins tomorrow, I was urged on to do some shopping. Another truth about myself is that I’m not fond of going out for selecting a purchase. But when it comes to acquir
By now, you must be aware that I am a sucker for three dimensional objects – sculptures. Before becoming a monk, I was preoccupied in various visual art forms. Recently when I made a visit at the dentist’s office, I saw a piece of metallic curvature sculpture which reminded me of something I assembled in college in ’73 when I walked away from several pieces of artwork to take to my current vocation. When seeing that sculpture in the patients’ waiting room, I had that nostalgic moment.
Now back
Morning meditation began at the ISKCON centre at 212 Somerset E. located in the heart of student land for Ottawa U. Included in these contemplations and mantras was a discussion over a Bhagavatam verse from Canto 4 where the renowned sage, Narada, counsels Dhruva, a young 5-year-old attempting meditation. Narada advises the young student to approach three different kinds of people from respective angles. To experienced souls, one should offer respect and listen. For the younger and inexperience
Nanda took Nikhil and I for a walk at Chinguacousy Park in Brampton. Also, I went to the dentist. The not-good-news is the bridge of my teeth is cracked and needs replacing.
The following is a poem about some of the history of mistreatment of the female sector in the movement. There is an attempt to rectify.
GENDER BLENDER
Early 70s, the Hare Krishna Movement
North America enjoyed a great recruitment
We were a growing, glowing family
A blessed bunch existing happily
Prabhupada’s “boys and girls
Sometime people ask me how I do it, whether it be a long walk or busy at flying from country to country. My usual answer is something like, “The mercy of the Creator.”
I had to question my own answer of confidence when at our Niagara gathering; I was doubting my own conviction. I was signing books at our centre when my eyelids closed just momentarily out of fatigue. And then when I took to the sponsored feast, an integral party of Sunday gatherings, I was chomping on the delicious food when sud
Ram Lila and I were to take a flight at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport, a very modest-sized facility, to destination, Suriname. It’s another country just east of Guyana. The aircraft takes ten passengers. There was an issue over my not having a yellow fever card, but what became nothing more than a slight tussle ended up giving me a pass for over an hour’s flight to another tiny airport, a tad bit larger than a barn.
Ram Lila and I were greeted by a sweet couple with garlands of th
Things are changing in Guyana. When I took American Airlines from Trinidad to Guyana, a mere one-hour flight, I noticed passengers who were in unmistakably Latino. Apparently, people from troubled Venezuela are migrating. Oil was discovered in Guyana, and so the rush is on. I was told Cubans are also making inroads.
Upon arriving in Georgetown, I noticed there are fewer lotuses in the canals. The country is taking action and clearing these lovelies that clog the plumbing. What else? Well, new r
There they were, like kids in a candy shop. The Bhakti Academy crew joined me for a visit to a household in Stouffville. The proprietor, Ajay, handed me a copy of the Krsna Art Book, which I passed on for viewing to BA for their perusal. They were enthralled.
Page after page illustrates and summarizes pastimes of Krishna, which are full of energy, mysticism and holiness. Thus, the group was huddled about the book, a coffee-table sized gorgeous publication. It was the first time they had viewed
Every once in a while, I meet a real nice person as a passenger on the plane next to me. The timing on the flight between Vancouver and Toronto couldn’t be better for dodging storms. Vancouver got clobbered and there’s more to come. Predictions indicate that storms will hit Toronto, so there was a break of winter chaos and that happened to be my flight time for Air Canada 108. The stress reliever is always mantra power, so that’s what I resorted to. An additional soothe space was in meeting Mik
Roads have been quiet. Silent night was early. People preferred to stay at home. Snow had accumulated to levels that made it restrictive to travel. Snow plows were doing their best to clear but it takes time. This area isn’t ready for such a dumping dynamic.
The sun shone through.
I had to cancel on delivering the class this morning. My right leg is in too much pain. I attribute it to a seizing of the leg muscles from the cold. The temples furnace broke down and the floor tiles have been rather
A snowstorm hit Vancouver Island just as it did on the mainland. All night long – isn’t that a song? Anyway, here’s a poem about Norm:
I met a man by the name, Norm
At the time of a big snow storm
He is 66 and has no legs
But substitute bionic pegs
He is no scholar like Socrates/Plato
And explained he became a couch potato
He’d been clicking the one-eyed monster
Switching channels, faster and faster
His sedentary roll made him quite fat
With 380 pounds all under his hat
One day he got electr
