The Walking Monk

Sunday Oct. 14/07
Soweto, South Africa
It was a two day event held yesterday and today and it’s called the festival of Chariots. Local people in the region of Mofollo Park had never seen anything like it- especially - the images in black is Jagannatha and accompanying forms are Baladeva and Subhadra. For them the sound was different, the beat of a different drum and that was enough to encourage many onlookers to jump into the fun of a procession moving party. One monk indicated that I had a knack for dancing like the black, “where do you get this from?’ “Some influence of past karma I guess”, was my response. A high point for me was reuniting with sannyasis (monks). To name them there was Kadamba Kanana Swami, the organizer of the event , Devamrita Swami, a black sannyasi who hails from New York and Kavichandra Swami, also from the U.S. who spends considerable time in the western coast of South Africa. Locally based is Bhakti Chaitanya Swami and like the others, he is a gentleman.
The length of walking today and yesterday was the length of the festival’s route, an approximate 5 or 6 kms. at the most.