Friday, March 21, 2008 - Durban, South Africa
It doesn’t matter where you walk in Durban; the ground under you begins to shake. This earth-shattering sensation that I’m talking about is reminiscent of rock concerts that I used to attend over 35 years ago. It’s these mini-bus taxis that blast out pop music with a thump that reaches optimum volume levels. They are everywhere! The pulsation is pervasive – a Durban trait apart from any other place I have been.
It was our first day of the four-day Ratha Yatra event at North Beach. A most healthy turn-out of human beings came to engage in this 20th anniversary event for Durban. It is no small picnic. Indradyumna Swami, an American monk, initiated this program two decades ago, and has gone on to become a master of grand-scale spiritual festivals held in Poland and now indoor festivals in Australia, something called “le Carnival Spiritual.” It is attracting people by the tens of thousands and affecting a change in the culture of current times. Bravo to him! My robes became ghee drenched during a ceremony to honour a deity of Chaitanya.
My morning walk was a quiet trek through residential Chatsworth on this Good Friday and also Gaura Purnima, the birth of the golden avatar, Chaitanya.
8km
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