Thursday, April 17, 2008

Thursday, April 17, 2008 - Halifax, Nova Scotia
Our two monks in Halifax, Nitai and Dwija, have organized a 'Festival of the Golden Moon' for the weekend and that's what brings me here. It is their first annual event and highlights mantra chanting and devotional theatre. When I arrived on the previous day we had decided spontaneously to hold the city's first outdoor chanting session this Atlantic harbour city has ever seen for the Spring Street musicians, but our group is the only group to perform out-on-the-seaside-air music of a mystical sort.
Under the sun (and not the moon) off of Spring Garden Street the drumming of monk Karuna, who also arrived here from India, we provided a happy tone. If the Beatles had not been labelled as the Fab Four, judging from the passerby, who expressed that the chanting was pretty fabulous, we may have adopted that name. As we packed up our instruments, a group of four women had expressed their surprise that Krishna monks were still around and that we were not extinct.
A woman today clicked her camera while I was on a random stroll (for air). Bubbling with enthusiasm, she voiced a loud "It's good to see you," after she took a picture. I thought more dialogue would ensue but she just kept walking and let out those two liberating words, "Hare Krishna!"
Nitai had publicized through various media outlets that we would need volunteer actors for the moon festival and by some amazing grace, 12 people showed up. Today is the second night of practice for the drama "The Gita." Most of them are not terribly familiar with mantra chanting, but they are now learning a mantra for this show from chapter 4 of the cherished Bhagavad Gita. The verse begins Yada Yada and explains the reason for Krishna's descent to the world. It's Krishna's "yada yada yada" line but bears greater significance.
10 kms