Wed. July 02/08 - Port Royal, Pennsylavnia, USA
One of my favorite monks in Krishna Consciousness was Bhakti Tirtha Swami. A former black panther from the activist years of America and native of Cleveland, Ohio. He came to Krishna Consciousness to become an even greater radical as a monk. Bhakti Tirtha passed away three years ago from cancer. At a country ashram in the hills of Pennsylvania lies his samadhi, a memorial tomb next to a temple of Radha Krishna. It happens to be a fine structure to circumambulate while chanting on beads. Today was a day to indeed reflect on saints.
A half day fast was observed to honour the passing of Bhaktivinode Thakur, one of the true fathers of the bhakti, or devotional movement in India in the 19th century. Amongst many of his great contributions are his outpouring of songs of deep feeling. He was a great spiritualist and while he did much to enhance the cause of spreading bhajan meditation he maintained a large family who all became great saints themselves amoungst them Bhaktisiddhanta, a life-long celibate monk, who also became a great pioneer of Krishna Consciousness.
Amongst our ranks in the saint category is Apurva. Himself a family man, spent his years as an excellent cook in devotional service. He and his wife, Kamalini, are traveling with us on the youth bus tour. The couple are extremely dedicated and take time in the morning for power walking, which means they are my kind of people.
Apurva sees to it that no food (prasadam) is wasted. If a plate is left half eaten he will see to it that it gets eaten, either by the dog or some other entity needing. He scrapes his hand at the bottom of a pot to see that justice is done to all prepared food. He has won my respect totally.
The rich soil of this country yeilds great herbs and crops and my walks here give great joy seeing the well maintained fields in Amishland.
5 km
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