Monday, October 20th, 2008

Monday, October 20, 2008 - Mumbai, India

I don’t go to the beach for enjoyment. I go there for serious sadhana and in particular for chanting on my meditation beads. Our guru, Srila Prabhupada used to walk here. I am not sure if he went south-bound towards the Citizen Hotel or paced north, a right turn at former home of Sumati Morarjee, the business woman who owned Scindia Ship Co. and offered Prabhupada the free passage on an ocean liner the Jaladuta, headed for the US in 1965.

Since these sands were trampled on by a great saint we consider the beach here at Juhu to take on a sacred quality. Not all people recognize it as such. Some might consider that it’s time and the waves themselves that wear away any pure potency.

Juhu is used by early risers as a running track, for athletes it’s a playing field for cricket and for others it’s their home. Plenty of people sleep on the beach at night.

“Time and tide await for no man.” In the morning the tide is high and I avoid the oncoming wave of water but time will catch up on me because it’s something none of us can dodge.

My walking companion, Nitai Prem, and I noticed the crows up above. They are like the mind going, hither & thither. A man later on in the day asked me about the nature of the mind. I told him it’s like crows in the sky. They are always up to something, usually mischief.

7 Km