Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

THE BIG BURP

TUESDAY JUNE 9/09,

TORONTO, ONTARIO

He walked a good five KM to meet me at the temple only to take on another seven KM with me down the ravine by the Brick Works and then as we departed he tackled another five KM back to his home. It had been a while since he had put his hand in a bead bag fingering the beads made of neem wood while chanting the Maha mantra.

Once a monk now a journalist, Baladev did extremely well at keeping up a walking pace with me and focusing on hearing the sound vibration of transcendence. The only thing that interrupted his chanting was this long loud burp he let out. “Ahhh! The sound of satisfaction perhaps!” I blurted out. “You ate well?” I asked him. A smile!

I did proceed on to say that since we just had made a bit of a climb on the trail which tends to go up and down a certain part of his machinery got activated which doesn’t normally. I suggested that some trapped gas got mobilized upon stretching a lazy inactivated part of his body.

According to Ayurveda practice there are five major airs in the body and then some minor ones which move in different directions within our bodily frame. Sometimes they vent from above or behind. I was happy about the burp and so was he. The volume of this burp was a sign of released air. It didn’t seem to scare the squirrels so it was harmless.

So that’s what happens when you walk. There may be gaseous dynamics from above or behind but it’s a healthy sound apart from the mantra.

7 KM for me. 17 for Baladev.