Brampton, Ontario
Cameron and I took my annual post Janmastami walk. It was 2am when we set foot to put an early footing for chanting on the beads. By the time we looped a trail through retail strips and residential neighbourhoods, we were practically staggering from fatigue. After a meaningful rest I sprang up for a new days action. It was another birthday, the birth of our guru, Srila Prabhupada.
For many this day tops even Lord Krishna’s day because the guru is perceived as the accessible medium of God. The guru pulls one out of the doldrums of mundane life through his message of freedom. For staunch followers everyday comes across as a day for guru reflection but this day is special.
As facilitators of the event, called Vyasa-puja, I had the good fortune to call on personal students of Prabhupada to read their prepared offerings of praise and thanks. It is an emotionally –charged time hearing heart felt words form those who had life transformations.
The sentiments continued in Brampton/Mississauga where devotees from that region converged to express the same gratitude to the founder of the Vedic Hare Krishna movement. At the end of the event I sat for feasting with an interesting couple, Bill and Marie. She was from Romania and expressed her earnestness to the philosophy that Prabhupada so carefully delivered to the western world back in ‘65’. It was Bill who struck me with a nostalgic flashback.
Here was the typical image of a dying Canadian. I didn’t catch him saying eh! At the end of his statements. Sporting a fifties duck tail hair style, being a bit reserved, polite speaking in few words, I thought you just don’t find these types like him anymore .
In any case we were moved that he showed up to honor a great soul, Srila Prabhupada.
10 Km
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