Wednesday 7 October 2009

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

The Man For Change

Kamloops, British Columbia

He was curious as hell. This man from Turkey was my co-passenger and I guess was not too meek to speak. So I broke the ice with an introductory weather line. “I knew it would be more dry here than in Vancouver”, I said as our plane was coming nearer and nearer to Kamloops.

“So, it’s your first time to the interior of B.C.?”

“Yes, it is but excuse me! What order of Buddhism do you belong to?” he asked.

“Hare Krishna” I replied and then the dialogue flowed from there.

He identified himself as a former Muslim, turned atheist, now agnostic.

I asked him, “why the change?’ He said he read of the life of Mohamed and that that was enough to turn him to atheism.

“What brought you to the point of becoming as agnostic?”

He then shared his explanation. “There are things in this world that cannot be explained in practical terms, things that are mystical.”

From there I presented the mysteries of the Bhagavad-Gita. He was quite taken by the Gita’s view through the eyes of the three modes of material nature, and was particularly drawn to “goodness”, the most favorable of the three.

I was happy to have made a friend who agreed that openness is the best course. The plane landed and we had to part but like great brief encounters that yearn to repeat themselves we decided to exchange phone numbers.

There is so much to talk about. Talking, like walking can change a man.

9 Km

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