Saturday Transcended
Richmond Hill, Ontario
While walking Bloor St. with two companions, both from Quebec (Canada's french side), we met a bearded fellow who made an interesting comment on this Hallowe'en Day about our devotional attire.
"You would think that the Hare Krishnas would take at least one day of the year off especially Hallowe'en, but I can see that you guys dress up 365 days a year."
Regardless of the remark he said the magic words "Hare Krishna" - a four syllable expression of sound which is highly beneficial for anyone who hears.
Every last Saturday of the month the youth of Toronto organize themselves under the mentorship of Vaisesika, a strong advocate of distribution of books from Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. At the corner of Bloor and Spadina the chanting of this pure sound of "Krishna" was being executed by the group while some of the youth set up a table of the aforementioned books on bhakti yoga.
Another feature of their monthly arrangement was the distribution of packaged cookies, nuts and suckers. The response from the public was great.
I spent a few minutes there with the group chanting and encouraging them in their various efforts to reach out to a public that is largely devoid of spiritual experience. From this location I moved on to a second group stationed at Baldwin St. by Kensington Market where a rather eclectic public is quite receptive.
A point here to consider is that in the capitalist so-called developed world spirituality has been basically shunned by the fundamental nature of our "greed culture". They were transcending.
In the evening my godbrother from Austin Texas spoke about transcending. Sankarshan came to enlighten people at a home in Richmond Hill. The message for the evening was clear - through chanting we transcend.
6 Km
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