Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

Property and Cloth

Mayapur, West Bengal

Tierry, from Mauritious and I were trekking through some of the fields (or on the edge of them) seeking short cuts to a clinic where our dear Dustin is dealing with treatment for his asthma. At one point I relayed a story to Tierry about our guru, Srila Prabhupada, who walked through a farmer's field. The owner came out to see the Swami. This took place in India. The man expressed his great appreciation to Prabhupada for blessing his property. After the farmer expressed himself like this Prabhupada made a comment to some of his students who were with him walking on the man's property. He said that in India when you do this they congratulate you but in the West if he was to walk on someone's land they would come at you with a shotgun.

Prabhupada illustrated the point of the different attitudes drawn from different cultures and India's unique place in the world as the land of dharma. It is the place of hospitality.

Meanwhile our dear Max who was walking between buildings came upon Lakshmi Priya, Mayapur's elephant. Lakshmi is taken daily by her trainer for walking and social interaction on the grounds. When Max got close, Lakshmi pulled at his fresh new dhoti (lower robes). She made a substantial tear and Max held on to his clothing for dear life. It was a surprise and unexpected for Max. Before she had a chance to take off with his entire protection max got himself free from her trunk. Whew! That was a close one!

After the ordeal Max showed me the damaged dhoti. "Hmmm! Very interesting, I though! Laksmi is very creative. The rip is substantial and she left a clear mud imprint on the white dhoti with the end of her moist trunk."

I believe that Max will take that cloth and frame it behind glass as a novelty item and posterity sake. It will be a reminder of the great pilgrimage that he partook in on this wonderful trip to India in 2010.

7 Km