It Takes Time to Grow a Tree
Vicenza, Italy
I strolled through the orchard at this ten hectare piece of land called Prabhupada desh. What was a Benedictine monastery is now a Hare Krishna ashram. It's a stately building three centuries old. I was invited to spend a day here in another part of rural Italy before wrapping up my visit to the countriy of olives.
The orchard has a surprising seven neem trees on it. Figs grow here as well as almonds, apricots, apples, plums, cherries, grapes and other delicious fruit. This certainly brings me back to teenage flash-back. Every summer for eight hours each day I worked the orchard in Canada, taking in the good air, having some great exercise, making a little money and getting responsible. Mind you, some of us had serious cherry fights while our transistor radio blared out the latest musical hits of the time. Trust me, we didn't listen to bubble-gum music.
Those were days!
A local resident devotee, Mangalananda, showed me around the orchard. We took samples of the yummy fruit. Then he told me of a sidewalk built in order that "people from the cathedral up the hill could visit our ashram and our people could go to their cathedral with ease". So I ventured there and tried out the new sidewalk. I was pleasantly surprised with the liberal attitude of the community.
One visitor to the community here told me her son was interested in gaining powers such as being able to read other people's minds. Being a yoga teacher she knew well how to answer her son. "It takes lots of work and self-discipline to achieve that", she told him. He was looking for something instant. "I was thinking it's like the neem trees". The seeds came from India. They were planted a mere four years ago. With time with sun, with rain and wind they were allowed to grow and be strong. So if you want to bear fruit or have a good harvest then time and conditions must be right.
8 KM
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