Dirt and the Stone
Burnaby, British Columbia
I consider it a sin when prime agricultural land gets consumed by mega box shopping outlets. Here in the lower Mainland of British Columbia, You have this rich, flat, black soil; the delta dynamic of the Fraser River. Well, it's getting wasted. It's almost everyday that Nipuna aka Nirguna and I take that meditative walk, rain or shine, through an enclave of a residential settlement in the heart of the fertile soil. It's sad to see that the damage has already been done; that there now exists an encroachment of sorts. Sadly, prioritization of the use of land needs an overhaul.
On a sweeter note, my heart melted to see an older Asian man pull meticulously at weeds from his cultivated garden of green. He nodded to acknowledge the two monks passing by. We mutually recognized him with a pranam bow.
And while we are on the topic of dirt, my dear godbrother, Vijeta, manager of his Jaganntha Puri Express veggie restaurant, delivered a beautiful class on the early days of the Hare Krishna movement, in Mumbai. He and his life long partner, Arya, natives of Toronto, joined the movement in India in the early 70's. Vijeta spoke about the land secured to build the now gorgeous Juhu Beach temple. When the land was excavated for construction, an ancient stone was dug up. It had inscribed in it a message in Hindi, Gujarati or Sanskrit. The stone was given to our guru, Srila Prabhupada to determine what the inscription said.
Prabhupada read it, broke into a smile, and told that the stone was the corner stone to a Hanuman temple. He was saying, "Just see, Hauman is wanting to see Rama and Sita." This piece of stone was a clear confirmation that a temple should indeed come up. And so it happened. A temple was built. The deities of Ram, Sita, Laksman and Hanuman were enshrined.
5 KM
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