Thursday, October 14th, 2010

Full and Rich

Toronto, Ontario

It was a hard, but full and rich day. Many things got done at the temple/ashram. At the tail end of the day I spent time with a reporter from the Toronto Star. He took photos of the placed and asked questions of me and Keshav, an outstanding member of the next generation. When all was done I realized I put no time into trekking for the day. The earlier rain of the day was a deterrent as it sometimes is. Not always.

Now at 9:30 PM the stars in the sky were visible and so I decided to take, as I should religiously, to power walking. Yonge Street sidewalks were clean from the morning moisture and I was set to rain-with-the-Name my heart as I stepped.

A rickshaw runner pulled up beside me to stop for the red light. “I have ridden on plenty of those cycle rickshaws in India,” I remarked. He wasn’t too much of a conversationalist. He was more keen on customers it seemed.

Further on southbound towards Dundas Square I found myself pacing behind a threesome, a man and two younger women. One of the women turned around, stopped and looked with interest from my head to toe.

“I’m a monk!” I volunteered to say.

“What kind of a monk?” she asked amicably.

“A Hare Krishna monk.”

“A Christian monk?” she queried.

Then I went on to explain. That was done. Then I took a 180 degree turn for the northern direction. A homeless person, an Ojibway man was my guess, wanted a handshake. I complied with a pranams (palms together gesture). He addressed me as a monk, but he was drunk. I knew he wanted my coins, of which I had none. I moved on when a young black dude was not abreast with me, also walking. We both had a chuckle knowing what he really wanted.

Because it was Thursday night the mood of people was generally upbeat. Shops are open later than normal. Consumers were having that feel good feeling about spending. I came back to the ashram and then the office to read the latest issue, Nov/Dec of “Back to Godhead” magazine. I especially loved the article, “Becoming Wealthy on $2 a Day” by Dhanesvara. The thrust of the article was about simple living and high thinking (check www.spiritual-econ.com).

It was 11:30 PM and tie to retire. It was a hard, but full and rich day.

7KM