In Transition
Dubai, U.A.E
You heard about the book “Eat, Pray, Love”. Today I felt like writing a novel “Stand, Sit and Chew”. I’m spending time mostly in the air and it’s port. You stand in line-ups, sit in the plane and eat a little food now and then. I’m not complaining. That never does any good. I’m just taking note of a day in the life in air culture. To some degree I guess you could say I’m eating, praying and loving (loving Krishna of course, via the chant).
At least I was lovin’ it and a packed house was lovin’ it, at a rented hall in Dubai. The community really was immersed in Kirtan, and given that it is the official birth anniversary of Rama all went ecstatic and on their feet singing their hearts out. There is no better pre-occupation.
Because of the global economic down turn, Dubai got hit like much of the world. Devotees tell me that companies are imposing layoffs while some are stipulating “you want to stay on the job then we reduce your salary to a third of what you used to get. Take it or leave it”. Some people have left Dubai to return to their places of origin for greater hopeful prospects.
Be the situation that it is, community members here value the power of chanting all the more for its social spiritual potency and have come to terms with the tighter times. It’s quite a resilient group. Their enthusiastic co-coordinator, Sri Vallabha, asked me to read from the book Bhagavatam, Canto One, describing Ramas’ appeal for the ocean to co-operate.
The place where Rama sat in meditation calling on the assistance of the samudra, the Indian Ocean, is located in the South of India, Ramesvaram. The ocean reduced its turbulence and became calm allowing for boulders to float on its surface, hence creating a causeway for him to reach Sri Lanka’s northern shore.
With this pastime we capitalized on the term of “co-operation”. The message was one of “Listen, Follow, Enjoy!” Hey, we’ve got material for a new book!
0 KM
No comments:
Post a Comment