Wednesday, May 18th, 2011

More of Teeth, Less About Feet

Mississauga, Ontario

I asked the young dentist, "Which avatar shows his prowess by displaying the teeth? I put him on pause for a few seconds until his father, who was by his side, seemed to get the answer right.

"Narasingha?" he speculated.

"Right you are," I said, confirming the extraordinary and majestic half-lion half-man image whom one can read about in the book Srimad Bhagavatam.

Bobby Bakri, the dentist who was affectionately put on the spot, thumbed-up his dad's answer, and who is well read on the story of the lion-hearted avatar who came to give protection to the child-saint Prahlad. Bobby agreed that you cannot get a better set of teeth than those of Narasingha.

It is a yearly event that a small band of us Krishna devotees visit Bobby's dental clinic for chanting, veggie prasad, juice and dialogue (after hours, of course). Bobby and father reciprocate with a kind donation towards our Festival of India event for July. Bobby went on to discuss about sharks who have their threatening teeth. He relayed that ocean fish experts say, "Even if a shark's teeth are all busted, his jaws and teeth grow back again."

It shows that sharks are rather resilient as ocean dwellers. Do note that sharks are identified as THE aquatics of the ocean. Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita, "Amongst aquatics, I am the shark."

Now, back to the clinic. It's cozy, friendly, and as each room gets visited by our little chanting brigade we are confident that when we sing through our dentures and to room to room, the facility gets surcharged with spiritual power. Come to think of it, chanting is the supreme function of the mouth and teeth.

8 KM