Searching
Toronto, Ontario
Sri Kanta from Zürich came to visit us in Canada for the first time. He's here to accompany Uttama Sloka, an outstanding monk from the Ukraine. With a fascination for the wilderness I agreed to take Sri Kanta down a trail in the best that an urban area can offer. I took him down my training path at dusk.
He was most keen to see North American wildlife.
"You're not going to find bison in the city. No moose and no bears. If lucky perhaps fox, maybe coyote but most likely raccoons and skunks."
He settled for that and was prepared with camera in the left hand while his right was immersed in his japa beads.
"These are nocturnal creatures and that's why we are roaming in the nights," I explained. I had a long day of administrative tasks and so this wind down time was perfect for me.
Unfortunately the best we could find, after two hours walking, in the dark were no ring-tailed creatures or white-on-black stinkers but a woman. Resting her laurels on a bench of a dark park was a young woman with her arm extended. If it hadn't been for seeing her lit cigarette I would have tripped over her stretched out leg.
"Are you guys Buddhists or something?" she queried.
That was the beginning of our dialogue with a very nice person who identified herself as a vegetarian. It was also the end of our search for wildlife. (Sri Kanta struck it lucky the next morning when he photographed a plumb raccoon nestled in a tree)
Eventually we will be searching for Krishna. As the Goswamis of Vrindavan were gripped by the mood to look for God in amongst the trees perhaps we may follow in their footsteps.
11 Km
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