Saturday, September 17th, 2011

Coasting Along

East Coast Trail, Newfoundland

From Brigus south to La Manche, we did trek. It was a mere 11.5 km, but felt like 45km. A rugged coast line trail tackled by Jeff, Rikin, myself, and hiking organizer, Louis Hustins, with her regular hiking friends, Karen and Bev. Louise believes in meditation in motion. Every weekend she conducts hikes which is commendable because in Newfoundland you are going to find some of the most rugged terrain in the world as we found out. Many muscles were activated during the 5 hour trek.

Louise has been to Rishikesha, India, and recently acquired a copy of the Bhagavad-gita.

The Gita was our main topic of conversation with 3 young guys from India the night before. I call them the Bharat Boys. They were so curious to learn. They admitted to becoming fairly analytical on the subject of God. One of them was struggling with the concept of God as a person. He was sold on the idea of God as formless. “God is Purnam,” I explained, “Purnam means to be perfect and complete. In the Vedas it is said that the complete constitution of the Absolute is accepted as formless and formed simultaneously. Otherwise, there is little meaning to the word complete.”

“What scientific proof do we have of God?” asked one of the boys.

“The concept of God is practically inconceivable, but those who insert the God factor into their lives find out that it works.”

The Bharat Boys posed many questions and went away with a Gita to read.

Back to the hikers. One of them posed the idea that nature is God. As we were stepping along the gorgeous trail near a rock face called ‘Grumpy Man’. I agreed that nature can be perceived as an aspect of God, as a powerful energy, but I suggested that we look of the source of this nature. That is what is referred to as God.

After the rigorous hike, a potluck dinner was served at Rikins home. People came proudly with their humble contributions of the tastiest preps which were all results of attentiveness to cooking demos by Jaya Keshava, a Liberian monk who had visited here last month. This was top notch prasadam (sanctified food), which included delectable avocado ice cream. The real desert however was kirtan (chanting), followed by a Q&A session.

11.5 Km