Monday, November 7th, 2011

How Things Fall

Toronto, Ontario

I trekked with Praveen down my favourite path east of Mount Pleasant Road along with the Brickworks and through the Rosedale residential area. Being autumn, leaves make a sail downward. Some make a longer journey than others, coming from more lofty positions. All hardwoods participate in this discharge, sending varying designs of leaves in a straight descent or a twirl. The landing is a soft one and makes hardly a sound. I am reminded of the eternal debate of the soul's fall to this material world. Did the soul fall from a spiritual planet or a spirutal sky? Did the soul even fall in the first place or was it automatically a component of existence? There are various allegiances to these philosophical theories about the soul's origins, but one thing is for sure, our consciousness is low and usually in the gutter. We should seek eleveation, a raising of our consciousness. It is generally implied that one should look within and ultimately go upward. By practice in devotion to Krishna it "brings one into spiriutal life even while one is within the jurisdiction of matter for it is an arousing of spirutal existence by practice in the material world," as Srila Prabhupada puts it.

I have another imagery I would like to share about things falling in relation to a spontaneous occurrence. It was unrehearsed. Nursing students arrived from George Brown college. I delivered a presentation about life as a monk. I engaged the students in listening, chanting and even involving them in a ritual. After they arrived we gave each a handful of flower petals to hold. After reciting mantras we asked them to trow them at the footprints of our guru's murti (statue). Now that they were trained up by the time the presentation was completed, the students were handed another batch of some petals.

I asked Kathryn, their teacher, to come forward (she didn't know it was coming to her). After reciting mantras we flung those petals in the air and in her direction. She was surprised and on behalf of the students she was honoured.

It was a little gimmick that worked and contributed to making 'their visit very rich; said Kathryn herself.

7 Km