Kicking Leaves
Toronto, Ontario
As fallen leaves were tossed by the shuffle of the feet I looked up and imagined the street without automobiles parked at the edge. Replace those machines with pathways and green things and you would have something that would look awesome and handsome.
I incorporated into this day some hearing and chanting as usual. The message from our visitor, a monk hailing from Nigeria - Bhakti Vasudev Swami, was a breathing of freshness into the atmosphere. He's a scholar working on his PhD (Yes, even swamis can go to further their education). He spoke of the application of varna and ashram which recognizes one's natural propensity with regard to career inclinations and how to make pure our practical activities.
"Everyone must work," so Krishna states in the Gita. But how are you working? Is it with satisfaction that you execute your work?
The general key to happy life is you do what is natural for you. For this reason the four varnas (career-types) and ashrams (marital states) is established. Doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, monk, married, whatever niche we are in must become God-centered. Because we are all uniquely psycho-physically individuals, we require something in our life to anchor ourselves together. That anchoring is the spiritual component. It is that which is common ground to all. We are all spirits in essence. Our bodies vary, as do our different natures. The thing that glues us as one is the spiritual side of life. The Maharaja, Bhakti Vasudeva Swami, proposed a Krishna-centric life.
So on a second walk that I took to I tossed some autumn leaves just by accident and I likened it to turning our lives around and not being lazy with our spiritual selves. We must be active in both the spiritual and material lives.
8 Km
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