Thursday, November 17th, 2011

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Facundo

Two brahmacharis met me at the international airport, Adi Yugya, a 7 year monk, and Facundo, a young man who joined our order last June. Facundo is my designated assistant during my 5 day stay here and he is proving to do a marvelous job.

According to Adi Yagya, Argentinians like city life, he says 95% live in urban areas. Facundo is a native of this large city of millions, but he didn’t seem to achieve the satisfaction out of party life here. He had come upon the movement of Sai Baba, but after some time, “I had serious questions about his self proclaimed avatar status,” so Facundo said. He searched deeper for a more in depth presentation of the Bhagavad Gita, regarding Krishna’s counsel to his warrior friend, Arjuna. Reading that personal direction that Krishna gave to Arjuna, spoke to Facundo with heartfelt power. He met Hare Krishna monks and from there it was game over. He really pined for this type of life, one of discipline and focus on monastic activities. I am visiting Buenos Aires for the 6th year to participate in their Ratha Yatra. Two areas or maybe 3 contributions for me are the drama production, leading kirtan, that is, chanting, and delivering some classes in bhakti yoga. For the drama practice which I had commenced this evening with chosen actors, Facundo did all my assisting work.

“How did you think our practice went?” I asked him.

“It was all good except for …” and I then bust in,

“Except for when I was giving direction to the two young ladies?”

“Yes.”

“What can you do? You have this wonderful hot Latino blood in you, it is the karma you are born with,” (laughter from both of us).

I see those two girls like my daughters, and you were present and so were others, so there was no problem. He admitted to being calm when he saw how I dealt with them. I was very happy for him. I took a much needed stroll to get some walking in, and at 11 pm, he was up waiting for me to open the gate at the ISKCON centre where I’m accommodated. He was tired, but he waited. He’s a very committed person and has many fine qualities. I wish him well.

7 Km