The Story of the Missing Benches.
Vancouver, British Columbia
It was with a mix of humour and wrestling of mind that the following brief story was born here:
Once upon a time a considerate priest of the temple decided to make his place of. worship and meditation a more people friendly place. Instead of assuming that all pilgrims coming to visit would take a lotus position by sitting on the cold marble floor (and that especially the elderly just couldn’t be so austere), he decided to shop around for some benches. After investing hours and hours of searching he came upon the perfect seats. They were black, smart looking, cushioned and fit just right, between deco pillars against the wall. The Brahmin priest was happy and most important, so were the elderly.
But someone was not happy. It was a mystery at first that the comfy benches would disappear and be placed in a storage area of the temple. It was finally found out that one of the temple monks was disgruntled and saw these benches as ‘looking cluttered’. He took the liberty to remove them, not considering how vital they were for people over 50, or others with physical issues. Attempts at negotiations and reason failed.
The concerned priest decided that this issue be brought to his temple committee of wise persons who decided unanimously that the benches return. The benches were placed back for the convenience of other, and with a notice tagged onto one of the benches reading, “Utility is the principle!” A quote from the founding father of the Hare Krishna movement, Srila Prabhuada.
The committee was curious as to whether the smart benches would make their way back to the storage parking lot, where they would be neglected and be ‘out of service’. Much to their amazement, and especially the Brahmin priests, the benches remained and all those hind quarters that reaped the benefit that those smart benches offered, lived happily ever after.
8 Km
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