Monday, December 19th, 2011

108 / Be Ready

Over Mountains, Prairies, Lakes, Canada

I was happy to note my Air Canada flight was numbered at 108. 108 is the figure for the number of Upanishads, Vedic texts. 108 is also the count for Krishna's major confidants. It's an auspicious figure.

I looked out my window and like all air travellers (call me The Flying Monk if you will) and below imagine what it would be like if I was dropped from thousands of feet above. My chanting would probably be the most heart felt ever and I likely would not complete one round on the 108 beads even if my dhoti (robes) bellowed out like a parachute allowing me an easy sail downward. Of course, the cold would take my life before I landed on either mountain slope, hard soil, tree branch or a frigid lake.

You can't help but have such thoughts run through the mind. Sudden departure of life come to people all the time in the form of foul play, nature play or accidental incidents. In such circumstances, there's so little time to call for help and to adjust to psychological surrender.

I was taught in my first days as a monk to always have those japa (meditation) beads with me. In the plane the beads, which assist my chanting, are in my bead bag with either my hand inside fingering them along or I have them stowed in the seat pouch right in front of me. The point is that I must always have them in my presence as I do my arms, legs, head, torso, and so on.

By 2:30 PM I landed at Pearson Airport in Toronto. Proceeded to the carousel for baggage pickup and then caught a glimpse on the screen of what I missed in the last few days, news wise. It's reported that hundreds of people in the Phillipines have lost lives in a flood and hundreds more are missing.

How precarious it is living in our world! How essential it is to have those 108 beads on a strand that will ready me for whatever catastrophe.

3 Km