Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Winter Valley

Venables Valley, British Columbia

Wherever you go in the village of Saranagati, located near the town of Ashcroft in Venables Valley, your likely to roast. That is, inside any of the dozens of homes of its residents, the fire is lit; local wood of pine or fir, has been cut to fit and to power a stove.

I went through a toasty session, a drama workshop, inside Govardhan Academy, the small village school. It was a Krishna Conscious approach to theater for youngsters at age 6 - 15. Outside the quaint building which has everything that deyfies rustic, rural back in the woods Canada, including a phone, computers, toilets, a kitchen and everything modern, there is the raw winter.

After my session with the students, they went outside to experience the "win" out of winter. Unlike Vancouver, anywhere east of the town of Hope, the white and briskness of this season becomes the stark reality.

Nirguna and I craved for that winter flavour, feeling no intimidation whatsoever by the radical change of climate here. We had a purpose in trudging through snow that was falling profusely from the sky. Those wet flakes sent an itchiness to our noses. At the south end of the valley, we came upon a yurt, a circular domed home owned by Stanur, and Narayani and family. It is remotely situated and to drive there you require a good four-wheel-drive vehicle with either snow tires or tires with a snug chain wrapped around them in order to grip the snow.

Because we began to walk the trail at 9pm-after a group reading about saint Bhaktisiddhanta, we would have been groping around in darkness. A small flashlight and the pervasive snow with some moon effect, lit up the way for us.

Our final destination on this quiet trek was a visit to an aging cow, Gopi. Under a sheltered cowshed, with her only attendant being a sound recording of our guru, Srila Prabhupada, singing in solemnity, lay Gopi. She was practically non-responsive to our touch of farewell. It became apparent that the only thing that will be moving for her would be her soul. Our guesstimation was that it would be only hours, or minutes before she would take that journey.

Hare Krishna!

7 Km