Tenor Voice Has a Place
Toronto, Ontario
Darren is a tenor opera singer who's fairly young and at 23 has already run for a political position in a recent campaign. Good for him! Better still, he's getting his spiritual life together.
"It's been 10 months that I've been chanting and been with Krishna devotees," he told me. "And it's been wonderful."
Darren and I were strutting along in the Rosedale residential area after the annual "Prabhupada Festival" at night when he was reflecting on his good fortune. Of course, I couldn't contain myself, I just had to tell him how great walking is for a singer's set of lungs in addition to the spiritual benefits. Also, being of political mind, Darren was curious about the social and administrative structure of ISKCON. So I responded. In brief, our founder, Srila Prabhupada took a strong stand for autonomy and not centralization while at the same time all projects were accountable to a Governing Body Commission.
This was but a tiny portion of our dialogue. Before you know it, we had 8 kilometres under our feet, something he admitted to not being used to. And to a momentary chagrin I had not chanted one full mantra on this stroll, something that I'm not used to.
It just so happens that Darren is enthused now to take a pilgrimage to India with me in February. There I will engage him in using his tenor voice at a very special place in Mayapura, West Bengal at the site of the Puspa Samadhi building which receives vocals so well and less so, musical instruments due to the structure's acoustical dynamic.
I'm really looking forward to the pilgrimage and being in a position to answer his questions plus hear him chant in operatic style, the maha mantra.
8 Km
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