Tuesday 1 May 2012

Saturday, April 28th, 2012

He Works Really Hard
Russell, Ontario
He works really hard, but not his leg muscles. Kacper owns and runs the Russell Music Academy which has two locations and it is a business that is growing. He puts a lot of time into this fairly new enterprise. It involves a lot of teaching, travelling, texting, phoning, and emailing. Currently his career is doing little for his physical well being.
He is kind to take time out to arrange my train trip to Ottawa, drive me to the bedroom community of Russell, and then join me on a mere 7 Km trail near his home. Despite his youthful age of 27, his calf muscles started to ache midway through our walk.
“Man, you’re out of shape,” I told him. “I know,” he said embarrassingly.
Anyways, together with a 21 year old by the name of Krishna, we did roam. The sun was over us and so were the woodpeckers who were tapping on dead trees something fierce. We made so many observations of nature on that trail. Kacper observed a strain on the legs which only he could understand. But our guru, Srila Prabhupada, explained that one can only know one’s own pains and pleasures, and not know the pains and pleasures of anyone else. It is only God in the heart, Supersoul, who can feel it for everyone. Hearts are everywhere, and hence, God as Supersoul is everywhere. This all pervasiveness of His presence is something we were trying to perceive or at least appreciate while trekking.
The evening opened itself to more stretching of the legs, but of a slightly different kind. Kacper, Krishna, and I made it to Ideal Village Co-Op’s Community Centre where we danced and chanted with 20 people. We were immersed in mantra power, and to put in layman’s terms, we had a blast. We took the last few minutes to reflect and memorize the Gita verse, 6.25, which can be interpreted to refer to walking. Here it is:

Gradually, step by step, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence, sustained by full conviction, and thus the mind should be fixed on the self alone and should think of nothing else.
7 Km

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