Monday, July 9th, 2012

To J. W.

Toronto, Ontario

I just can't resist but to say something in favour of J. W. Windland. Who is he?

Well, J. W. happens to be your friend and mine, when it comes to spiritual talk and walk. He's an ice-breaking person and more dynamically, a wall-breaker. For years now his enterprise called "Encounter/World Religion Centre" has been actively knocking down barriers and building bridges between people who are of various walks of life, both philosophical and spiritual (encounter@worldreligions.ca).

When I say he's a friend, I meant it. He's been bringing in folks of the curious (and maybe even skeptical) kind for years to our ashram. It's a delight to have him network with people and introduce them to different spiritual approaches and to make his yearly visit with people from various parts of Canada and the U.S.

With today's group a host of them are nurses but amongst them was also a real nice looking guy who had been a trappist monk for fifteen years in a New Brunswick monastery. The group partook in a variety of devotional activities such as pushpanjali, a flower throwing to the feet of the deity of our guru, Srila Prabhupada, the offering of obeisance (an elaborated genuflection), singing and dancing and the honouring of prasad (consecrated food). I have the annual honour to walk J. W.'s people through the devotional process, and it's a pleasure.

It was important to recognize his valuable work in the interfaith connection since it was his last year to facilitate such programs. The entire group love him and we took a few moments to show him our appreciation for his benevolence. I asked him if he had a succession plan and the reply was that yes indeed two fellows were ear-marked for the service.

Anyone who endeavours to help people find the universal commonalities is doing the world a great favour. And so we thank you, J. W., for the great work done. May I say, "God (Krishna) Bless," and let our devotees of Krishna know what we can do for you.

7 Km