Sunday 30 September 2012

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

Mantra and Marriage

Toronto, Ontario

One of our brahmacaris (monks) went through his full phase of trainng and after three and a half years of life in the celibate lane he now is married. Yogendra is from Halifax and spent his last few months with us in the Toronto ashram where he met one of the brahmacarinis (nuns) Rasa Mandali. They went through pre-marital counselling after mutually deciding on future partnership. In our tradition one doesn't usually remain single all his or her life even though life can be saturated in devotion.

We congratulate them both. I must say that the wedding of Yogendra and Rasa was a simple yet powerfully charmed event. Krsnanandini from Cleveland came up to emcee and to speak at the wedding.

That was our daytime pre-occuppier. The day fell and all youthful brahmacaris and lay persons went for an all-nighter. The Scotiabank of Canada sponsored Nuit Blanche, a 7 pm - 7 am downtown party of art expression. At a prominent indoor location at the heart of it all, Younge and Queen, people came in droves to witness our staged 'Eva Kevalam - Shifting Time and Space.' Basically it was a kirtan chanting session that we held with only the maha-mantra (which is actually the 'everything' in the mantra world) as the feature. By 1 am ten thousand people had come to view, listen and/or participate in the evenings popular program. The installation of 'Shifting time and space' incorporated two video projections: one from a heart rate monitor affixed to the lead performer, the second feeding from a thermal camera to display participants in real-time.

We thank Scotiabank for their smart and kind heart and for Nuit Blanche.

12 Km

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