Gopinath Pondered
Abu Dhabi, UAE
When Mitch brought his students over from Silverthorne Secondary School yesterday he raised a very valid point. “My students are from across the board, coming from diverse backgrounds – Muslims, Christians, Hindus, some are even atheists.” Addressing me he said, “When you got them to dance and sing they all felt one.”
That remark warrants merit since in this age of Kali (an era of spiritual slowness) the method for harmonizing people is through kirtan. Kirtan is the unifying principle behind social interaction.
Thank you for that revelation Mitch.
My October 19th was pretty much cut in half time-wise. In flying Eastward, first to Abu Dhabi and then Chennai in South India you leap ahead in hours. While at the Abu Dhabi Airport I met Gopinath, a young hatha yoga instructor from India, now settled in Canada. He ran an idea by me. “What do you think about establishing a yoga museum – the history about the subject and all the facets including bhakti?”
“Get yourself established first as a teacher and then you may be a success in building a museum,” I suggested.
Gopinath revealed his heart on an opinion he held about bhakti yoga, or the path of devotion. He had reservations about being loyal to one deity such as Krishna within the bhakti movement. "You cut yourself off from the rest of the paths. It's too exclusive."
I explained that our guru, Srila Prabhupada, taught us to respect all paths and deities but to have a fixation to one. "It shows loyalty and chastity. Here's an example: a man may find all women attractive but to show he's responsible he'll submit to one. In fact you respect all the fair gender when you commit to one. Relationships with many women shows you have little respect for them."
Gopinath nodded his head indicating that that was something to think about.
It was great meeting you Gopinath.
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