Sunday 7 April 2013

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

Shyness Settled the Matter

Flacq, Mauritius

Some recent floods in Port Louis area have taken the lives of 11 people. Kala, who is from the island and who had accompanied me from Durban, mentioned that before his trip to South Africa, the island of Mauritius was truly under siege by nature. Rains were foreboding.
 
Now, as we landed a nice sun and breeze at 280 Celsius greeted us along with a party of welcomers on drums, hand cymbals and flower garlands. We could describe it as a traditional Hare Krishna greeting with the kirtan party and all.

Wheels and wings performed their motion for today as our legs were confined as you can imagine. The final leg of today’s journey after hitting 3 airports was the drive to Flacq and the home of Amar and Priya, our hosts for last year as well. The folks insisted on conducting a simple roaming Sadhus’ foot bath, so I surrendered and then showered fully in preparation for an evening talk to a full house.

Since last year Amar and Priya built an extension to their home, a grass dome roof-top to their flat’s deck. How chique it looks and also how practical! Their new arrangement accommodates at least an extra 50 people.

So, you can imagine how the attendance was. It help me get my life (health) back. At least it gave a jump.  

I read from a passage from Bhagavatam where Queen Kunti pours out her heart over her affection for Krishna. Then I spoke on the passage and purport. I asked for questions and it just went blank, the response, at least in the beginning. Later on I asked Kala if that was normal as I was a little        disheartened. Although the group was responsive throughout my delivery, when it comes to stepping forward for questions everyone showed their shy nature. “Okay”, I thought. One of the noted attributes of Krishna is shyness. And that’s how I resolved that matter within.

Needless to say the greatest glory of leg power that happened today was in the endless network of walkways of the Johannesburg Airport. Calculating most conservatively I’d give myself a measly 1.5 KM.

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