Friday 19 April 2013

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

Met Grand

Toronto, Ontario

Meredith is a teacher from Abelard School and who took up the monastic studies as her specialty. She brought her very bright students to our temple ashram with questions.

I was impressed how much these young folks knew about the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavat philosophy and just Vedic culture in general. They didn't struggle with terms like moksha, dharma and even Varnashram. They tried a hand at chanting, took darshan (viewing the deities of Krishna) and also partook in the food, or what we call Prasadam, (consecrated edibles)

I was glad about the last one particularly because I had to cook for the crew and the community at large. Yes, they dipped into what was an experiment. They liked it.

Some questions related to our philosophy were "How do you know what is your personal dharma in life? " "It is said that we are a river and we are one of many that merge into the ocean. Is this what happens to our soul? do we merge into a oneness?" Also, "Are you familiar with Tomas Merton?" Tomas Merton was a reputable Christly scholar monk who leaned towards eastern thought.

In brief, to respond to the question on the soul "we have an option. If the soul takes to the Bhakti path, the trail of devotion he/she will attain eventually the condition of rasa (relationship) with Krishna. This is the path a personalism where you retain a spiritual identity. It is most sublime."

My hours indoors compelled me to breath some ravine air. During the trek I met Shah who has secured a fantastic career at Brickworks where he is the outdoor project manager at this very popular urban green community centre. Shah lived with us as a monk for 2 to 3 years. He left the ashram but maintained over the years a spiritual consciousness. I think he has done well for himself.

Today I met some good people.

1 KM

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