Saturday 17 August 2013

Tuesday, August 13th, 2013

Meet People

San Diego, California

Dhananjaya and I took to peripatetic activities. Out trekking took us along Pacific Beach, where we would later on go for a swim. Our ashram is located so close to sand and ocean and, as I've been told, our monks do take advantage of swimming opportunities when it's more safe for monks. As one of them put it, "Outside the bikini hours."

Dhananjaya and I were about to finish our term when two young guys and a girl came towards us trying to get our attention.

"Hey!" said one of the guys.

We stopped.

"What are you doin'?"

"We're walking and meditating!"

"Can you walk and meditate at the same time?" ask the fellow in a slurred voice. (It was a party-all nighter.)

"We are doing mantra meditation. We try to tap into sound that is other worldly." I asked them to close their eyes and listen to the mantra, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna…" They liked that.

"Who is Krishna?" Is He the one with the many legs?" asked the girl who called herself Robin.

"No! We are looking at two arms and two legs and He is a celestial blue-like Avatar."

"Oh yeah, okay?" said one of the guys.

Somehow I had a feeling that they would make it someday to our ashram on Grand Ave.

"The invitations on," I said. I relayed this encounter to the monks seated in class in the ashram and also at my evening talk at the home of Pandava for a spiritual gathering. My purpose in doing so was to endorse the practice of going out into the neighbourhood in your devotional wear and see what friends you'll make.

10 KM

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