Thursday, September 26th, 2013

A True Friend

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A true friend is someone who leads you on to a trail.

The small group of us from Canada had made the trip to Philly.  I met with Ravindra Svarup and his wife who told me of trails in the Mount Ary district.  Mount Ary is a place where there’s old growth trees.  It’s also the area of the first integrated neighbourhood in America where people of black and white origin found comfort in coexistence.  Though the trails are here, it wouldn’t be until tomorrow morning that I would do some exploration in the vegetation.

Back to Ravindra and wife, Saudamini – I admire them so much.  Here are a couple who have remained as such for decades.  You can say they survived the test of time as a couple.  At a time when the family unit faces challenges in this age of modernity there are some shining representatives of loyalty that exist.  We don’t talk about them because on the very personal note, they have not produced sensational news.

Ravindra in particular, has practically document research history of the Hare Krishna society likely more that anyone.  If not documented, he has that retaining brain of accounts in its development, challenges and triumphs of what seemed like an idealistic group from the 60’s.  He and I, and for some minutes, Saudamini, sat for quite a while looking at an interesting path of a culture that soon turns 50 in the year 2016.  To say that Krishna Consciousness is new would be fallacious.  It’s an old culture.  Krishna devotionalism has existed for thousands of years with roots in India.

It is my wish and deep desire to trek the US in 3 years from now and follow the trail of how the Krishna Culture spread from Boston, to New York to San Francisco to Los Angeles.  In fact, today marks the anniversary that our guru, the founder, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada anchored ship in America in September 1965.  The society became official in ’66 in New York.  I became a monk with the group in the spring of ’73 in Toronto, Canada.

No regrets from my side, especially when I have friendship from Ravindra and Saudamini.  By the way, Ravindra legal academic name is Dr. William Deadwyler III.  He is one of my favourite authors of theological essays.

For today – no walking, a long time was spent on wheels to get to Philly.  It’s a kind of a curse.

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