Wednesday, November 13th, 2013

Touch The Trail!  Touch The Earth!

Alachua, Florida

A trail reveals much about life where there is life and death.  Maha Mantra and I took the one hour trek to the local temple from the residence of Ananta and Vaishnavi, a South Indian couple with two boys.  They are our hosts.

Along the sandy road we came upon the signs of passing, for instance, deer gets struck by truck (or a car).  You see remains of bones and dried hide.  We also spotted to the side of the road an Armadillo who just didn’t make it in his migration across the humble two lane width thoroughfare.  Smaller creatures stand little chance against the speedy giant, the automobile.

The class that I delivered today before a sizeable group of local devotees was based on the episode of Krishna rescuing his father, Nanda, from the waters of Varuna.  During the course of the delivery of my message, I could not help but say something about the hazardous nature of the car.  I can’t remember how it came about, something to do with the premise of fear.

Not only did I mention something there in the class about the car, but I perpetuated the topic when speaking to two groups of students at Bhaktivedanta Academy.  I believe that in this modern world, especially in America, the message of the precious conveyance, the automobile, needs to be spelled out.  The automobile is not necessarily our best friend.

Vaishnavi, not the other one I just mentioned, who orchestrated my going to the school, offered to say this, “There’s this whole movement going on called ‘grounding’, and it’s been found that when you touch the earth, it’s soil (she was also implying barefoot travel) that it has anti-inflammatory effects on the body.

Finally, in the evening, with a facilitation at a bhakti session at the home of our hosts, we touched on the topic of the use of footwear.  I strongly recommended to the group that the best shoes to wear are what allow you to feel the trail.  Get close to the earth as possible.  Even when you look at the shape of your soles, they seem to want a hug from the sand

So, my dear friend, trek a trail, feel the earth, and out of respect, be careful not to respect on a living entity’s bones.

May the Source be with you!

7 KM