Cutting Edge Guru
Toronto, Ontario
November 14th, 1977, by the lunar calculation corresponds with today’s solar projected date. It is a significant mark on the calendar for those of us who observe the anniversary of our teacher`s passing. A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, our guru, left his body for a divine destination 36 years ago. He also left behind thousands of mourning followers who were confronted with the classic question, “Now that our leader is gone, what will happen? What’s next?”
Naturally, such a prime query had arisen amongst some of us prior to his departure. His personal assistants for instance (not me) contemplated the consequence. Mixed motivation ranging from selfless to selfish shadowed and gave light to the quest. The history thereafter got interesting as his family is enjoying a current maturation or at least a sorting of things. Today, fortunately, is a reflection time of all the positive transformational occurrences that happened in the lives of the monks, nuns and members of the Krishna Conscious family. Facetiously we sometimes speak of personal transition within house terms such as demon-to-devotee, hippie-to happies and punks-to-monks.
In addition to our personal miracles we can credit His Divine Grace to be a remarkable cutting-edge guru, as the one who insisted on a vegetarian culture, a fore-running advocate of the science of reincarnation, one who openly challenged Darwinism, one who introduced to the west ancient festivals of the east, one who spearheaded the kirtan mantra culture. His writings, commentaries on the ancient Vedas of India, baffled scholars of a philosophical capacity for his mammoth insight (I am sure I am missing something from the list - I have my limitations).
Today I have decided to pace back and forth in the temple ashram in order to feel close to him in the form of his murti (icon) situated at the rear of the sanctuary. A small group of us kick started our morning with a devotional song honouring the guru, Guruvastakam. It`s what we do every day, yet today is different because today marks the day we count the endless contributions by a person who really was so influential and yet who is so humbly set in the background. When you ask the average person who Swami Prabhupada is, they may be embarrassed to respond. It's not necessarily a bad thing. He is Krishna’s, we are confident that he has the attention of the person that counts.
May the Source be with you!
5 KM
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