Durban, South Africa
Round and Around and Round We Go
The smart path for walking on the Chatsworth temple grounds is essentially a concrete walkway running as a concentric formation around the building. If you were to look from the bird’s eye view, you might see a spot on the rim of a wheel circling about over and over again. That spot would be a group of chanters moving constantly for at least an hour or more.
I am one of several in that group that makes the spot. Unofficially we have become by chance a japa team. Our group began as one. One became two. Two became three and so on.
Jabs from Pretoria joined us. He is a relative new comer to Krishna Consciousness and bhakti yoga. There are several paths leading to the temple which cross our walking path. Jabs happened to be walking on one of those paths, he spotted our group and I nodded that he should join our japa walking team. So I suggested to Jabs, which is short for Jambavan, “If you join us you just concentrate on the mantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare . You’ll be happy to know that while chanting at this time, and you keep with our pace, you’ll be going at 5 kilometres an hour.” I implied to him that with chanting and walking simultaneously you get double mercy. Jabs was sold on the idea and he joined our group as it grew and grew. Everyone on board seemed to enjoy the power of joint chanting and joint walking. In addition to there being a moat around the temple with a constant flow of H2O that hugs the edifice, it creates a very pleasant atmosphere. It just so happens that Nelson Mandela had stepped and walked on our circular path more than once, giving our trail an extra significance.
Congratulations to Jabs and other members of our South African based drama troupe who pulled off a great rendition of Big Fish Little Fish on the first day of the great festival.
May the Source be with you!
8 KM
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