Toronto, Ontario
Towards Personalism
A college student came to see me for agreed upon meeting
at venue, the streets. It became a question
and answer session on foot on this most sattvic
day. The sky was clear and bright, air
was fresh, there was hardly a breeze.
I can say for myself, I felt the same forecast
within. I think my friend from Whitby,
Ontario, the college student, was of a similar state. I could tell by the questions and the way he
was receiving and digesting my responses.
He was curious about the long walks I’ve done. To that, I explained that light and long
travel aid in the process of detachment.
“Is that like nirvana?”
he asked. I was relieved to know that
the phrase wasn’t just a name to him for a hot rock band, but that it means
something quite different.
“Nirvana is a
word found in the Bhagavad Gita, and it’s a term very much clutched onto by the
Buddhists.” I explained that we are
referring to a state of mind beyond the mundane, beyond the hankering and
lamentation of this world. Although nirvana may not be complete so far as total
spiritual fulfillment is concerned, within popular Hinduism the equivalent to
nirvana would be moksha. For Krishna conscious pursuers, the state of
completion anticipated is union with the Divine in personal service. It is a highly personalistic approach to
life.
The student and I agreed to meet again and to have more
parlance while walking.
Equally enjoyable to walking and talking through the
quiet residential Rosedale neighbourhood, was the evening kirtan which followed right after a successful run of the drama, “Little
Big Ramayan”. The incredibly hyped kirtan with pulsing drum beats and high
strung voices took a strong personal involvement, and many people were there
participating. And it was my arm that
reached out to bystanders of the kirtan,
pulling the eager and shy ones into the dancing circle.
One teenager that I pulled in stood there very flushed
red, shrugged his shoulders up and down, as if declaring, “I don’t know how to
dance!”
“Relax,” I said, “you’ve already got unique style.”
May the Source be with you!
6 KM
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