Michael, Us, Canada and More
Michael and his ’94 red engine Chevy Blazer are the driver
and carrier for this trip en route to Taber, Alberta. A stop over night
in Wawa was a good place to rest after a 12 hour journey from Toronto.
Also on board is my monk assistant, Karuna Sindhu. The
three of us are all Canadian boys. Michael even worked at the Hockey Hall
of Fame on Front Street in Toronto for some time. He, like myself,
trekked the nation, starting from the Beaches area of Toronto. He went
eastward to Newfoundland in 2002, and three years later he started at that
fairly central point once again, at the Beaches, on a westerly direction to
Victoria, BC. On the two trips he backpacked it all the way, living much
like an ascetic or a yogi.
As we drove through the planet’s oldest rock formation, The
Canadian Shield, he was pointing out to us all the things he had done on the
previous walk 9 years before, about whom he met, and then also identifying the
very spots where he pitched his tent and what occurred around him. One
day he woke up and four inches of snow welcomed him. Another day, a moose
happened to offer company outside his wigwam, and like my own experiences, you
wake up to the sound of millions of, well, at least it’s my interpretation, Krishna
flutes, playing sweetly. Actually, they’re small yellow throated sparrows
of the Boreal forest, and they’re supposed to be chanting, “Oh sweet Canada
Canada.”
Eventually after today’s more modest mileage, and
being interrupted by a bear, a yearling on the road, we arrived at Thunder Bay
and the Vedic Cultural Centre to conduct a 9 Devotions Workshop, an exercise in
fostering good relations of bhakti. So, while we may have pride in
nation, ultimately our connection is to do more with nature and its
source.
May that Source be with you!
5 KM
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