Toronto, Ontario
Re-define the Celebration
I believe it’s not only leaders of the Abrahamic faiths (Christians, Jews, and Muslims) that get busy on week-end days. I think it holds true for most monks, swamis, and brahmanas too. People make an extra effort by way of convenience on those days to push the spiritual button and engage their communities more so than on other days.
It really doesn’t matter which time of the week one reserves for the spirit, or what time of day, or special observances at certain times of the year, as long as you do something.
Today, Sunday, the temple packaged a festival of Diwali (a common celebration as a New Year), Anna-kuta, a festival of food to honor Krishna’s Govardhan Hill and the Kartik month, a focus on baby Krishna—all combined.
To accomplish the good time that comes out of the event, the kitchen was a busy bee-hive, as was the altar, the temple room itself and living quarters with extra overnight guests staying over. Oh I forgot the office. Frankly, that’s where I spend a good amount of time. It’s a meeting place, really and it’s hard to get out of that box for a stretch or a walk.
I managed after the fun of the fest to reacquaint myself with quiet only to walk through a modern-day version of an old Celtic celebration by mere displays of Halloween’s orange and black. Yes, residents go all out to exhibit massive inflatable black cats, ghosts, zombies, headless horsemen and everything ghoulish.
“Where are the good ol’ fashion pumpkins? You know, the jack-o-lanterns?” I asked within. In one sense the whole affair appears a weird twist to the eve of All Saints Day. People seem to get a chill and a charge out of anything scary.
One thing I’ll keep in mind is what our guru, Srila Prabhupada, once said about people not having a sufficient scare or fear of maya the illusion of the world. Rather we flirt with temptation and dance with delusion. To be honest, it’s time for all to re-define our weekend and big-time fun.
May the Source be with you!
3 KM
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