Tuesday, 10 November 2015

Saturday, November 7th, 2015

Saturday, November 7th, 2015
Mansfield, New Jersey

New State


Yes, we moved to a new state this morning - New Jersey - after crossing the Delaware River at Easton.  From there, our route was on highway 52 and then 57.  Counting today, there are only four days ahead of us before coming to the finish line at Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan.  It will be something worth rejoicing for.

3:00 pm was the cut-off time for departing to the Big Apple (New York City), specifically 26 Second Avenue, the location of the first formal spiritual gathering held by Srila Prabhupada, our guru, in 1965, 50 years ago.  In many ways, the room at this address has not altered since that time.  At 5:30 pm people were trickling in during my lead on the kirtan.  An intro was presented by Atma Nivedan, a community member in this place.  The verse of the Bhagavad Gita that I was speaking from was 10.8.  In this text, it is expressed that a sincere seeker of the truth realizes the power of the Divine and responds by rendering service.  Yes, it is service to Krishna, who is within all of us, from where the perfection of life begins.

It was a fine list of questions that people came up with after the talk.  After a rich devotional meal, our crew made our way around the corner to the Bhakti Center where we were catching the last minutes of the Govardhan puja festival.  What are you supposed to do when eating at two places, one after the other, relishing such good food?

Going to and fro through New York by vehicle can be a challenge.  NYC is a somewhat foreign place to us all and we ended up there very late at night because of the events.  Our final destination for our accommodation was in central New Jersey at the home of Virat and Purva.  I took my final shower before retiring for the day and discovered a tick in my left shoulder. How did that come about?  Are those little things still active in November?  Tre’von and I had taken a snooze on the grass between some blue spruces and that is likely where the little fellow took on.  All and all, we had a great day. Krishna is kind.

May the Source be with you!

22 miles / 35 km

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