Saturday, May 14th,
2016
Warren, Ohio
Full of Rain, Full of
Fun
Gene was like a cross
between the sunshine and the actor Burl Ives.
Warm, euphoric, giving, and fairly large-framed. He read the article that came out in 'The
Vindicator' entitled, "Walking Monk Makes a Stop in the City," by
Bruce Watson.
Gene owns and runs a
car dealership. From across the street
he saw me through the rain as I walked closer towards his sales yard. He beckoned me to come over. He offered a donation. Kindness?
Yes, he was oozing with it. He
even offered the shirt on his back - literally!
It was a t-shirt with his company's name on it. While beaming the whole time I was in his
shop, and me having a chance to dry off - Gene kept up with his
helpfulness. He told of a friend settled
in a town from Ontario. Then he began
sharing friends' contact details with Gopal (my assistant) and I. He just wouldn't stop - he called Don Perkins
from Wawa Ontario and handed me the phone to talk to him. We were set for a sit-down and a salad -
later in the afternoon. I had to
politely sneak out to continue on trekking on the Millcreek Metro Park's bike
trail. There I entered paradise for two
hours before merging in with regular shoppers' traffic on this Saturday
afternoon.
I passed by Mini Food
Mart, near Warren, when the owners of the place came out magically to greet
me. It was a couple from Nepal, Laksmi
Narayan & Brnda, who have that strong tie and connection to Krishna
Consciousness. Laksmi had been trained
in India in the gurukula, the school
for learning bhakti-yoga.
Along with Gopal and myself, Laksmi Narayan insisted on a kirtan right in his convenience store
while customers were coming in.
Every-time a customer would come in, Laksmi would temporarily stop
playing harmonium while I continued on a dolak drum and Gopal on the karatalas
(hand cymbals). Laksmi was reliving his
boyhood-past in Vrndavan, India. He also relayed to us that his father was the
person who translated the teachings of our guru,
Srila Prabhupada, in the Nepalese language.
While our day was
full of fun, it was also full of rain.
It is part of a lesson in learning detachment from this world. I was reminded of both death and life. Of course, the plants seem happy with the
natural shower. It was road-kill, mostly
muskrats, that told me of life's futility - apart from walking by the memorial
of McKinley, one of the U.S. presidents, who was assassinated way back when.
I want to thank Das
and Vrsni of Pittsburg, who were fine hosts for us for the last few days.
May the Source be
with you!
17 km / 10.5 miles
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