Wednesday, October 5th, 2016
Toronto, Ontario
Being the birthday boy for the day, I reflected on the greatest contributor to invest in
my life. I shared an excerpt from Joshua
Greene’s book on the biography of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, entitled
Swami in a Strange Land with the
attendees that came to the party.
Calcutta, 1912
“The scaffolding of metal bars and bamboo poles
spiraled 200 feet into a moonlit sky.
Soon the Victoria Memorial—Britain’s architectural declaration of
dominance over India—would be finished in white marble, and the cobwebs of
supports would be dismantled. Before
that happened, sixteen-year-old Abhay Charan could not resist scaling it to the
top.
Streets were quiet at this late hour. Do Not Enter signs lined the construction
site, but rules had never held Abhay back before. He ducked under the barricade, climbed the
crisscrosses of beams hand over hand, reached the wood-planked summit and
stared out over the city to the Hooghly River, a tributary of the mighty
Ganges. The Hooghly’s tides ran rapidly,
sometimes producing head waves that capsized small boats.
From atop the Victoria Memorial he watched the
Hooghly’s tides flow swiftly out of the city, down to the Bay of Bengal and
beyond to Europe and America…
It would take more than fifty years before Abhay set
sail across those waters. He was not
impatient. For now, India was in
trouble. His own people needed him. He climbed down from the scaffolding, waves
crashing in the distance, and headed home, back to school and family and the
tumult of a nation awakening to an uncertain future.”
This was inspiring for all to hear.
May the Source be with you!
5 km
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