Wednesday 28 December 2016

Sunday, December 25th, 2016

Scarborough, Ontario

Jesus and Krishna

Trekking today was restricted to the balcony of our building—the balcony being a horse-shoe shaped formation.  And that I executed after the party, or shall I say when the sermon and the hymns were over.  In our Toronto Centre, we have Sunday functions of chanting, discussion and food in what used to be a Methodist Church.  I took the opportunity to walk at night when all was done.

Yes, it was a trying day.  For clergy, Sunday is usually like that—very demanding.  It started off with a trip to our Scarborough Centre where a bubbly bunch of congregants meet on Sundays.  Sunday is not a special day, per se, in our Krishna or Vaishnava tradition, but out of convenience it is the day of the week when people are more available for getting together.

The turn-out in Scarborough was good.  Even Christmas is not a marked day on our calendar—although a day to honour Christ is worthy of some attention.

Back to 243 Avenue Road, the downtown Toronto Centre where I live and gave my second sermon, or as we say pravachan, of the day.  When I stepped into the room to greet the Sunday crowd, I recalled a Jesus/Krishna parallel.  This room and building was our purchase in late ’75.  It was formerly owned by a Protestant Christian group.  It was up for sale.  We were seriously looking to buy it but the former owners had no interest in selling to the Hare Krishnas.

Our guru, Srila Prabhupada, told our people—the potential buyers—to say, “We will install a statue of Jesus Christ and honour it,” as a way to negotiate.  He was quite serious about that.  They wouldn’t hear of it.  Somehow Krishna and His devotees got inside.  Jesus and Krishna are compatible.

May the Source be with you!


5 km

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