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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