Mayapur, India
A Note
As the sanga
(meeting) was about to start among us (there’s eighty of us monks), a note was
passed over to me by one of the more jovial monks.
“Why are you cranky?” was the hand-written
message. I didn’t think I was but,
again, he’s jovial.
“Because…” I wrote in response, passing it
back.
“Because of the meetings?” he sent back.
“No!”
I responded. “I’m happy.”
“Let’s walk to Vaikuntha (the spiritual
world),” he added onto the note.
My response, which ended the back-and-forth
was, “Can’t walk, seriously. I’ve got
gout.”
With that I revealed my inflamed left foot.
Jolly Swami (the jovial one) bulged his
eyes in surprise, and then the meeting began.
So, hush…
The above light exchange may be typical
behaviour from some of us, but when required, everyone becomes grave. Our topic was a look at four generations
among spiritual groups. Statistics and
surveys have been done (research) of groups who didn’t survive and those who
did. We viewed trends. We identified some challenges that make it
hard to pass the torch onto what’s now a third generation. It was quite the eye-opener.
Somehow, substance must be passed on and
less so, form. In other words, essence
is stronger than structure; relationships are more than rules and formalities.
It was felt that a body does not surpass
the soul, however, the two must function together.
May the Source be with you!
3 km
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