Ujjain, India
One of My Heroes
My actual walking
while in Ujjain is the pacing I do in the corridor of the guest house I’m in or
the circumambulation on the walkway around the temple. This second location is interesting
enough. I begin pacing and one person
joins me, then another and another… In this way it builds up to the point of an
army.
Someone said I’m the
Pied Piper. Another exaggeration came
from a sannyasi (swami), a
godbrother. “If you stayed in India for
a while, you’d have millions of disciples!”
That was flattering, as he was referring to the hundreds of people who cling
to the kirtan/chanting led in the
evenings.
My response was, “The
chanting belongs to the One whose name we are referring to. It is Krishna’s name and it’s good to see
people hooked to the practice.”
When Lokanath Swami
leads, it also draws the crowds. He can
go on forever. If I can also say something
else in his favour, he is a committed walker.
It is he who began the padayatras
throughout India and the world. He told
me that his padayatra (festival on
foot) has been going on since the ’70s. Every
five years, the group returns to the same spot, referring to the rotation they
follow. His presentation also includes
chanters and deities carried by two oxen.
He’s definitely one of my heroes.
Now from the morning
class, I noted a few good points. Yoga is defined as ‘equality’. “Wit” comes from the Sanskrit vid (knowledge). And “that” comes from the Sanskrit tat (something real).
May the Source be with
you
8 km
No comments:
Post a Comment