Saturday, 16 December 2017

Wednesday, December 13th, 2017

Winnipeg, Manitoba

What We Do Have

We have no temple or official centre for Krishna Consciousness, in Winnipeg, of substantial size as of yet.  Operations at 108 Chestnut Street have been running successfully under the careful guidance from Vrinda’s home for some time, and have more recently shifted to an area of St. Vital’s where a group of young couples reside.  They call this group the’Bhakti Village’ and I'm so proud of them for conducting courses in devotional education.  I'm confident we’ll see a steady growth and progression.  May speed be a reality.  Blessings!  Thank you Vrinda for being the teacher.

One of the younger householders, Vishal, and his wife, Ankeet, are hosting me.  As part of starting operations I thought to approach Vishal and say, “I have a quota of kilometres to walk.  Can you join me for an outside experience?”

Vishal is from India and is somewhat apprehensive about the Winnipeg ‘winter wonderland’.  “Let’s go!” he said, putting faith in the swami.  I made no conditions and put no time limits until well into the walk.  All went fine.  I then suggested one and a half hours.  It was a little more than he had in mind.  We just kept going, exploring streets and trails.  Twenty minutes became thirty, forty.  We were climbing with time.

“Okay,” I said when we reached the Hindu Temple at St. Ann’s, “What time are we looking at now?”  We were now well past the halfway point where we had needed to  turn around.  When we reached the finish point, his home, it was exactly 1.5 hours later.  Our chanting and chatting had caused time to fly.  What an achievement, Vishal!

We achieved a fine distance despite winter weariness.  We also came together as a larger group to discuss the power of devotion in the form of chanting.  Just ask Yamaraja!  From the Bhagavatam, Canto 6, he glorifies and gives a boost to chanting.

May the Source be with you!

6 km


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