Alachua, Florida
Nippy
in Florida
It’s nippy in Florida. I set out on foot at 6:00 a.m. when I could
see my breath. It was still dark. An opossum scurried in front of me. Once he crossed the road and hit the bush, I
could hear a loud rustling.
By 7:00 a.m., I reached the temple. Still dark.
I gave to and received hugs from those I hadn’t seen for a year. Everyone is getting just a little older. I have to be careful. My hug might hurt some of them.
The young did come. Punctually, every Tuesday morning, young
Vaishnavas come from the local school to attend. There were fifty of them (my guess), boys and
girls, pre-teens. I got excited. When they sat in front of the low lectern
where I was situated, I thought, “Yes,
we’ll go for some interactive-ness. Have
them clap hands and sing the song, ‘Radha Madhava.’”
Then I engaged them in charades with the
day’s verse and purport. The message of
the verse had much to do with accepting a guru.
I mentioned to the students that all of them have a guru. They were surprised to hear that.
“Guru means teacher. You all have teachers don’t you?”
“Yes!”
“Then you have a guru, or gurus—plural.”
I’m no scholar but in some way I tried to
appeal to stretching their intelligence.
“We have to look at the word guru in a broad sense.”
We cracked some jokes. At the end, during question time, I was asked
about my U.S. walk. So I delivered.
Jenya came from Dallas to receive diksha (initiation). His new name is Janaka.
My hour walk back to Ananta Sesha’s permitted
me to see spring birds. I have in my sight
a cardinal. I could not see my breath.
May the Source be with you!
9 km
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