Toronto, Ontario
Getting Humble
I took the opportunity to walk south on Yonge Street, the place where, in my early devotional years, I would hand out a stick of incense to passersby to get them to stop. Once they did so, and they would take in hand the fragrant paraphernalia, I could start a conversation, and perhaps entice the person into offering a donation. If they were charitable enough, I would offer a book on enlightenment, some publication of our guru, Prabhupada, and thus they would walk away with a spiritual treasure.
I would be in ecstasy.
The nostalgic street corners such as Yonge and Bloor, Yonge and Gerrard, Yonge and Dundas, and also in front of “Sam the Record Man,” were places of my devotional beginnings, places where I was trained in sankirtan. It was a way to connect with people and thereby connect people to Krishna.
To view these times of old—forty-five years back—I can get caught in sentimental feelings. My sensations also revolved around a feeling of regret. “What has happened to those shops of the past?”
The answer (which was “blowing in the wind”) is that they have been wiped out of existence, and replaced by new, more towering edifices.
One business man I talked to concurred with such a dynamic. “I came to Toronto thirty years ago. It’s a different city now,” he said.
Whether it was good or bad, he didn’t really express an opinion. It was just a matter of fact. That’s the way it is. However, I put in my opinion. “Oh well, those big buildings are humbling us.”
He agreed.
May the Source be with you!
8 km
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