Thunder Bay, Ontario
Meet Pete
It was such a pleasure to meet Peter, along with the few others who came to hear our discussion from the book Bhagavatam. Angie came with her daughter, Sarena. Satyam, a student at Lakehead University, sat listening with rapt attention. We also had our local pujari(priest) by the name of Balvan Krishna, and host, Prem, there.
Peter is originally from Winnipeg and moved to the area to go to Lakehead in 1986, deciding then to stay with his wife, way out in the bush. They come into town to the Farmer's Market to display and sell their artwork. Today, Peter came by to see if any small icons or pictures of Shiva were for sale in the Vedic Cultural Centre, and he happened to notice us in the middle of our discussion.
We were speaking about the episode where a mother-to-be, Uttara, approached that master of mystics, Sri Krishna, out of a sense of urgency. She sensed a fiery but subtle brahmastrahad been hurled at her child in the womb. She cried out for help, "Pahipahimahayogin..." and Krishna came to the rescue leaving the male heir, Pariksit, in a protected condition.
Peter goes to India often, loves the place, and has picked up some of the customs. "Namaste!" he addressed, and followed with a host of questions, both cultural and philosophical. Just before departing, the tall goatee-bearded fella asked something unusual for a westerner. He said, "Swamiji, can I touch your feet?" as a way to receive some blessings.
I was apprehensive in the beginning, but then I felt perhaps I could connect him in some way to the pilgrimage culture, a topic we had discussed. These feet have walked over thousands and thousands of kilometres as a pilgrim's duty.
May the Source be with you!
4 km
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