Monday 30 September 2019

Thursday, September 19th, 2019


New York State / Pennsylvania

To The Hills

Our small crew of actors and myself, left for the hills of West Virginia, but in order for me to get some footsteps in on a  day that would be destined with hours on freeways, I said to Billy, the driver, in Toronto, "I'm walking down the street.  Pick me up!"

Through the rush of traffic on University Avenue I did swirl and dodge construction sites and people.  Then the temple car assigned to us for our destination, the hills of West Virginia, arrived.  I clocked my time and got a meager 3 kilometres in.

The drive was to Fort Erie in Ontario, then New York State, Pennsylvania, and finally the hills.  In Butler, Pennsylvania, we detoured.  It was my opportunity to bring Billy, Pariksit, Daniel and Nicholas to this place of pilgrimage.  Let me explain.

In September of 1965, our guru, Prabhupada, arrived here, and stayed for a month under the sponsorship of Gopal and Sally Agarwal.  "There is the home where the Agarwals stayed.”  I pointed to where it was in the downtown.  And about four blocks away: "Here is the old YMCA where he was accommodated for the time prior to his embarking upon his journey to New York with his mission."

In September of 2015, I had the good fortune to trek from Boston to Butler, and then to destination New York City, completed in mid-October.  It was a good walk, always with a companion.  The Pennsylvania hills on rural roads permitted me to exercise my biological brake system.  It was the jumpstart to a U.S. trek that I won't forget.  https://www.instagram.com/p/B2m79qdABJr/?igshid=23sx51ww9wez

May the Source be with you!
3 km

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