Saturday, June 27, 2020

Toronto, North York, Vaughn

 

Through Three

 

I walked northbound through three boroughs on a nineteen kilometre stretch beginning at 5:30 a.m., to the home of a very active member of our community. Rupanuga turned seventy-three today. It was his birthday.

 

Halfway through I realized I was trekking in the neighborhood of Pauline, my sister, a hairdresser. She wasn’t going to do my hair. However, I did want to drop in and say “Hello!” if not a “Haribol.”  I wasn’t that early, once I reached her home off Bathurst. However, no one answered my doorbell ringing. Bummer!

 

I did see beautiful sites along the way. Near Earl Bales Park, there were giant white pines. A red cardinal also enthused me; it was brilliant and it knew it.

 

Sweeter still was being approached by a Mexican couple. They asked if I was a priest. I said, “Yes” and handed them a mantra card. “This is a prayer.”

 

“You can pray for us? And for our minds? And for the harmony of the world?”

 

“Yes!” I replied.

 

The three of us bowed our heads right there on the street. I chanted a mantra for that harmony they were wanting. They were relieved.

 

I found myself doing the old way of getting around—simply asking people for directions. I could have directions all stored in my phone, but, deliberately, I wanted to meet people.

 

“People…people who need people.” I thought.

 

At Rupanuga’s home, his wife, Bhakti, cooked a great meal. Afterwards, I was driven back for a Zoom call with devotees in Brazil. The topic: Enthusiasm. Ralph Waldo Emerson once noted: “Nothing great was ever achieved without it.”

 

May the Source be with you!

19 km

 

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