Thursday, April 15, 2021

Room at 243, Toronto

 

Cycles

 

The day was gloomy, chili, overcast but necessary as a part of a cycle. Rain came. It’s needed. The night came in with a waxing crescent moon just as it has been some nights before in the cycle. Then we love our seasons. “Of seasons I am flower-bearing spring,” states Krishna in The Gita. This welcoming season has come full circle. There’s a pattern also with the sun. “Here Comes the Sun” (the Beatle’s song). Visible and not visible.

 

Then we have “The Circle of Life” (Lion King). Yes, we have our daily cycle and the lifecycle of birth, then death, then birth again. The Gita references this roundabout in 2.27 “One who has taken his birth is sure to die and after death one is sure to take birth again.”

 

These wheels mentioned above are on a perpetual spin. They are working us over but we are encouraged, through the strength of bhakti, not to become dizzy because we maintain a focus on the One who puts all these chakras, or wheels, on a spin; in motion.

 

We just cannot avoid “the painted ponies” who “go up and down,” (The Circle Game) because “we’re captive on the carousel of time.” There is an end to the physical cycle, however. Each morning we monks rise to sing a song addressing the samsara, the repetition of birth and death, and overcoming this pattern which appears endless. The ending begins with the understanding that we are not from this world.

 

Please enjoy the accompanying photo of three of our bhakti stars from the Toronto community, Srikarini, Rukmini, and Hladini.

 

May the source be with you!

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