Thursday 14 October 2021

Monday, October 11, 2021

Cleveland, Ohio

Heart Full Weekend

 

There are some really good walking trails in this Ohio city, some of which I’ve explored in the past, especially along Rocky River and the Metro Parks system ravines. The city actually has a lot of green cover. This can be seen from the air as you take off or land.

For me it was my last day and, as I ambled in the area of Olmsted, I was feeling a bit sad. It was a good stay. Even the music oozed out of one person’s garage where a guy was doing some carpentry work and it was that iconic classic piece by Andrea Borelli and Sarah Brightman, “Time to Say Good-bye.” It is a heart tugger.

The last three mornings I’ve spent time with Michael, A.K.A. Madhavananda, and Paurnamasi, my hosts, going over a sadhana session and, particularly, going over Sanskrit and Bengali adaptation pronunciation of the words. They found it helpful going over what we call kirtan-standards. We even came to an agreement that next summer a group of families will ferry our way to Pelee Island, for a weekend retreat, to go over “Kirtan Standards,” capturing traditional melodies, pronunciation of words, devotional dance steps and also the mood to apply to chanting.

In the heart of Cleveland’s downtown there is a world class “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” which I’ve not as yet ventured to. I guess I’m hooked on chanting more than the music I grew up with. I can do with less heart-break songs and more with heart-whole songs of devotion to Krishna.

May the Source be with you!

2km



 

 

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