243 Ave. Rd., Toronto
Welcome, Atul Krishna
No walking today. Mopping, yes! Meaningful
meetings? Most definitely. A Zoom Gita class? Oui. And then came 6 pm.
Ananda Gauranga came as the priest and,
with Nimai Nitai’s assistance, pulled together what’s called a havan kund,
an area for a fire, all decorated nicely for an initiation ceremony.
Atal Pandey, who’s in his eighties, stepped
up for his diksha, or initiation. Yes, he has now entered the fold of
the Iskcon family. There along with support from family and friends, he took to
happy moments of even greater acceptance.
It got me thinking about my own commitment,
only 48 years ago. It was a late summer day at the end of September. There was
myself, a Godsister by the name of Bhadra Priya, and the priest of that time,
Sripati, who hailed from the U.K. Things were so much simpler in those days.
For Atal Pandey’s diksha, I just had to ask for the keys to the temple
boutique to acquire neck beads and japa chanting beads. It was a piece
of cake.
At my initiation our
rented-house-turned-temple had no stock of anything. The big retreats to India
where you buy devotional merchandise had not begun.
“Just go somewhere downtown, buy some beads
from some place, get some string and purchase,” is what our temple commander
told me. I didn’t know where to start, but something happened and I’m still
here. Atal Pandey received the name Atul Krishna.
May the Source be with you!
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