Wednesday 1 December 2021

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Sudbury, Ontario

Walking a Bit of the Past

There are places in Sudbury I just had to revisit as part of my personal “memory lane.” First of all Ramsey Lake, a sixty-five feet deep and eight kilometre-long body of water within the city limits; a place I would gravitate to fourty-nine years ago.

Damodara, my host in the city, drove a few of us to Cambrian College, where I attended as a fine arts student. Two boys accompanying us are current students in the computer science field. The campus has expanded since my time.

Finally, I just had to set my feet at the downtown corner where Bonimart used to stand. It was here that I met five Krishna monks. Ayodya Pati (now with the name B.B. Govinda Swami), Visvakarma, Drupada, Dustadura, and Satyahit were those fine, young devotees who first treated me to Krishna. They were chanting at that corner on a wintry night near Christmas. I could see they were very determined, swaying in the cold playing drums and hand cymbals. I received a hardbound Bhagavad-gita for five dollars. I invited them to stay in my apartment overnight. Those few hours with them changed my life forever.

Now, our evening was spent at Damodara’s home with a dozen students from India, all of whom want to start a new life here. They wanted to hear about my “Tales from Trails,” so that is what I delivered.

My message to them was “study hard, work with attention to detail, settle down and keep Krishna in the centre.”

May the Source be with you!



 

5 km

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