Etobicoke, Toronto
Who Is Crazy?
Our very happy venture to
Stratford came to a closure. My companions, Vallabha and Gabriel, and I arrived
at the home of a sweet Ukrainian couple and their family. More chanting and
feasting were featured here in the cozy setting with friends around. The group
meets regularly.
The talking portion of the
program was my responsibility and today’s topic was, “Who Is Crazy?” The theme
here could sound like a loaded question but frankly the term ended up being the
topic of an essay by our guru, Srila Prabhupada, decades ago. Most of us are
familiar with the phrase.
Sometimes our orthodox followers
of Vaishnava culture are considered “crazy” due to our radical rejection of
common, pop-culture. The public has, at least in our North American past,
labelled us as a dangerous cult because we do not follow society’s “norms.” We
were judged as evil, due to our rejection of meat-eating, gambling,
intoxication and casual sex policies.
So, I explained to our group in
the home of Igor, that I personally was targeted for being crazy at age twenty,
when I walked away from a promising career in the arts. I had one month to
compete my first year in college when I abandoned it for the life of a monk.
Now, that might be considered crazy since I was doing well in the program, but
I had to go with my heart. The thing that made the most sense to me was the
powerful message of the Bhagavat, which was related to one’s true
identity. “I am not the body. I am spirit. I am meant to search and to serve.”
That made total sense, compelling me to do the sanest thing I ever did in my
life.
Monkism isn’t for everyone. However,
it was a perfect fit for me. As for the question, “Who is crazy?” It is a
relative question.
May the Source be with you!
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