Tuesday 26 July 2022

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

Ramsden Park, Toronto

The Rain Came

It works quite well for me when Gabriel takes the lead on his guitar. There were seven of us sitting on top of the mound in the park, poised to begin kirtan, when I asked him to strum away. Out of that spontaneously came a fresh new melody and then the receive-and-respond chanting process began. Oh, we had fun, and reverence at the same time. The name is non-different from the Lord.

An hour and a half lapsed and it was time to retire for the day. Rain was also about to descend. I stayed on at the mound when a younger guy, actually 42, came to sit next to me. He had questions. First of all, he had seen me around on foot in the area. A fan of the Blue Jays, he also works at Rogers Stadium and walks from there to his home.

“I had a bike. Someone stole it, so I started walking everywhere!”

His questions were going in the direction of depth, philosophically. This doesn’t happen everyday, that you meet someone like this, but he was indeed grasping the concept of matter and spirit differentiation. “Let’s put a little more energy into the soul.” We were both enjoying the back-and-forth conversation and agreed, “Let’s do more of this.”

I told him I was leaving for the Prairies early tomorrow morning. He even suggested “I’ll take you to my place. On the top of the condo building, you’ll see the real blue jays.” I extended the invitation. “That gorgeous building you referred to (243 Ave. Rd.) is my home, my temple, and it has a restaurant. Let’s get together and do a follow up with more talks.”

Then the rain came.

May the Source be with you!


 

No comments: