Friday 4 November 2022

Friday, October 21, 2022

City Archives, Toronto

Bathing in the Sun

We were bathing in the sun, sitting in a circle under a maple tree. How perfect does that sound? Moreover we were singing with drum, hand symbols, tambourine and at her Majesty’s park, called Queen’s Park, when a young man with the brightest smile exceeded all this positivity. He waved his hand. So did we. We were just about to pack up and terminate the kirtan chanting. That means gathering the musical instruments, our yoga mats and ourselves but meeting Mr. Optimist dragged out that process.

“How’s it going?” asked Brhat, our Bhakti Academy coordinator.

“Greet!” replied the young man.

“Where are you from?” I asked.

“From Detroit but I work here (Toronto).”

Then I began to say, “Motortown.” He loved it when I said that. “Your city has a chance to spring back and be the beacon of the world, like it once was.”

“Yeah, through urban farming. And a lot of artists are moving back into the once inner city.” Naturally I was reflecting on how that was our guru’s dream. Prabhupada was for self sufficiency, such as growing your own food.

Meeting our new-made friend, whose name I shamefully forgot, made our day. He went away with a Gita, which Kunti handed to him and, of course, an invitation to our temple ashram and restaurant.

Our chanting under the tree wasn’t particularly strong today, I felt, but connecting with Mr. Optimist lifted our spirits like anything. After all, the foundation of life is happiness through service.

From the tree I paid a visit to the city archives to research any foundational floor plans and pics of our historic temple building. I discovered stuff.

May the source be with you!

6 km


 

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