Thursday 8 December 2022

Saturday, November 26, 2022

Burlington, Ontario

The Special Season

I took three other monks on foot to Toronto’s Old City Hall for kirtan on an interesting navigational route. One of the fellows, Giridhari Lila, recently arrived from the Ukraine, remarked, “You know all the good places,” to which, I replied, “I’ve been around and taken the time to know the unique alleyways. After all, to know a place, whether the countryside or the city, means you have to walk it.”

We arrived at queen and bay, the Old City Hall, where chanting had begun already, with an enthusiastic person on the drum. Radha Mohan, who hails from India, is a fabulous family man. He and his wife, Shyama Mohini, raise their two kids in a Krishna-conscious atmosphere involving a monthly trip to the hall for sharing Krishna in the form of sound to the public. His approach to chanting and drumming has spunk.

Just nearby, in front of City Hall, were four men erecting a rustic dwelling for a nativity of baby Jesus. I was reminded of how every year I see the parallels of Christ and Krishna, and how Christ was born in humble circumstances; in a manger with cows. This is similar to Krishna, making His appearance in the pastoral area of Gokula, in India, where cows roam in pleasure.

From the Old City Hall, a group of three, including me, made our way west to Burlington and to the united church off of Walkers Lane. There we engaged in Krishna caroling. Weekly the ISKCON Burlington branch holds their bhakti program, and today we were the invited guess. We received the mercy of Jesus and Gopal, which is a name of Krishna who is the pal to the cows.

May the Source be with you!

4 km


 

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