Friday, January 6th, 2023
Longdenville, Trinidad
“Now, how am I going to scale that formidable gate? It looks like someone forgot to leave me a key for that safety lock that I see before me.” These were my thoughts. I gave a sight push to the gate, but nothing was budging. I wanted to make it on time for 4:30 am meditations at the temple.
Okay! I surrender. I did the climb and that seven foot gate was kind to me afterall.
Then I hit the road, or rather, the moon crater terrain. The roads are so bad here. Locals say it’s because huge trucks are allowed to access these roadways built only for light cars.
Anyways, I made it to the temple meditations. So my day started off fine with changing and delivering classes. The 9 am timeslot was scheduled for a drive to the excellent beach at Mayaro. There, the devotee community bonded over water fun, picnic prasadam, and casual chats. This is important.
Finally, 5 pm was the time marked for initiations for eight great souls. The names given to these wonderful candidates – Vinay Vishnu, Aja, Ranchor, Buddhi Manta, Rama Avatar for the man, and Leenakshi, Nandita, and Sriya for the women. A happy kirtan, a talk on bhakti collaboration, a fire ceremony, and to top it off, ‘doubles’ – a chickpea spread over bread. All went well.
I refuse to walk through the potholes on my return to the residence where I’m staying.
I learned that this 70-year-old swami didn’t have to jump over any gate. It was open all the way. I just missed out on swinging it open the right way.
May the Source be with you.
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