Tuesday, August 2nd. 2016

Tuesday, August 2^nd. 2016

Cherry Hills, Nebraska

What the Blazes!

Maggie asked me if I had ever been in Omaha or Nebraska before, now that I’ve officially walked into the city.

“When we were growing up, on Sunday we would watch Mutual of Omaha’s TV show ‘Wild Kingdom,’ about African wildlife.  That is my reference to Nebraska,” I said to Maggie, one of the journalists with the Omaha World newspaper, the major paper in the state.  She was interviewing me.  We both had a good laugh.  I guess she has friends in the yoga industry because she also knew that OM is a sacred Sanskrit word, and I said, “If you were to further analyze, Maha mean--” to which she jumped in with “Great!”

Maggie O’Brien went on to write a beautiful article about our walking mission.

Now, what about our walking mission through Omaha and region?  Mandala, my support person, and I had decided that walking during the course of the day was too much.  I started trekking through a rain storm to begin with.  Then the weather turned into a densely humid, sun-blazing dynamic.  Unbearable!  Rainstorm! Sun storm! Brain storm!

“Let’s try night-walking,” I suggested.  “There’s this lengthy bike-trail called Keystone Trail.  It’ll be safe and we can walk it in the cool night.”

Mandala was game and so we set out on the adventure.  The sun sank at 9 p.m.  I hit the trail.  Mandala was there for me, pumping me with juices and water at intersections.  Though temperatures didn’t go below the 80’s for some time, and muggy weather persisted, we pushed a six and a half-hour, non-stop trek and completed it at 3:30 a.m.

Jaya!

“Jaya” means awesome, in Sanskrit.

May the Source be with you!

19 miles

Monday, August 1st, 2016

Monday, August 1^st, 2016

Omaha, Nebraska

In Any Case—Kind

I hadn’t quite entered the largest city of Nebraska, nor truly entered the state yet, but being that our hosts live in Nebraska, some time was devoted to milling around the edges of the city of Omaha.

I met Ray at a gas station.  Ray was curious, warm and inviting.  While gas was being pumped into his boss’ vehicle, Ray came toward me to ask, “A monk?” 

A friendly dialogue started from there.  He introduced me to his co-worker who was in the driver’s seat and just outside the driver’s seat, with the door open, a young woman known to him for two days--as Ray explained--started being frivolous.  By that I mean, necking with Ray’s friend, quite out in the open.  She even gently grabbed him in a certain region in a kind of lover’s horse-play.  It was a scene monks just don’t usually view.

Ray and I went on about the simplicity of a monk’s lifestyle as a renunciate.  He was keen.

“Can I be a monk?”

“Oh you could.  Your buddy’s got a ways to go (Laughter).”  My remark didn’t halt the frivolity.

This reminds me of a time when I went to a costume house to purchase items for a theatre production.  It was in Gainesville, and a couple--customers who came to rent or purchase--mistook me for being part of the staff, dressed-up.  The woman was particularly all over the man, in love, but in the shop.  He figured it out that I was a customer and a genuine monk.  So he told her, “Chill, I think he’s the real thing,” respecting my vocational position.

Anyways, the couple of today showed less shame, but I won’t judge them in any major way.  They were kind to me and that seems to matter.

May the Source be with you!

12 miles

Sunday, July 31st, 2016

Sunday, July 31^st, 2016

Panora, Iowa

Before Omaha

Either before or after they pass me, most cyclists don’t have a clue as to who or what I represent when they see the saffron/orange cloth from the distance.  Some, however, I could hear saying, “Monk” or “Swami” while in their own conversation, far enough away that they think I’m not hearing them, but I am.  I even heard one cyclist remark among his peers, “We’re supposed to say ‘namaste,’ instead of ‘Hi.’”

In the very least, passersby with their fast bikes take note that “here’s someone a little different.”

When I met Dave, 61, retired, he asked about my stance on Christ.

“He’s the perfect son!”  I stated.

“What made you leave Christianity?”

“I never left.  I added on Krishna.  The fundamentals are the same.”

Dave agreed.  The values are universal.

Sam, I also met for the second time on the trail.

“I looked you up on the internet.  You’ve been to all kinds of places,” he said.

“Like Ireland, where it’s so wet?”

“Yeah!”

“And Israel, which is so dry?”

“I’m sure!”

I explained that as a sanyasi, a monk, there’s an obligation to see the world.  With that, I implied that we view the world from the angle of sacredness.  The world is divine, after all.

May the Source be with you!

14 miles

Saturday, July 30th, 2016

Saturday, July 30^th, 2016

Redfield, Iowa

I Start

I start when the crickets are in concert and when the owl can be heard, but not seen.  It’s true.  I can never discern which tree he’s perched upon when I begin those early steps before dawn cracks.  Sometimes I become oblivious to sound, to the point where I’m convinced there is no sound outside of my murmuring mantras before the tree residents show presence.  I feel it’s so silent that I start to hear human voices in the distance.

In this case at 4:33 am, as I was leaving the quaintness of town Perry, I did hear voices—real ones.  Quite early for cyclists!”  I thought.  But there they were, and there they went.  Two women, helmeted for safety, with bikes lit for any objects ahead.

So I became an object, and not one to be objected to.  We all share the trail here.  That is the culture established on the Raccoon River Valley Trail.  On Saturday hundreds of cyclists tread the trail.  All other creatures cross, or crawl, or hop, or fly, or leap the trail.  Rabbits, chipmunks, skunks, coyotes and more make their move.  No, I haven’t seen a raccoon yet, strange as it is.

Those that don’t have the capacity to move, but stand gloriously as they offer their looks, smells and tastes.  Blackberries, wild plumbs, choke-cherries, apples, mulberries, elderberries, and all herbal wonders line this path.  There’s a serious community present.  And the cyclists?  They move fast but are ever courteous about space.

They, the cyclists, runners and walkers, I’m convinced, are the happiest people.  Line them up against a wall of motorists and they’re no comparison.

May the Source be with you!

20 miles

Friday, July 29th, 2016

Friday, July 29^th, 2016

Jamaica, Iowa

The Walking Monk Takes His Path Through Ames

Bhaktimarga Swami, who is often referred to as the Walking Monk, made his way through Ames on Wednesday while continuing his mission to walk from New York City to San Francisco.

This is the first time Swami has walked border to border in America, but this is not a new mission.  In the past, he has walked across his home nation of Canada, Ireland, Israel, Fiji, Mauritius, Trinidad and Guyana.

These treks are not simply a spiritual journey for the orange-robed Hare Krishna monk but more of a way to spread his message of health and self-consciousness.

“I’m saying let’s slow down.  Let’s get more in touch with ourselves by walking,” Swami said.  “Really, it’s to check the imbalanced lives we live. We are very much in the consumer world, capitalism, and we just don’t take enough time for introspection. So when you walk, you have time to just process things.”

Swami said that being in Ames on Wednesday was also a celebration of a momentous occasion for followers of the Hare Krishna movement because it marked the 50th anniversary, to the day, of the movement being started.

“It’s a movement that has its challenges but it exploded, went all over the world, and  here we are 50 years later,” Swami said.

Born John Peter Vis in 1952 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, Swami said he found the Hare Krishna movement to be similar in many ways to Catholicism, which was the religion he was raised in as a child.  Since making the transition into being a monk, Swami said he started making his pilgrimages to help spread his beliefs but to also meet people and learn more about himself.

“It’s walking, meditating, connecting with people, getting more in touch with yourself, and your soul and just trying to be more contemplative about things,” Swami said.  “When you walk at the human pace that we’re supposed to, there’s an appreciation and sensitivity that develops.”

While traveling from place to place, Swami said that the vast majority of his encounters have been positive and people are usually very receptive of his message.  However, there have been some troubling encounters as well, including some close calls with grizzly and black bears.

“I have been mistaken many times for being an escapee from a prison wearing an orange jumpsuit,” Swami said.

He added that someone also called the police on him when he was walking near a mental institution close to Iowa City because they were worried that he was an escaped patient.

According to Swami, he averages about 20 miles per day and at that pace he believes he could complete his entire trip in about five months.  However, due to a prior commitment, he will stop for the summer once he reaches Nebraska and then pick up where he left off next summer to continue on to San Francisco.

Swami said that during his trip in America, he has seen a different kind of culture that he hasn’t come across in the other areas he has traveled.  He said that he has seen most affluent of neighborhoods and the poorest of ghettos.  According to him, America has several issues that has caused him to be concerned for the world.

“America’s a place of a lot of extremes,” Swami said.  “Obesity is a big problem.  It’s embarrassing to be human sometimes. People could do better.”

One thing that walking across a country has taught Swami, is that no one is above the pains associated with growing older or putting strain on your body.  He said it is also part of his mission to accept those pains for “austerity purposes.”

“It means to voluntarily take up a little bit of inconvenience so to build character, to toughen up a little bit, to be a tough boy,” Swami said.

May the Source be with you!

20 miles

Thursday, July 28th, 2016

Thursday, July 28^th, 2016

Dallas Centre, Iowa

Trek Sayings

To accommodate a family that came all the way up from Florida, it was decided to route ourselves along some bike trails like the High Trestle Trail.  This route and a similar one today, forming a loop, would be sage for peaceful conversation.  The state of Iowa is blessed to have such excellent and well-maintained trails.

While the caption for yesterday’s blog “More Walking, Less Squawking” is my own dreamed-up slogan, I picked up some really brilliant sayings that were posted along the trail—sayings that promote the walking culture.

Let’s begin with insomniac Charles Dickens who consumed much time in his daily (or rather “nightly”) walks.  He is quoted saying:

1)    “If I could not walk hard and fas,t I would explode and perish.”

2)    “The way to extend your days is by walking steady and with purpose.”

Savour this one:

3)    “Thoughts come clearly while one walks,” wrote Thomas Mann.

4)    “All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking,” penned Friedrich Nietzsche.

5)    “It is solved by walking,” is a Latin Proverb.

And, from an unknown source, here is a thought of wit…

6)    “You can’t leave footprints in the sands of time if you’re sitting on your butt.  And who wants to leave butt prints in the sands of time?”

I want to thank Ananta, Vaishnavi and their son, Gopal, for joining us all the way from Florida.

May the Source be with you!

20 miles

Wednesday, July 27th, 2016

Wednesday, July 27^th, 2016

Ankeny, Iowa

More Walking, Less Squawking

From the “Newton Daily News” Alex Olp wrote:

Bhaktimarga Swami, also known as “The Walking Monk,” made his way through Newton on Thursday as he continues his project to walk coast to coast across the country.

Bhaktimarga Swami, which means “path of devotion,” has done walks before across seven other countries including four in his homeland of Canada.  He is making his first trip across the United States for a couple of reasons — to promote the walking culture and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Hare Krishna movement.

“I think we lost touch with walking, and it’s important to get back to it,” Swami said.  “The one main gain is to get a balance for life.  It’s a good workout of course, but it’s a good ‘work in’ as, well, meaning you take a little time to yourself to look at the little things and the little demons inside of you that you want to address.”

He explains walking as an internal cleaning as it not only provides a physical workout, but improves the mental state as well.

“I really believe strongly in ‘more walking, less squawking,’” he said.  “I don’t like cars.  I don’t like what cars have done to the world and what they’ve done to us.  They made us kind of impersonal.  That’s the big thing about walking — you meet people.”

On some occasions, you meet animals, too.

During one of his walks across Canada, he came face-to-face with a grizzly bear.  A bear, he said, that was interested in him but was luckily scared away by a tractor traveling along the road.

So far, his first walk across America hasn’t had many close calls, but he has caught the eyes of few people.

A couple of occasions in Iowa City left him answering to police after locals dialed 911 after mistakenly identifying him —wearing his orange robes — as an escaped convict.

However, Swami said police have been nothing but nice to him, especially in Iowa which is a state he is visiting for the first time.

“People here are very pious and very kind,” Bhaktimarga Swami said.  “They really look after each other and I’d say there’s a wholesomeness here.  And I don’t see things falling in decline like some other states I have gone through.”

On Thursday, he began walking near Grinnell at 3:30 a.m. to avoid much of the day’s scorching heat.  With a few stops along the way, including Newton Public Library to rehydrate, Swami reached his average of 20 miles per day around 1 p.m. just west of Newton.  Due to an obligation elsewhere, he will put his walk on hold until Monday when he will return to his exact spot on Highway F48 and make his way west to Colfax.

Bhaktimarga Swami began the walk across America last fall making his way from New York to Pennsylvania before winter break.  He returned to Pennsylvania on Mother’s Day and has walked in a relatively straight line since then.  He plans to reach Grand Island, Neb. as a halfway point this year and complete the entire project next summer.

Contact Alex Olp at aolp@newtondailynews.com

May the Source be with you!

20 miles

Tuesday, July 26th, 2016

Tuesday, July 26^th, 2016

Des Moines, Iowa

Turning Some Souls

Yes, we made it to the big city—big, meaning big for Iowa.  Someone said that its population is just over a half-million.

Frankly, though, there was minimal interaction with people during the course of our walk (Mandala is with me).  We did trek through an area of corn, then an urban sprawling Altoona, followed by Des Moines itself.  Strip mall retail zones, the guts of the city—industrial—along Delaware Ave., then municipal district (capital state building), the artsy area, and then the university.  At one point in the morning rush hour, at Hwy. 6, motorists, noticing the robes, became head-turners.

By noon I had done my day’s quota.  Much of the trek was under the hot sun.  We were like toast!  Mandala, by the way, victoriously did his first 20 miles, ever.

It was in the University City of Ames, north of Des Moines that I could realistically interact with humans.  At Inis Grove Park local students set up a program for a “Tales from Trails” session.  The set topic I was asked to extract from this was “Is the Concept of World Walking Utopian?”

To prepare for my talk to this group of brilliant students, I reviewed my blog notes since beginning this leg of the walk.  It was a refresher looking over the adventures of the last two months.  I realize from the perusal that our team touched many souls.  No way are we poised to convert everyone into a pilgrim or pedestrian, but if by the message more people buy into the walking culture, we will consider to be having some success.

May the Source be with you!

20 miles

Monday, July 25th, 2016

Monday, July 25^th, 2016

Mitchellville, Iowa

Hawks and Their Direction

It is said that the hawk is known for its powers of focus and observation.  And when a hawk is spotted, either in flight or perched, it is a sign that some initiative should be taken up.

My morning and afternoon were punctuated with the presence of a hawk.  He was, of course, buzzing about, more interested in prey than my prayer.  I enjoyed his camaraderie.  We were moving along somewhat in the same sphere for a while, with him in the air and myself on the ground.

Initiative?  New projects?  Well, maybe!

A film-maker I met last fall in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania had a project in mind, one that would involve some hiking on the Appalachian Trail.  The participants would be leaders of religious denominations.  I have been invited to represent Krishna Consciousness.  The trek would begin at the start of May.  I just received an e-mail. 

My dilemma is that my last leg of the cross-US walk would already be in session.  I’ll be 64.  I don’t know that my knees would take too kindly to the endeavour, although I would truly relish trekking and camping with a priest, a rabbi, a Buddhist monk and a mullah.

So, I question the timeline and whether I can physically take up the challenge, especially if it involves backpacking. Let’s dwell on it.

The hawk of the morning brought good vibes.  Motorists were waving.  One group of people stopped to load Mandala and I with a pile of sweet corn.  The hawk of the afternoon seemed to lead us to a shady bike-path, a relief from the strong sun.

May the Source be with you!

20 miles

Sunday, July 24th, 2016

Sunday, July 24^th, 2016

Des Moines, Iowa

Conversation in Flight

I sat next to Mike on the plane back to the States and we got to talking.  He works with the mining industry.  We spoke about that and I could see that now, at 55, he’s feeling good about his years of work with his company, his being a loyal husband and father, and that it’s something worth reflecting on.  He seemed content about life’s pursuits.

What about his spiritual side?  He asked me about my Krishna consciousness and my vocation as a monk. Admittedly, it’s a different approach to life from his, and I suppose you could say I spoke with a similar kind of pride about my years in the monastic order, as he expressed with a wholesome pride about his career.

“Have you ever wondered,” I asked him, “where all this leads to, all this living, all this working hard, and for what?  Do we live just to survive?”

I wasn’t sure if he had some belief in God, a higher power or what?  He did say that he’s spent hours of conversation with his wife on the topic of destiny, or the aspect of wonderment over the aim and puzzle of existence itself.

He was curious about my belief and so I began speaking about our sacred text, the “Bhagavad-gita,” the “Song of the Divine,” and how Lord Krishna spoke to His warrior friend, Arjuna, about picking up his low spirit and remaining firm to the sense of duty on two levels—to the body, and secondly to the self (the soul).

To Mike I explained about these two obligations and that the balance is highly important in our life as a Krishna devotee.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

Saturday, July 23rd, 2016

Saturday, July 23^rd, 2016

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Good Thing

The real good thing about keeping a dog is that he/she forces the master to go for that stroll.  I witnessed this dynamic when staying with my host in Saskatoon.  A three-month-old husky pup, fairly new-acquired, needs that walk through the neighbourhood, to go for an ultimate exploration (checking out just about everything) and going for that workout.

Now this pup, Akela by name, is the cutest thing, with one green eye and one blue.  He rarely barks, but does more howling, as is expected from a canine who’s a wolf-derivative.

In any event, this young pup participated, by leash, at the chanting procession--at least the start of the program--for the Festival of India.

Akela and I get along, but it was another guest who I’ve been bonding with or, shall I say, developing a friendship with.  It’s Mayor Don Atchison who has come to the Festival of India for the second year in a row.

We share a lot of the same interests.  He’s a marathoner, can easily take on a four mile jaunt per hour, and he’s quite excited about the coming completion of the Trans-Canada Trail, a walker’s paradise path.  It will penetrate right though the parameters of the city of Saskatoon—his city.

Next year Canada will be 150 years old and the finishing touches to this trail is the obvious timeline.  This becomes tempting for me.  Shall I, if not next year, on in the future, tackle this most glorious walking challenge?

May the Source be with you!

4 km

Friday, July 22nd, 2016

Friday, July 22^nd, 2016

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

“Walking Monk” Heads Across Iowa

A late-night flight brought me to Saskatoon to attend yet another Chariot Fest.  Forwarded to me was an article by Dann Hayes for “The Des Moines Register.”

Bhaktimarga Swami, known as “The Walking Monk,” says “the walk before” encourages him to keep walking, which got him started on his most recent walk, a walk across America.

Bhaktimarga Swami (formerly John Peter Vis) is a Hare Krishna monk who is walking across America to promote a healthier global lifestyle, a strong spiritual foundation and a simple meditative life.

“I’m also out here to integrate with people,” the 63-year-old Canadian said.  “It’s kind of like a workout and a work-in…to take time to process life.”

He is also walking to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of the Hare Krishna movement.

On this particular day (Wednesday, July 20) he started just outside of Brooklyn on Highway 6 and was stopped just east of Grinnell.

Born in 1952 in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, Bhaktimarga Swami adopted the monastic lifestyle of the Hare Krishna order in 1973.

Traveling on foot is a common practice in various traditions, he said, and it’s an effective way to reach out and communicate the importance of morality and ethical priorities.

“You learn to take it all in,” Bhaktimarga Swami said.  “The heat, the wind, the rain, the traffic, the cold, the black flies, the mosquitos, the public attention or none.  With all of that you learn detachment from the externals and how to go within to be happy.”

Bhaktimarga Swami said that during his travels he has had a number of different experiences.  He usually starts a walk very early each day – recently to beat the heat in Iowa he has started around 4 a.m.  And with wearing an orange robe he has been mistaken for a number of different things in the dark, including an escaped convict.

That normally brings the police, but after a brief discussion, he continues on his way.

In Iowa, Bhaktimarga Swami had only good to say for the law enforcement community.

“The police have been terrific,” he said.  “The cops are nice here in Iowa.”

This tour is made of three parts – he started last fall in Boston, went to Butler, Penn., then into New York.  The second leg started in Butler and brought him to Grinnell.  He plans on stopping near Grand Island, Neb., before continuing on the third leg next summer.

This isn’t new to him, he has trekked across Canada four times, Ireland, Israel, Guyana, Trinidad, the Fiji Islands, Mauritius and other countries.  He was featured in a National Film Board of Canada’s documentary titled “The Longest Road.”

He averages about 20 miles a day, he said.

“While I walk I also meditate,” Bhaktimarga said.  “As a monk you have that obligation to yourself – take to the elements and toughen up inside.”

Thank you Dann Hayes.

May the Source be with you!

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