Monday, May 1st, 2017

Cleveland / London / Toronto 

Let the Fog Clear

“I overheard you say you’re walking across the States?” queried the passenger next to me, while on our stranded plane.  Our Air Canada aircraft didn’t land in Toronto but in London, Ontario.  He was destined for London, the U.K.  Maybe he never heard of this London in Canada before.

I was on the phone with one of my Krishna Friends, outlining my summer adventures, explaining the re-starting point at Seward, Nebraska and heading for San Francisco.  The passenger was intrigued.

“You walked Canada as well?”  We got to talking between announcements coming over the intercom concerning our flight mishap.  The reason for landing at the unintended spot was the dense fog in Toronto.  And was it ever!  Visibility zero.  It was dangerous.

Our consciousness can be like that—full of haze and craze.  Lacking clarity of purpose is quite commonplace for the lost souls of today.  Allowing and wanting fog in the head to clear is where we start anew.  It’s natural to want clear direction in life, but patience needs to be implemented.

Our plane load of passengers was at a stand-still.  What next?  My passenger-friend told me that once he lands in Toronto, he may be re-routed to Calgary, four hours west, and then from there he will fly to London.  That is what was recommended for him.

“That’s crazy,” I thought.  Even with walking, in most cases, you could bee-line your way to your destination.  Then again, sometimes even walkers must tread around a lake, a swamp or a mountain.

Only patience and planning is required.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

Sunday, April 30th, 2017

Olmsted Falls, Ohio

April Showers Give People Powers

It was great to meet Kelvin, an artist.  It was great to meet Felicia, studying to be a rabbi.  There were other new faces at Krsnanandini’s place where she and her Muslim husband, Tariq, hold kirtan gatherings on Sunday.

I led a discussion there, in Cleveland, from chapter 5, verse 18 of the Gita, which speaks about equanimity.  “Spiritually we are all equal.  Physically we are complementary.”

The gathering was composed of black, white and brown hues, of young and old, of new faces and of familiar ones.  The group liked the verse we discussed because we were diverse and yet we’re one.

After the chant, the chat and then the chaat (as in spice) our group went to the playground in the park.  Yes, young and old.  The old took to the benches for chanting.  Dancing ensued.  One chap was a great mover of limbs, torso and head.  It was a second gathering—one indoors, the second outdoors.

The weather was phenomenal, 86°F.  Leaves and blossoms were exploding with joy from rain yesterday and sun today.  It was a day for nature to show off.  Mike and Paurnamasi took me to Grand Pacific Junction, a real charmer of a place—vintage village set next to Rocky River, a haven for walking near.

Watch out for the poison ivy.  Smell the garlic mustards and the honeysuckles.  Cleveland, as a city, has lots of deciduous green.  It’s awesome!  So are the people.  We all just need to give up bad habits to be replaced by good ones.

May the Source be with you!

5 km

Saturday, April 29th, 2017

Oberlin, Ohio

Nice Fest Despite

Oberlin College, situated in the town of the same name, hosts a mini-parade every year in the spring.  Featured annually in this line of floats and other participants is the Jagannatha cart and the Krishna devotees.  But unlike most years of all-day fun and glory, this one was a bit odd with drizzle and rain, dampness and cold.

You could clearly see a resilience in the whole presentation, however. Young artistic type of people, whether organizers or dressed-up as clowns and alien creatures, transcended the weather.  And the devotees of Krishna, most notably Akilananda (69), demonstrated their admirable side.  Akilananda is a  multi-tasker extraordinaire, and the constructor and innovator of the cart, with its hydraulic lifting device for the cart’s dome-shaped temple. And with the means to raise and lower the vehicle onto a larger wagon at disassembly time, he astounds us all.

On top of that, he still does the physical lifting of the parts, but as usual, as in any of these events, he gets by with a little help from his friends.  Those of us from Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit and myself from Canada, were recognized by way of our chanting, and the featured cart, usually referred to as the chariot, was recognized by its presence alone.

I was quite impressed with the turn-out—although small—by the umbrella-ed forces.  Nice people!  College town!  Community spirit!  All that good stuff makes a difference in today’s world, where loneliness, depression, and confusion seem to have reached new heights.

By the way, the prasadam provided for the public by ISKCON members made a second difference.

May the Source be with you!

3 km