Saturday, April 24, 2021

Ramsden Park, Toronto

 

I Spooked Him/He Spooked Me

 

He was fully, thickly-masked when he approached me at the park bench. His name is Indrajit and after talking to him for a bit I got the impression he was at least raised in Canada, judging by his speech.

 

“Do you have a minute?” He asked in the beginning.

 

“Sure!”

 

“Is this you?” He held up his phone for me to look at and I saw myself on a chair, indoors, talking to someone.

 

“Yes, that’s me all right!”

 

“I was just trying to look up “house warming” and this popped up. Then you walked into the park, The same person. What are the chances?” He asked.

 

“What do you want to call it? Coincidence? Divine intervention?”

 

He didn’t commit to either. He was just surprised. Our conversation ensued. It turns out he was a student, and now teacher, at Seneca College on the topic of special effects. He expressed his desire to take some of India’s epics and film them, animation or feature-film, with effects and to make it relevant as well as marketable to the general public, not just the Indian public.

 

I cheered him on for including everyone and, most importantly, to leave the message of virtue.

 

It was a great dialogue. He moved on to his friend in the park. I looked away for a second, grabbed my beads and my phone. I looked up. He was gone — vanished. Special effects? Divine efforts?

 

May the Source be with you!

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Friday, April 23, 2021

McPherson Street, Toronto

 

Gently Weeps

 

The sun captivated everyone. Motorists rolled down their windows to take in the good air as they moved along slowly; as is usual on a Friday afternoon. I had my window down also. I could hear pedestrians and music blaring from the autos.

 

One guy did it deliberately — had his music pumped up and loud — as he coasted along near our temple. It was “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” by George Harrison and the boys, the Beatles. I was actually having my lunch at the time and I had an additional tantalizer for the ears. This song was desert as it joyfully dragged on because the motorist was approaching a stop sign.

 

Quickly I scurried down after the meal, to meet Dharma on the temple floor. As is custom for most noon time aratis (rituals) Dharmaprana and I sing for the deities of Krishna. It’s a happy time for both of us.

 

Actual quality time came ever later when I ventured out of the building to take in the good air once again. People are fortunately strolling about. Those that don’t brave the out-of-doors may possibly be gently weeping, like George’s guitar, and for whatever reason. It could be because they are deprived of social interaction, or they may have lost their job due to Covid, feel cooped up, whatever. Perhaps a spiritual component is missing in life.

 

From the lyrics: I look at the world and I noticed it’s turning / with every mistake we must surely be learning / still my guitar gently weeps.

 

May the Source be with you!

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Thursday, April 22, 2021

Ramsden Park, Ontario

 

Comfort With Discomfort

 

I took to the back alley as my walking route. Back alleys in our neighborhood are nothing foreboding. They are neat, tidy, safe and hardly a person you’ll see.

 

Now I’m not being antisocial by taking to the garage trail. I’m just trying to be obedient. The restrictions on Covid in Ontario are some of the most stringent in the world. On top of that whatever is being enforced as part of a lockdown, timeline wise, has now been extended to last into the month of May.

 

It is uncertain as to where all this will lead to. The reset in post Covid era will reveal a different world. Will it be a social-economic disaster? We shall see.

 

One thing is for sure, is that there is need for change. Over a phone call with a friend, Wade, from New Brunswick, we were concurring on the direction the world was taking prior to COVID-19. It really didn’t look rosy as far as we were concerned. For instance, obedience to the laws of nature and a seeking to the harmonization of our natural world were close to nil. That leaves much to be desired. We cannot see a world that is too happy.

 

And it will always be a place of imperfection and discontentedness. Somehow or other within the gloom of it all we are to find tranquility by going inward. We are to find comfort within the discomfort merely through a connection with the spirit. I am the spirit. I am not the body.

 

May the Source be with you!

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