Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Midtown Toronto, Ontario

From Midtown

I put hours into drama practice. It’s coming along – the production “Demon.” I’m blessed once again with a good team, but it’s hard work. Following that came a visit to Adi Kurma’s. He’s a good cook. He pulled together everything I like – spiced avocado, boiled asparagus (lightly, then sauteed), sweet potato, moong dahl paratha and a lime-mint drink sweetened with maple syrup. All offered to the Lord. Thanks chum, I loved it!

A rush back to the temple/ashram landed me at another Zoom call with a Gita Chat. With summer finally here (solstice is on) and finally with the weather to prove it (27 degrees Celsius) a walk was justified in the coolness of the night. Vallabha Hari was my companion and one of our book distributor stalwarts, Punya, who dropped us off midtown Yonge St. at the corner of Eglinton Ave, where construction for a new subway line is taking an eternity.

Yonge St. can be a lively place with decent shops of all kinds, cafés too, but not much that interests a monk like me. It’s just good to see people out and about. Vallabha at one point mentioned, “There’s an Indian restaurant and it has 100 percent western clientele.”

My thoughts are that, indeed, westerners are taking an interest in eastern cuisine and eastern thought. The Bhagavad-gita itself is the wisdom embodiment of what is eastern, but which, in reality, crosses all borders. The message is universal.

May the Source be with you!

5 km

 

Monday, June 20, 2022

East of Church Ave., Toronto

Getting Back

I’m getting back to doing plays now that the post pandemic restart button has been pressed. I’m preparing a production for Montreal and Toronto’s upcoming Chariot Fests; actually, reviving a piece of the past that is called simply, “Demon.” The duration is 30 minutes and the theme is about the young saint, Prahlad, and his conflict with his dad.

The troupe I’m working with is the Bhakti Academy Toronto (BAT) and we’re having a wonderful time. It’s great to get back on the stage. Hard work is ahead of us. That’s understood by all the members. On any bhakti projects, sincere team-work is required, which is a mere reflection of the endeavours of Sri Chaitanya and His sankirtan party.

My day was largely to do with catching up after my week’s stay in Winnipeg and, naturally, one of those matters of catching up was doing some walking. Subhal, who manages to blow minds with his exquisite cooking on Mondays, drove Chandan and I to his home at Parliament and Gerrard. From there, we walked back to the ashram, a mere four-kilometre stretch. Chandan will be going back to India, so this was my only chance to walk with this young student.

He’s quite excited about his conquering sixteen rounds on his meditation beads. Chanting on those beads with this iconic number is quite the achievement and walking while chanting is a task that some folks relish everyday.

May the Source be with you!

4 km

 

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Brampton/Oakville

The Book Was Flying

The flight from Winnipeg on Air Canada was early, at 5:35 a.m. Usually at such an hour you can bet that passengers on a full flight like this will be fast asleep. Such was the case for all, except the pilot and flight attendants. I sat at the emergency exit seat, struggling to stay awake to fit in some japa meditation. It was hard. Fortunately, we are looking at a mere two-hour flight.

Nanda Maharaja Das picked me up in Toronto and zoomed me over to our Brampton ISKCON Centre.

“Happy Father’s Day!” was the greeting by young Jagadish, acting as Master of Ceremonies. As today’s speaker, I also opened up with the remark deserving of responsible daddies. I quoted from 14.4 of the Gita, wherein Krishna establishes His role in the seed-giving process. As I progressed in the talk, I slid into the promotion of the book, “The Saffron Path.” A book launch is what it’s called. I opened to Chapter 31 entitled, “To Dad With Love,” and read my poem to my father. It was hard to read it out loud from the emotional point.

After an ecstatic kirtan, where many dance up a storm, I went for the book signing. People were lined up for the occasion. The same transpired in Oakville with the community there. It was just amazing. I read the same poem.

Finally, Kasyapa Muni drove me home, to Toronto on Avenue Road. I plopped myself on a chair and pulled out the book after the program was over, still the interest in pedestrian pastimes persisted.

May the Source be with you!

3 km