Wednesday, January 20th, 2016

Wednesday, January 20^th, 2016
Miami, Florida

Leaving Miami

I gave one last class in Miami for this trip, and from Canto 7 of text Bhagavatam we were discussing the response of a tyrant, Hiranyakashipu, regarding his son’s strong commitment to Vishnu. He was furious, and held his boy’s teachers, Shanta and Amarka, responsible for the perceived deviation. The teachers themselves could not comprehend how the enemy infiltrated into mind of Prahlad, the son. It became a mystery for them.

To analyze the situation, those who embrace the bodily concept of life and take to the lifestyle of lording it over the world, such as in the case of the tyrant Hiranya, there will always be defensiveness. Any different perspective on life will be viewed as a threat. If you don’t succumb to the dictator’s wishes, then you are clearly labeled as the enemy.

Hiranya epitomizes the false ego. Such persons always meet their doom. Bad karma definitely came his way. Hence, the message from the Bhagavatam is: Watch out for that false ego, which is a major hurdle on the spiritual path.

So now that we are talking about paths, I could not manage, time-wise, to hit a trail today because of air travel.

I’ve left the land of Florida, where 800 humans move to every day, and I left the Everglades, where pythons- unmanageable pests- are released every year by irresponsible owners.

I guess you could call them enemies of the environment. Yes, in this day and age, destroyers of our eco-enviros are the true sinners. How dare they upset the balance that nature provides! But I guess you could say we are all guilty of that.

As our plane ascends into the air, I look down at the roadway systems and the automobiles; the concrete jungle. Yes, we are all guilty; we are the enemy.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

Tuesday, January 19th, 2016

Tuesday, January 19^th, 2016
Miami, Florida

Gator Glade

I learned a lot from visiting the Everglades National Park. I didn’t know that the male mosquito pollinates the local orchid. I was unaware that there is a water plant in the glades that consumes mosquito larvae. That makes it a carnivorous entity. I also didn’t know that at mating time, the bull alligator physically poses himself in a curved position, makes a call to lure the female, and when they meet, he pulls her down with her testing him to see if he succeeds at keeping her down, then she accepts the romance. Otherwise, she leaves with the attitude, ‘see you later, alligator’.

Yes, the walk and the ride by tram were both educational. Experience also confirmed for me after seeing, hearing, and some interaction with birds and animals (no, we didn’t get too close to the gators), that the creatures of the wild are easier to deal with than humans.

Back at the Miami Iskcon Centre, I saw a good side of humans, which was one of cooperation and enthusiasm. Basically, I was facilitating a group of Krishna followers in organizing sankirtan in three categories – food, book, and mantra distribution. This approach to devotional life is generally a morale booster. Everyone went home feeling fulfilled, renewed and hopeful at the prospect of increasing their devotional output.

My final adventure of the day was an encounter with the police. I was walking in the dark in a residential neighborhood near my host’s home when a police cab pulled over. The officer coming out asked what I was doing. I explained.

“I got a couple of calls, people here don’t see too many monks in orange robes.”

I explained, “I’m visiting, I’m from Canada.” I gave him my card.

Two more police cars came over after they received the report. The police just came over to say they wanted to see the walking monk. They were congenial, kind, although in the beginning of the urgent calls they received, it was likely a response to terroristic paranoia.

May the Source be with you!

6 km

 

Monday, January 18th, 2016

Monday, January 18^th, 2016
Miami, Florida

From the Park to Carlos

Tropical Park is a new place for my feet. I’ve never been here before. Being Martin Luther King Day, a good number of people took the day off and chose this location for walking their dog or engaging in a family picnic.

Funny though, many people are sporting coats. Odd for Floridians, unless they perceive that temperatures are low. Being a Canuck, I personally love the weather. To be frank, though, I wouldn’t dip into the ponds nearby. It’s still not warm enough.

Speaking of warmth, I met Carlos for a second time. He runs a health shop with a café. Fully vegetarian and fully fun, this facility is an attractive place that drew a few of us devotees, since we were dealing with an unplanned lunch. Why I say it’s attractive here is because of the incredible human skills that Carlos demonstrates. He and his team of employees (all male) really know how to please their customers. A hard worker, an incredible gifted man with jokes, Carlos has got it down.

It was my epiphany that it’s kind and caring personnel like this who win hearts. It is this kind of person that can have success anywhere, even when it comes to running a spiritual centre like a temple. I could see Carlos’s employees enjoying their work, that’s what makes a successful enterprise, when there’s leadership that enthuses everyone.

May the Source be with you!

5 km

Sunday, January 17th, 2016

Sunday, January 17^th, 2016
Miami, Florida

With My Friends

In Houston I had paced back and forth in Abhay and Sukriti’s backyard. They were my hosts and I was thrilled to have access to a car free zone. The grass and ground, a little uneven in spots, was just ideal for pacing, and I liked the ambience for what I could see through the nighttime darkness. Bordering the suburban property is a pear tree – also papaya, pomegranate, peach, banana, and some other trees that I just couldn’t identify, lined the property. I saw them as my friends, with their leaves tossing in the night wind. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing and I felt I was doing what I was obliged to do, walking and chanting. It is their dharma to produce fruit (at least I could see the pomegranates forming on their parent tree), and it is my dharma to be doing something spiritual. Our guru, Srila Prabhupada, once wrote, “Humanity begins when Inquiring is awakened in the mind.” Well, I’ve been on my quest, it was 44 years ago that I began my quest, and I somehow or other landed with those interesting Hare Krishnas. No regrets.

I flew to Miami and met my host, Lee, a lawyer in South Miami. I then attended the Iskcon Miami Sunday Open House, on the corner of Virginia and Day in Coconut Grove. What a marvelous event it was. This is a great community that has been somewhat struggling in certain ways.

My visit was to encourage.

May the Source be with you!

9 km

Saturday, January 16th, 2016

Saturday, January 16^th, 2016
Houston, Texas

Sweet 16?

I look at the date and the number 16 comes up twice. 16 strikes a common chord when we were asked to fill an assessment form on how meetings were conducted in the last few days. In my assessment I calculated that it’s a 16 hour day (much too much) which includes sadhana, the spiritual regiments of the day. This morning sadhana, from 4 AM to 9 AM, can be rigorous when you consider the battle that is to be taken in fighting off temptations, distractions, and mental offenses, requiring several additional hours to labour through. Then you have hours of presentations which requires hearing attentiveness in a sit down format.

We did have the joy of interactive team building ventures which require a bit of moving about from one end of the room to the next. For the most part, all is held in one room. Cumulatively, it gets nauseous doing little physical work for five days in a row.

Perhaps I sound like I’m complaining. A good monk would not stoop so low. Okay, so I’m a bad monk, but I’d like to suggest some change. In the five days here we covered too much territory, so much so that in the end, very little stays in the head. If topics discussed are more thematic and we deal with less issues, that might be a better option.

And you know, you can’t help talking to friends between meetings. That means meetings between meetings.

Dear God, what a good walk can do to balance all the table and chair discussions, and the information overload. I look forward to tomorrow when the meetings are over.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

 

Friday, January 15th, 2016

Friday, January 15^th, 2016
Houston, Texas

Survival Mindset

It was a breeze walking along the edge of 34^th Street. At the early hour of 2:20 AM there is no car in site. I had begun walking with my daily prescribed japa meditation, and as I hit the pavement, there was tranquility. Save and except for two cats who were either mating, fighting, or both, all was tranquil. Out from the alleyway, emerged a white cat that dashed past me like a bullet and vanished into the dark obscurities of the night, while a black cat followed slowly along in the same direction.

There were stray dogs as well, meeting and then dispersing, perhaps only to repeat the same routine again. I did not stay hot on their trail in order to find out details of their goings on.

In the plenary meeting held later in the afternoon, our presenter, Officer Daniel of the Houston Law Enforcement, spoke about active shooters. This was a presentation of a different kind. Being that we live in a terroristic and gun happy world, more and more awareness and education is being delivered on how to prepare for a trigger happy megalomaniac. It was shocking to hear from Officer Daniel that you’re safer to hang out at a bar at night than to be in a school as a student or a worshipper at church.

We viewed a dramatization of a gunman entering a corporate building during business hours, how he succeeded at killing some office workers while others smartly escaped. The mantra in the mind for responding to an active shooter is, “Run, Hide, Fight”. This is called the survival mindset.

I do believe that our group listening became more educated in this department of defense. I couldn’t help thinking how we have all become a part of a cat and dog civilization.

May the Source be with you!

8 km

Thursday, January 14th, 2016

Thursday, January 14^th, 2016
Houston, Texas

A Walker Is Born

I received a call from Arjuna Abhimanyu, an American follower of Krishna from Clermont, Florida. He quite excitedly expressed his desire to do a walk from Orland to Gainesville. His purpose? He wants to raise awareness and funds for a new Krishna temple in the Orlando area. This is undoubtedly a worthy cause. What he didn’t say, at least in the beginning, is that he’s up for an adventure. For sure, he’ll have fun with this walk which will transcend fatigue, blisters, aches and pains.

It will take five or six days to accomplish this at 20 miles per day.

“Are you up for the 20 per day without any training or preparedness?” I asked him. He said he was going to try it. He also asked about the best kind of shoes to wear, and what time of the day is the best time to start the daily trek.

I told him my preferred footwear these days are ‘Keen’, a sandal with a good fit and traction, and ‘Oofos’, a lighter, snug version of Crocs. The best time to start a run or a walk is before sunrise, if possible. It seems the body gets the chance to acclimatize within the first leg of the day’s walk. Also, we should consider that early morning is the prime time for concentration.

Arjun plans to stay with people he knows along the way. He is inviting co-walkers.

Good luck! God bless! Om tat sat to you, Arjuna A., the hero.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

 

Wednesday, January 13th, 2016

Wednesday, January 13^th, 2016
Houston, Texas

Love/Fear

The verse which I spoke on today for the morning class, from Canto 9 of Srimad Bhagavatam, goes like this:

“The attraction between man and woman, or male and female, always exists everywhere, making everyone always fearful. Such feelings are present even among the controllers like Brahma and Shiva, and is a cause of fear for them, what to speak of others who are attached to household life in this material world.”

I was just intrigued how scripture delivers many elements to do with human psychology. In this particular context when we contemplate the pastimes of the great Ram and consort, Sita, their deep, profound love for each other carried an aspect of fear. It appears that the fear factor is present in divine love affairs just as much as we find it on the mundane platform. Such is the case for the love pangs felt by Brahma, the god of creation, and Shiva, the god of destruction.

Fear arises from many directions. There’s the fear that certain personnel will not approve of the loving relationship. There’s also the fear that whatever bondage is established in a loving rapture, may at one point be broken. And also there’s some anxiety that lingers between two persons involved in the relationship, that in the future they may hurt one another.

In the case of mundane love, there’s always some anguish. On the highest plane, such as the divine love between Ram and Sita, tension was encountered when they were separated. A simple conclusion here is that where there is love, there is also fear.

May the Source be with you!

2 km

Tuesday, January 12th, 2016

Tuesday, January 12^th, 2016
Houston, Texas

Mediocre

It’s always a mediocre day if I don’t get the chance to interact with pedestrians. What are the chances of this happening in a city that’s very car dependant? Fortunately, I did meet some walkers, brief encounters they were.

By greeting someone on the move or on foot, I believe it to be a human thing to do.

What else makes a being human?

To address this, I like what our guru, Srila Prabhupada, had to say in this regard:

“Out of so many human beings who are suffering, there are few who are actually inquiring about their position, as to what they are, why they are put into this awkward position, and so on. Unless one is awakened to his position of questioning his suffering, unless he realizes that he doesn’t want suffering, but rather wants to make a solution to all suffering, then one is not to be considered a perfect human being. Humanity begins where this sort of inquiring is awakened in one’s mind.”

From the above statements it can be appreciated that there are different views on humans. There are likely multiple ways to define any one object. But from the spiritual perspective, we can contemplate what a human being ought to be.

May the Source be with you!

5 km

 

Monday, January 11th, 2016

Monday, January 11^th, 2016
Houston, Texas

That Which Is Not

I had arrived in this southern Texas city to attend sangha with god-brothers and sisters. We will discuss dreams and issues (hopefully, that will require no tissues). For the afternoon, it’s downtime. The venue for our pow-wow, so to speak, will be located in a community centre, and across from a courtyard is a majestic temple, newly constructed, but fabulously retaining the features and integrity of a south Indian masterpiece of devotion. It’s not my first time here, but at this point, I’m seeing it all structurally complete. A banner affixed to the gate that borders this spiritual fortress reads, “Coming Soon – Govinda’s – A Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant”. So that is the only thing remaining to be completed by the temple’s side.

In my downtime I certainly engage my legs by walking the neighborhood. At sit down time I read an inspiring piece from the Gita’s intro, and here it is:

“Our very existence is in the atmosphere of non-existence. Actually, we are not meant to be threatened by non-existence. Our existence is eternal, but somehow or other, we are put into asat. Asat refers to that which does not exist. “

That is inspiring because it is put into a penetrating and succinct format. Thank you, author and guru, Srila Prabhupada.

May the Source be with you!

6 km

 

Sunday, January 10th, 2016

Sunday, January 10^th, 2016
St. John’s, Newfoundland

Mike Got Me On The Mic

Mike got me on the radio airwaves today. An interview by him on CHMR at the university had all to do with ‘What does it mean to be a monk; to be in the renounced order?’ And ‘What is this maha-mantra that The Beatles used to sing?’ Our conversation went on for a good 20 minutes, and it ended with us singing ‘Hare Krishna’. So, it was Mike, his girlfriend, Laura, my assistant, Rikin, and I, who all chanted Hare Krishna as part of the broadcast.

Not bad for a music station to do that.

I was also slotted in for a talk and a kirtan at the Hindu temple where a good number of people came a second time around. The western crowd swelled the place, and I guess it surprised the Hindu community, who were actually delighted. I really felt I was on Cloud 9, the questions people asked were tantalizing.

A woman asked, “We are trying through bhakti to not be selfish, but what can you say about taking care of our own spiritual life first, is that not selfish?”

A young man asked, “How do you know when you get to the point of karma yoga, acting without attachment?”

To the woman I confirmed that charity does begin in the home, “Get strong first, and then help others.”

To the man I suggested that spiritual advancement is not a solitary endeavour, we need guidance, we need a mentor who can monitor – a guru.

Amongst the wonderful people that came, I also conversed, during prasadam, with a woman who lived as a nun for 6 years in a convent. She admitted it wasn’t the happiest of times for her.

I reflected back to a question Mike asked over the mic about my lifestyle as a monk. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of my 43 years thus far. I don’t expect that to change.”

May the Source be with you!

6 km

 

Saturday, January 9th, 2016

Saturday, January 9^th, 2016
St. John’s Newfoundland

Transporting

We had just finished our pilgrimage trek for the day at Quidi Vidi Village. Next to the small brewery, where we finished, was a tiny fishing warehouse, and as we waited for our pickup ride the door opened and out pops two heads, one of them belonging to a Jack James. It was his 68^th birthday, he spontaneously invited our pilgrim party into his domain.

“Come in! Come in!”

Jack noticed my robes, so I clarified, “I’m a monk.”

“Oh, you’re a monk. Have a beer.”

“I don’t take,” I said with a smile.

“Well, we’ve got fish on the fry, and a moose in the pot.”

“I’m vegetarian, and so is the moose.” (Laughter)

Jack’s room was filled with drinking buddies, men and women. They kept us out of the cold, and so we were grateful. Conversation didn’t get spiritual, but we did get into a music mood. I was handed a funny hat to wear, and then a makeshift music stick with a shoe at the base, shakers attached at the middle, and a metal bowl for striking at the top. We chanted the maha mantra, and we did it in honor of the birthday boy.

This was surreal! Priceless.

Now, the real party of the day was held at the local Hindu temple on Penny Lane Road. 90 people from the yoga community showed up. I spoke for a long time about the crowning glory of yoga, which is bhakti, the yoga of the heart. When it came to kirtan time with this group, and the dancing to follow, we were transported to another realm.

I will, however, revert back to the earlier part of the day to mention the transfer of the self to the gorgeous realm of nature. During our walk, our group of trekkers were stunned by the beauty of the red dogberries on trees, and the equally intense green of spruce, blondeness of grass set against the whiteness of snow. It would not be a fabrication to say that we were seeing God through nature.

May the Source be with you!

7 km