Sunday, December 24th, 2017

Toronto, Ontario

J & K

Christmas Eve, for the Krishna followers, means Krishna carolling.  Our usual Sunday community converged on the temple for singing, dancing and feasting.  We were singing the praises of Krishna, although we do love Jesus, too.

Jesus came to the world as the Prince of Peace.  He traveled on foot from place to place, like a swami.  He is sometimes depicted as one carrying a staff, much like a walking stick.  He was determined to spread mindfulness and overall wellness.

Krishna had a similar agenda.  Three thousand years before Jesus descended, He was born in a prison, then transferred for his safety to a quiet village near a manger.  In Chapter 4 of the Bhagavad-gita, He  explains His purpose for coming—to establish dharma and finally prema (chapter 18).

As a babe, He was protected from the evils of King Kamsa.  In the life of Jesus, we hear that His foster parents, Joseph and Mary, fled with their infant to escape the atrocities of King Herod.

In the traditions of both Christianity and Krishna-icity, there is emphasis given to the power of sound, the name of the Divine, by the usage of words like ‘holy’ or ‘hallowed’.  In Sanskrit, the language of Krishna, the term used is shabda brahman, to denote spiritual sound vibration.

We encouraged our group of people to sing and chant as a way to purge the heart.  This is as Jesus and Krishna would have it.

May the Source be with you!

5 km

Saturday. December 23rd, 2017

Toronto, Ontario

The Road Not Taken

Another one by Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken.”  It’s somewhat appropriate for me because I did not take a road at all today, but just a church’s balcony; pacing back and forth.

I really love this one.

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

May the Source be with you!

5 km

Friday, December 22nd, 2017

Toronto, Ontario

Something from Robert Frost

La neige—snow—finally did come and it compelled some of us, Nick, Vijay and I to strap on our boots, pull out the shovels and start clearing the outside stairs and sidewalks.  Neighbours love it when you remove the excess stuff lying on the paths and walkways.

We see it as a service to the community.  We extended the favour and shovelled the drive and walkways next door, which is known as Grant House, a facility for women implicated with the law and who are starting a new life.

When the job was completed and we entered the cozy warmth of our ashram, I saw I was sent a poem by Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.”

Whose woods these are I think I know.  

His house is in the village though;  

He will not see me stopping here  

To watch his woods fill up with snow.  

My little horse must think it queer  

To stop without a farmhouse near  

Between the woods and frozen lake  

The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake  

To ask if there is some mistake.  

The only other sound’s the sweep  

Of easy wind and downy flake.  

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,  

But I have promises to keep,  

And miles to go before I sleep,  

And miles to go before I sleep.

May the Source be with you!

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