Friday, January 21, 2022

The Annex, Toronto

Taking Stock

Our Hamilton Zoom group is nearing the end of Chapter 18 from the Gita. It is the final chapter and involves surrender to the Supreme. The word ashraya refers to “taking shelter of” or “taking the protection from.” You may call it a security issue. In the world, which is very precarious, we seek safety. That safety or security is guaranteed when incorporating the right mood of cooperation. Because souls are independently-minded there is a tendency to be lost in maya’s clutches. But when we declare, and more so act out, the will of the Supreme we receive that special protection.

Our study group from Mississauga that follows up back-to-back with Hamilton has merely begun the Gita. Oh, they are a good bunch and they’ve been around, devotionally, for a while but we recently commenced with Chapter One involving “observing the armies.” That brings to mind that it is essential for us to observe ourselves; to do some self-analysis, take stock or look at our inner inventory.

In the context of this chapter, we can view both historically and metaphorically the observing of the powerful army of Duryodhana as still not so powerful as the Pandava’s due to having the benefit of Krishna’s presence.

We are left to ask ourselves, “Do I have Krishna’s presence? Or do I stand alone? Am I taking surrendering steps?”

The message of the Gita from Chapter One to Eighteen takes one on a journey of self-discovery.

May the Source be with you!

3 km

 

Thursday, January 20, 2022

Yorkville, Toronto

Dedications

While temperatures are a bit down, the sun takes a prominent role in the sky and that’s welcoming. My walking these days is usually after sundown, but I figure I’m not going to pass up on kind rays that stream through the southerly arched window in the room where our guru enjoyed his time. Prabhupada visited Toronto in June of 1976 and sat in front of that gorgeous window. It is in the late mornings, like today, that I sprawl myself on a blanket over the floor and just lie there taking in the power of vitamin D.

C’est si bon!

Now, there’s another thing that I’m making routine. That is kirtan at 7 pm. No, we are not prepared to sit on the steps like in the summer and chant away. The four of us go to the temple-room at that time and prostrate ourselves briefly before our guru’s murti and then sit up to chant in dedication to someone. Yesterday we dedicated our kirtan to a godbrother, Dayaram, in India, as he has some physical complication. The day prior, we dedicated our singing to Jayapataka Swami, who’s also encountering illness. Today we sang in dedication to Abhidheya from the west coast. No major illness there. It was her birthday recently and we want to appreciate the years of service she’s rendered – devotional service.

To put a nice quote about dedication, here we have something from Byron Pulsifer. “Dedication is belief transitioned into action, which is transformed into change.” Now, perhaps I’m an old fuddy duddy who, at times, still dwells on some of those songs from the ’60s – when music was music. For instance, “Dedicated to the One I Love,” although a love song, it is still good and could be aligned with Krishna.

May the Source be with you!

4 km

 

Wednesday, January 19, 2022

Yorkville, Toronto

Underground History

As I turned the corner at Yonge and Bloor, on my evening walk amid corporate giant edifices, I was drawn to the actual writing on the wall of one of them. Below street level, where now exists a bustling commuter train called the subway, was an underground non-denominational cemetery called Potter’s Field. It’s hard to believe that just less than 200 years ago was a sprawling 2.4 hectares of this burial ground where 6, 700 people were buried at what was then the edge of “The Woods.”

It’s a good guess that under the office towers there are a few bones of the early settlers still resting. In 1855, the city moved what they could of the buried corpses to a now well-established Mount Pleasant Cemetery, a bit north. That was only thirty years after the Potter’s Field began.

This is a piece of Toronto’s history. It’s only 200 years old; a British settlement which was merely a fort until America burned it down in 1812. Since then it grew, and is still growing into a mega-city.

I was always fascinated by history.

Just one kilometre north of this location is what’s known as The Ancient Trail, trodden upon by Indigenous people, the Hurons. Along that trail is the place of our current temple and ashram; once a Methodist Church.

History tells of people replacements and, just as thousands of settlers or wanderers of the very spot where they once stood came and went, bodies will also be recycled while our souls will move on, perhaps to other planets.

May the Source be with you!

3 km