Wednesday 25 May 2011

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Near Perfect - Near Fun

Miami, Florida

Down Main and Douglas Rd. we went at the hour of brahma-muhurta (pre-dawn). Three devotional men and one devotional woman tread this path through a banyan tree-lined district. Affluent homes, private schools and religious institutions, a synagogue, Episcopalian and Catholic churches occupy plots of waterfront with the Atlantic to one side and the commutes road to the other. A touch of Vrndavan, India, marks this place with peacocks cooing at almost every one of the greenish urban blocks.

Garga Muni, one of the devotional men, bursts into a laughter as we are trekking. Just out of the blue he chuckles and then explains himself

“It just doesn’t get better than this,” he says, implying that the atmosphere, time and company was near perfect. I was inclined to agree. In particular good company or what is referred to as sanga is critical to establishing our spiritual development. The spiritual bond with people is essential. Such was expressed by the great teacher of devotion, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. His directive was to keep company with the spritually evolved.

In the afternoon a group of devotees took the value of this good association to include some water-fun at Biscayne Key beach district. It was another exploration of bonding and something that Mahaprabhu participated in, in a matter of loving exchange. His final retiring phase of pilgrimage was Puri in the state of Orissa. There, He lost Himself in water-play with His spiritual associates.

I wanted to say this to verify that my associates and I were not just in frivolous illusion. There are times for us to be less formal and the need to bring in the human touch.

9 KM

No comments: