Saturday, October 17th, 2015
Westover, Pennsylvania
A Pull
“Maya, get back here!” shouted the owner of the pitbull. This young female dog named Maya was definitely after me and her master was calling her back. It was necessary for him to come right up to me in order to stave off Maya. She was not listening too well to orders even when the lady of the house yelled "Get over here!" with her raspy voice. I asked the owner if he knew what Maya meant.
“No I don’t,” he said in a confession-like tone.
“It’s a Sanskrit word meaning ‘illusion’.”
"Well, she’s illusion alright,” he retorted, now gaining some control over her barking and threatening.
It was a crazy road to be on. Vivasvan and I were scolded for being on what GPS identified as a walking trail by a teenage boy in fatigues and crossbow in hand who told us it was not. The boy I managed to shake hands with and talk with but the oncoming overbearing dad was different. The stern message was clear, that we were to turn around and get out of there NOW!!!
It was so evident that deer are the actual target these days during hunting season. At the front of one household, a deer’s carcass was hung from a pole and an open bucket was set underneath. In the early hour of the day, the first hour, as I was walking with my safety vest on, a vehicle swerved away from me and wheeled over onto deer road kill. This sent the contents in the air. An explosion of guts, you might say.
I trekked through trails and roads today that were clearly in State Game Lands but like all the other hunters in the vicinity who wear luminescent orange, I’ve got myself fully covered with the colour.
Even though a vegetarian pacifistic monk may feel some discomfort in all of this, I will refrain from judging. I feel the power of the mantra that I’ve been singing, the prana from the clean air, the prana from the crisp organic apples I would chance upon, and just the anticipation that I’m getting closer and closer to the city of Butler where our guru, Srila Prabhupada, first launched the bhakti movement in the west, I feel choked up at times and with tears in the eyes, a pull comes to the heart.
May the Source be with you!
22 miles / 35 km
Westover, Pennsylvania
A Pull
“Maya, get back here!” shouted the owner of the pitbull. This young female dog named Maya was definitely after me and her master was calling her back. It was necessary for him to come right up to me in order to stave off Maya. She was not listening too well to orders even when the lady of the house yelled "Get over here!" with her raspy voice. I asked the owner if he knew what Maya meant.
“No I don’t,” he said in a confession-like tone.
“It’s a Sanskrit word meaning ‘illusion’.”
"Well, she’s illusion alright,” he retorted, now gaining some control over her barking and threatening.
It was a crazy road to be on. Vivasvan and I were scolded for being on what GPS identified as a walking trail by a teenage boy in fatigues and crossbow in hand who told us it was not. The boy I managed to shake hands with and talk with but the oncoming overbearing dad was different. The stern message was clear, that we were to turn around and get out of there NOW!!!
It was so evident that deer are the actual target these days during hunting season. At the front of one household, a deer’s carcass was hung from a pole and an open bucket was set underneath. In the early hour of the day, the first hour, as I was walking with my safety vest on, a vehicle swerved away from me and wheeled over onto deer road kill. This sent the contents in the air. An explosion of guts, you might say.
I trekked through trails and roads today that were clearly in State Game Lands but like all the other hunters in the vicinity who wear luminescent orange, I’ve got myself fully covered with the colour.
Even though a vegetarian pacifistic monk may feel some discomfort in all of this, I will refrain from judging. I feel the power of the mantra that I’ve been singing, the prana from the clean air, the prana from the crisp organic apples I would chance upon, and just the anticipation that I’m getting closer and closer to the city of Butler where our guru, Srila Prabhupada, first launched the bhakti movement in the west, I feel choked up at times and with tears in the eyes, a pull comes to the heart.
May the Source be with you!
22 miles / 35 km
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