Sunday 14 May 2017

Thursday, May 11th, 2017

Butler / Moundsville

Going Through

Going through customs with our vehicle was more of a breeze than I thought it would be.  Our Canadian contingent of monks, consisting of Hayagriva, Marshal and myself, along with Balaram, a Toronto member, arrived at the American Peace Bridge customs gate. We handed over our passports for inspection and all was good, including for Balaram, who is Mexican born.

With the new or latest federal administration in the U.S., there have been more stringent and tough policies exercised on foreigners as of late.  The ultimate question arises, facing all of those who pass borders, including,“Who are you?” and perhaps, “What are you doing?”

Now, here we can get a bit philosophical, in answer to the fundamental query, and say, I am a spirit and I'm trying to reform.”  An answer like that would not go over too well with any exacting authority.

We decided after leaving customs and putting in some miles through New York and Pennsylvania states, that a break in Butler, Pennsylvania, would be a good idea, given that it was here, where our guru, Srila Prabhupada, humbly began the whole mission of Krishna Consciousness.  When I passed through Butler in the fall of 2015, on foot, my support person, Vivasvan from Detroit, met an historian from the Butler Library.  He was a senior, well-read person, who was quite surprised when told that Butler, with its one month stay by the swami, before breaking ground in New York, was the actual birth place of this world-wide movement.  “You mean it started here?”

“Yes,” replied Vivasvan. “In September of ’65, it all began.”

May the Source be with you!


5 km

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