Tuesday 18 December 2018

Saturday, December 15th, 2018

Columbus, Ohio

Having A Focus

I flew to Columbus and was then driven to a community hall in Dublin for an appreciation banquet dinner.  Prema Vilas—Prema means "love" so I refer to him as "Mr. Love"—organized the event and asked that I speak about the value of community.  From the spiritual perspective, I did.

"The basis of common unity, as the name implies, is to have a common goal.  Let us picture a very young Krishna who has been playing and herding in the pasture grounds of Gokula.  It's lunch time and He sits in the middle of the circle of His friends.  They enjoy looking at Him eat, talk and joke.  He is the whorl of the lotus and they, the boys, are the petals.  The petals have a centre on which they are hooked.  Krishna was popular with these boys, the gopas, and also with the girls, the gopis, as well as the adults of the village.  The point is we must have a central focus for there to be a strong community."

I was so happy to be in a room of what I consider a strong community for Columbus.  They are raising funds for a seven-million-dollar temple facility.  I was also glad to see my godbrother and godsisters, Yadhavacharya, Kamagiri, Krsnanandini and Malati.

There is a lot of material out there that delineates the concept of strong community.  It is good material but I believe it misses on one thing and that is the spiritual component in life.  Life is like an empty shell when the spirit is absent.

Michael, Paurnamasi and I then drove through rain-driven madness all the way to Cleveland.  It was Day 2 for no walking.

May the Source be with you!
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