Author Archives: H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   The Boom and Gloom of Zoom   Today, during a Zoom call, I was in the illustrious company of our leaders. I offered them my praises. They were mostly younger than me, the next generation who believe in book marathon…

Ramsden Park, Toronto   Esa   It is 3:10 a.m. on the 16th and I’ve had my sleep and shower. I opened the window to welcome in the air with much prana, then sat down to compose another poem as a tribute to Esa Khalief, now departed, who, in m…

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   A Walker Gone   It appears to be the month of death. Not Covid related, however, another case of someone I know passing, was a young man from Philly who gave up his life — suddenly. I got to know him on my walk acr…

Rosedale, Toronto   Jim   I have been in touch with my sister, Rose Ann, who just lost her husband who was struggling with cancer. Jim Burgess was an amiable person. I don’t know where he stood on spirituality but he did live on a plant-bas…

Ryerson Campus, Toronto   From Shoes to Skates   One of my main inspirations behind the walking daily is our guru, Srila Prabhupada himself. The Jewish doctor, who came to diagnosed him when he had heart palpitations, in New York on Memoria…

Rosedale and Cherry Beach   Death and the Body   I received a call from a young chap, who is actually a dad with two children, saying that his father passed away. The call was specifically for me as I had known his dad, Brahma Svarup, since…

Rosedale, Toronto   Let’s Get Around   There is definitely a walking craze going on, with people feeling confined to their living quarters. The weather is so conducive at just around the average freezing mark these days.   Graham and I…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Classes not in Masses Congratulations to two blossoming Bhaktins in Montreal, who accepted diksha (initiation) via Zoom. Both Russian-speaking devotees have been active in the community for some time now and I’m happy to see t…

243 Avenue Road, Toronto A Day I just wasn’t bold at all in terms of walking. I merely went around the block at 4 a.m., before the first rite of the day — mangal arati. The rest of my day of devotion entailed calls and meetings — all very meaningfu…

Cherry Beach, Toronto   To Hear or Not to Hear   I called my sister, Rose Ann, whose husband passed away from cancer. “Jim was a fine man,” I told her, “therefore he is fine,” implying that his destination was a good one according to the la…

Bloor St., Toronto   The World Is Looking   The whole world is looking, once again, at US internal strife. This time a group of protesters stormed the capital building in Washington DC. It was a mob scene and it was ugly. It was described t…

Rosedale, Toronto   Destiny   These days I’m missing Argentina, Cuba, Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, India, South Africa, Mauritius as well as parts of the US and Canada, which are all my regular places of visitation. Woe is me! Like so many p…

Brickworks, Toronto   Book Walk Celebration   We were outside and kept our distance. We walked the trails, or rather “crunched” along, over the surface of icy snow. We made our noise and made it clear, with the sound of our footsteps, that …

Rosedale, Toronto   The Good About Winter   I don’t do too well with complainers. Covid is fueling them big time these days. Another cause for the current griping is the weather. A lot of people just don’t like winter. Winter, with Covid sl…

Toronto, Ontario   Indira—Remarkable   Indira Nayee passed away from cancer yesterday. She was a great devotee, wife, parent and a devout member of our community. She moved to Canada from Africa with her husband, Tusti Mohan and their two bo…

243 Avenue Road, Toronto   Here There   It’s funny how the monkey mind works. When there are snow flurries, such as what we received today, then that monkey races to green space. When I’m in green space I think of snow and how it cools down…

Brickworks, Toronto   Nostalgic New Year   A new day was just about to come, And a new year lapsed when the cold made us numb. We rough and ready were all bundled up, We held back conserved energy like a young pup. In anticipation, which w…

Rosedale, Toronto   Shaking Hands With Many   Every time I step out the door it becomes like a handshake with the elements. It is the greeting of friends. After a day of interaction with comrades inside the ashram, and on the phone with the…

Rosedale, Toronto   The Topic   Victor came to join me today while the source of vitamin D was upon us. Sarthak also came, a first time for him. He just arrived from India. He already has his PR, permanent residency. “PR used to mean public…

The Annex, Toronto   Approaching New Year   I would like to express a happy new year to all the readers and also say that we should not be so torn by the social circumstances of these days. This is the play of the mundane world. There is al…

St. Jamestown, Toronto   End of he Year   Now, as we wind down the year our little film crew is doing the finishing touches to our production “Rolling the Dice” for public viewing.  Michaela Vaksan, our editor, will have it ready for J…

Yorkville, Toronto   Be Practical   We have often heard our guru, Prabhupada, define jnanamas knowledge and vijnanam as applied knowledge. The first word is theoretical and the second is practical.   Practical application, even common …

Yorkville, Toronto   The Gita & Christmas   At noon, Alberta time, I Zoomed a class to out community in Edmonton, explaining the significance of the day. First of all, I spoke about the parallels of Christ and Krishna and then more emph…

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   Banging Bells   “O restless night!” actually it is supposed to be “O Holy Night” which we, residents of our ashram, attempted to declare, at the very least with our bells, chiming exactly at 6 p.m. Our neighbour do…

Yorkville, Toronto   Bells   It started to sprinkle almost immediately after I set foot on the sidewalk. The timing couldn’t have been more precise. The good thing about this occurrence is that I was forced to find each and every location w…

Ramsden Park, Toronto   Namaste!   I really prefer to get my vitamin D by catching some sun when I go for my daily stepping. But what if the full day is ridden by clouds like it often is these days? By the time my calls and Zooms are comple…

Ramsden Park, Toronto   Two Lights Felt   Saturn and Jupiter were to come very close together from the earth’s viewpoint. They were to appear as a bright star. I decided to execute my walk through Ramsden Park, doing a back-and-forth pacing …

Rosedale, Toronto   Encourage   Thus far it is a mild winter. Such is the forecast. Such is the experience. Stepping outside for an eager stroll allowed me to feel the atmosphere. I encouraged one of our boys in the ashram, who hails from B…

The Annex, Toronto   The Bench and the Sun   Like many pedestrians I will just take a pause when I get to a park and hit one of those benches. The sunlight was coming on strong, darting towards the northeast, almost as if pointing to that s…

Yorkville, Toronto   Ask for Blessings on Focus   Today with our regular Gitaclass via Zoom, every Thursday at 5:55 p.m. EST, we covered in our discussion the first few verses of chapter 7. It is indeed a fine section of The Gita, which en…

Brickworks, Toronto   A New Couple   Rasheshvara called me up the other day and asked about a good spot in the city for his fiancé and him to venture to. I guess I’m an authority for some people as to the hot nature spots in town. By the wa…

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   The Feet in the Spiritual Context   I am reminded of feet every day, not just merely because I use them daily, rather my reflections on feet come from another source. As a devotional routine our monkly crew offers…

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   A Sweet Instagram Post   I asked Billy to do me a favor and quickly produce a promo for the Bhagavad-Gita drive for this month of December and leading into January. I asked him because he’s musical, artistic and ha…

Saint Jamestown, Toronto   No Time to Ease Up Till Night   It was the second Sunday night in a row that I took a walk to Isabella Street to meet Vallabha and Michaela, the great couple that worked on our film, “Rolling the Dice.” My intent o…

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   Locked-in With the Fruits and Veggies   Today I committed to time in the walk-in cooler where we keep produce of fruits and veggies but also flowers and greens. The lifting, stretching and reaching, to some degree,…

The Annex, Toronto   His Name is Prince   The sun was hitting the rooftops, and people too, and it was beckoning people to come out of hiding. Yes, people like me. At 9°C who wouldn’t go for a stroll with Friday night optimism in the air. I…

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   Peace On Earth   The express postman left a parcel for us about a week ago. We had been waiting for it and it just so happened that he left it at the wrong door. A passerby in a nearby address noticed it sitting ri…

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   Path of Grace   My day finished with a piece of lightly sweetened carob cake. The topping of the day, not the cake (with no icing), was a continual cleanup in the temple’s pantry, some emailing, some calls to prom…

243 Avenue Rd., Toronto   Didn’t Step Out   I didn’t step out of the building today. My knees and ankles are sometimes weak. At such times I apply something called “Sacred Salve” and the pain goes away immediately. The other miracle I apply…

Seaton Village, Toronto   Towards the Light   Subuddhi is in her 80’s and it’s a little bit tough for her to get around these days. For her group studies online she requested a copy of the mystical text, Brahma Samhita. She called me and as…