Author Archives: H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami

St. Andrews, New Brunswick Missing the Whales Ryan and I couldn’t get into Kingsbrae Gardens. We were too early. After looking at and reading a bit about pirates, I thought it would be nice to offset and gain balance from seeing some flowers and ll…

St. Andrews, New Brunswick Can’t Get More Peaceful   It can’t get more peaceful than out here. St. Andrews is a coastal town with population of 1,700. “It’s grown,” said Jo Anne Carney, our host, while we were all in her guest house. She a…

Moncton, New Brunswick Treasures   There are always treasures that I stumble upon whenever I go for a walk. The treasures I’m referring to are human beings who show some inquisitiveness. This morning, while going for that stroll on Highfield St….

Saint John, New Brunswick By the Sea, by the Sea   We arrived at Irving Nature Park to meet up with Nakula, a devotee who’s very active on podcasting, with interviews from people who present the other side of perspectives; whether social, politi…

Moncton, New Brunswick Something Going On? It is quite obvious to Ryan and I that Moncton is ripe for a Krishna temple. During our walks we are encountering people who are asking, “Is something going on with Radha Krishna?” (Meaning are there gathe…

Moncton, New Brunswick Perfect Saturday Louis is a musician in town who holds mini-concerts in his home. For years he resided in Toronto’s “Little India,” where he purchased and played instruments traditional to Mother India – everything from mrdan…

Moncton, New Brunswick Kindness is the Highlight I do get overwhelmed by people’s kindness. For instance, Ravi opened up his house to us. We were fed, looked after, and he and his good wife also entertained us trough their six-year-old. Our whole t…

Antigonish, Nova Scotia To a College Town Near the home of Ravi, in Stellarton, the Albion Trail begins, which changes its name to Samson Trail as you approach New Glasgow along East River. It is a well-maintained earth path, soft on the feet, supe…

New Glasgow, Nova Scotia Good in New Glasgow At times I feel like I am imposing, along with whatever crew I travel with, when we stay at someone’s home. Afterall, there are four of us (Myself, Mahadeva, Annapurna and Ryan) and that might be hard to…

Halifax, Nova Scotia Final Day in Halifax One of our local community members, Hiren, led us on a cool walk near his home on a trail along the Chain of Lakes. The sun was upon us, the water to our side, trees every which way, and pedestrians sharing…

Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia Kirtan Here, Kirtan There Angiras, who is our gracious host, accepted diksha or initiation this morning. He took on the name Ambarish. He invited many of his friends to the ceremony, conducted by Kadamba Priya, and they wer…

Bedford, Nova Scotia Wedding Bells at the Ocean The Bedford Basin Yacht Club was the perfect venue for the marriage of local Haligonian Marshall Daley (a.k.a Mangalananda) and Ratri Saha (originally from Bangladesh). You have these still waters pro…

Halifax, Nova Scotia Folks and Fiddleheads One generous donor left us four hefty bags of the local fiddleheads from New Brunswick. The province boasts being the capital of this delicious forest edible. We had some for breakfast and some for dinner….

Fredericton, New Brunswick Happy Sign That happy sign “Trans Canada Trail” became visible as Ryan and I tread along the creek in a residential section of Fredericton. Its name is actually “The Great Trail.” It’s an old sign. In any event, when I se…

Grand Falls, New Brunswick Going More East   Mahadeva pushed it hard, driving us all the way to Levi, Quebec. Today we intended to go easier on the road and took a beautiful break at Grand Falls. These kinds of tourist attractions are not bad f…

Levi, Quebec Off to a Wedding Back at my home base, 243 Avenue Road, Toronto, I delivered a brief class from Canto 11 of the book Bhagavatam. The conversation was between two luminaries, Krishna and Uddhava. The class incorporated an ishtaghosti, w…

Mud Creek, Toronto A Day With Monks I was sitting with monk Brhat Mrdanga and talking about the upcoming Bhakti Academy, a training for new men and women, when a call came in. It was the voice of a man. “I am interested in a program for brahmacarya…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto A Special Trip Planned When I open the window in the morning, I get a burst of a fragrant lilac explosion and that is early; before sun-up. By the time the sun does rise, the dynamic colour of this pleasant flower becomes an a…

Casa Loma, Toronto Remembering the Lion It was the day of the Lion Avatar. “Narasimha” (half-man, half-lion) is adored all over the world. Here, at my home-base, we were pleased to see a great turn out of His devotees. Again, it was one of those sit…

High Park, Toronto A Dream Came True The cherry blossoms are over, but that did not deter park lovers from coming to High Park. As mentioned, last week a constant stream of people was flowing into the main entrance off of Bloor, and it is there, on …

Yorkville, Toronto   What We’re Not Missing   After delivering some classes on the Gita for the evening, to accommodate families that work during the day, Vallabha Hari and I took that stroll through Yorkville. The weather was just perfect. …

Ramsden Park, Toronto Podcast and No Cast   Matt Nash, from Welland, interviewed me for his podcast. It came clear in the interview that we were both raised Catholic. We both stepped back from our faith in order to explore other avenues, not ne…

Rosedale, Toronto Big Cat The day soon approaches when the world meditates on the Divine Lion Avatar. My poem:  BIG CAT (Part One)   He was ferocious Yet not atrocious Bearing a gaping mouth Stretching from north to south With terrifying…

Yorkville, Toronto Learn from the Tortoise Since surgery on my right knee almost five weeks ago, I dare not push myself too hard to walk normally; without cane or crutch. As far as possible, with minimal limp, I braved my steps south on Avenue Road…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Recognizing Someone’s Passing Jagadisvara was a member of our Krishna community living in Florida. He passed away last Tuesday, May 3rd. Originally from Texas, he spent some time in ISKCON branches at New Vrndavana, West Virgi…

Niagara Falls, Ontario A Day by the Falls It has been recognized as the honeymoon capital of the world. Niagara Falls was an attraction for newlyweds for over two hundred years and it was Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother, Jerome, who was one of the high…

High Park, Toronto Cherry Blossoms The Cherry Blossom Festival is a big draw at High Park. Apart from tree beauty and the great weather, it being the weekend and Mother’s Day remembrance tomorrow, all this stacked up to bring the crowds. We kirtan …

Ottawa, Ontario Interactions Mahadeva, Annapurna, and I found the perfect spot to chant at and that was Major’s Hill Park behind Chateau Laurier and which is bordered by the National Gallery of Canada and the Embassy of the United States of America…

Ottawa/Russell They Heard of the Walking Monk At the Montessori school in Russell, some chipper remarks came my way from the young students. One of the young boys said, “We made you,” and what he was referring to is that before my arrival, for quit…

To Ottawa, Ontario Strides of Shanti It was really good to get out of the city. Actually, it was liberating to get in between the two cities, Toronto and Ottawa, because twixt the two population densities lies the country side; rolling hills, barns…

Greektown, Toronto Krishna is a Guy Neil is an accomplished sculptor who hails from Ingersoll, Ontario, and is now settled in Toronto, near Greektown. A generous sponsor, Lajput Prasher, commissioned him to sculpt Krishna and Radha out of a massive …

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto The Robin and the Book Nowadays when you wake up in the morning it is not uncommon to hear one of the sweetest song birds around. Even at 4 am (my general time to roll out of bed) I am greeted by the optimistic feathered friend…

Stouffville / Hamilton Two Towns The Stouffville group is great; very attentive to the message based on verses 8 and 9 of Chapter Five (Bhgavad Gita). The theme established was what is good separation and what is bad separation? First of all, Kris…

Old City Hall, Toronto Wonder the Destiny The Gita verse for the Windsor group today is a strong endorsement to the principle of the soul’s transmigration. Verse 15.8 describes how the living entity carries different conceptions of life from one bo…

Mississauga, Ontario Like Minded People Jason is the latest friend I made. The strategy to making friends is simple: sit at the park bench along the trail where pedestrians stroll. What stops some people is the monk’s attire. It’s different. Jason…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Death and the Dog The sun and the green of the park drew me to take those few steps to a bench of contemplation. The dog park just behind me has been a location of spriteful activities, for a good twenty-five years now, for pe…

Brampton, Ontario A powerful Virtue I am improving day by day in the right knee area. I can’t wait to walk without assistance of crutch or cane. That is already achieved, basically, but walking to me means mileage. The day will come when I can put …

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Luminations I was exceedingly happy to receive this message from Dhruva Prabhu, our team player for the short film production, “The Embassy.” “Hare Krishna Maharaj, The Embassy was selected, at the Black Panther International…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Two nice Guys My physio for today entailed a few exercises, and one of them was a simple walk to the park. Gabriel and I made it to a bench to sit for a reading of the Bhagavatam; a repeat from the other day. Only today, it ap…

Brampton, Ontario Incidents of Today I ended up happily giving four classes today. Happily, because delivering some words from the Krishna perspective gets my mind off the pain in my knee. The first class was in person, in the place where I live, a…