Author Archives: H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami

Scarborough, Toronto Honouring a Deceased Man Chandan and his family bought a new house and so, tradition has it that you invite your community priest to bless the place. Lovely kirtan, talk and food were had. What I want to highlight is the First…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Thank You Earth Today is Earth Day, and so I found it coincidental that the subject of dirt, mud or earth came up. A friend of mine called. He asked if I knew any dermatologists. Somehow, he had contracted something that he di…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto On One of Those Chats   Today’s Gita Chat, on Zoom, focused on the superior approach to spirituality. The question Arjuna raises in Chapter Twelve of The Gita, regards the choice of unmanifest versus the manifest. Plain an…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Prepare I was proud of myself, trekking with cane across the street to a green space. Gabriel came to join me. He is employed with DOOR DASH but made the time to sit with me at a park’s bench to read from the most holy Bhagava…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto The Embassy Film Coming Soon My assistant with the plays, Dhruv Patel, has begun to submit our short film, “The Embassy,” to film festivals. I am anticipating that there will be takers to this production, which is well acted an…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Precious Piece I was forwarded a photo, one I’d not seen before, a precious piece, of a seed planter making his way on foot along Manhattan’s lower east side on Second Avenue. For sure it’s a vintage shot and takes you back to …

Etobicoke, Toronto Who Is Crazy? Our very happy venture to Stratford came to a closure. My companions, Vallabha and Gabriel, and I arrived at the home of a sweet Ukrainian couple and their family. More chanting and feasting were featured here in the…

Stratford, Ontario Another Easter Day People with a Christian background hold this weekend as sacred. With our group from Brampton, we are keeping all events as fun and spiritual. In fact, at a Q and A session, a woman asked how I got involved in K…

Stratford, Ontario To Shakespeare’s Town Before the two-hour trip to Shakespeare’s town, my family doctor, Dr. Juta, kindly took the time to come down and remove the operation’s steel staples from the knee. The first pull from the bottom staple tri…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Some Milestones My right knee is healing well, so I put it to the test. It was approaching midnight. I was restless and, in a way, to execute some physio therapy, I thought to go down two flights of stairs and look around to th…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto It’s Coming Back Some of the ISKCON temples in North America are talking about the favorite summer fest – Ratha Yatra. Cities are once again issuing permits for outdoor events. This creates excitement in the air. Hopefully few …

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Good Day, Eh! Today was a great day of hope merely because the sun was shining. Though I’m confined to the indoors, being still crutch-dependent, I can see the sun’s rays streaking through the arched window of my quarters. I b…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Bhakti Academy It was a grand fest to honour Lord Ram. From the quarters where I stay in the temple/ashram complex I could hear, one floor below, the beautiful chants, a talk delivered by a visiting friend from Florida, Kalaka…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto RAM Celebrations around the world centered on Ram, the avatar, came to all devotional destinations. And in Toronto, crowds were drawn, mostly masked folks. The following is my poem, which I sent out last year. RAM Ram posses…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Knee and Hip My physio-therapist from small city, Guelph, Ontario, has offered to help me for my second post-surgery knee replacement. He observed one thing, that my right leg tends to sway more to the right instead of staying…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto My Thanks I just wanted to take the opportunity to express heartfelt gratitude to all of you; for your well-wishes during my surgical recovery. I am doing the necessary for the healing required in the form of extra rest, exerc…

Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto Bag of Three The night before had been very trying. I was nauseous, although the surgery went well. I was out like a light. I don’t remember a thing. The sedation worked really well. Still, there was a concern. The last …

Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto Break a Leg   Off to the hospital and anticipating a new knee. I’m already called the bionic boy. I was wheeled into the surgery. Just minutes before, I compiled a poem.   Break a Leg   You know the sayin…

South Scarborough Not Mundane It was good to see my dear godbrother. He’s a successful real estate agent. We had travelled together in the ’70s, engaged in sankirtan; the sharing of high consciousness to others. I stayed a monk. He got married and …

Rosedale, Toronto One Day On our brief walk, through residential Rosedale, our walking team of Gabriel, Mahadeva, Annapurna and I noticed one interesting thing that gives life to people’s front yards. After the season of snow leaves us, there grows…

Scarborough/Hamilton Double Header Ananda, once again, officiated an amazing fire ceremony at which two special people from Scarborough took progressive steps towards Godhead. First of all, Ganapati, the local treasurer for the ISKCON centre there,…

Brampton, Ontario A Killer Kirtan It was a bit unfortunate that Lajput Prasher, the sponsor for today’s big kirtan at the Hindu Sabha Temple, just couldn’t attend. The event, which attracted 300 plus people, and which had kirtan leader, Ajamil and …

Mississauga, Ontario What to Do About Too Much Food? People do pranks on this day, April Fool’s Day. In the secular culture it is common enough, but within the confines of our ashram there is so little of that happening on this annual date. Person…

East of Yonge Sweet Pear Bits I had a sore craving for some leftover pear slices in the lunch room’s fridge. It was after midnight and insomnia hit me so I made it down the stairs, picked up two garbage bags outside Govinda’s Restaurant, which is a…

Casa Loma, Toronto Coming to Halifax The good news is that one of our newly-formed communities on the east coast, Halifax, is hosting their first Ratha Yatra this summer. Ratha Yatra is that exciting festival featuring Krishna Himself in beauty bla…

Rosedale, Toronto I Love It It was dark but the night was still fairly young when Vallabha and I were strolling through a pedestrian lane in Rosedale, when three young women, arm in arm, were oncoming. One of the girls took notice of my saffron and…

22 College St., Toronto Our Chant, Our Chat, Our Walk For Ukraine, our residents had a chant. From our west coast Gita Chat group, we discussed a host of things, some of which are as follows: 1) We are all in a conditioned state; meaning we are co…

Niagara Falls, Ontario To Near the Water Able driver, Gabriel, took us from Montreal to Niagara in just under 700 kilometers. It was a pleasant drive, though at spots wind came on strong as we were reminded that winter is not totally over. Our des…

Rue Sainte-Catherine, Montreal Something to Say To say that there is unrest in the world is certainly an understatement. Right at the location where our chanting party was to set camp for two hours was a demonstration by people of Tunisia. The nati…

Rue Sainte-Catherine, Montreal Where We Started It was back in 1968 that Hare Krishna devotees first appeared on Canadian soil, at Phillips Square. The popular world Expo, which began the year before at Canada’s 100 year celebration, was extended o…

ISKCON Montreal, Quebec To Montreal   It used to take a clear six hours drive to Montreal from Toronto, then add a half-hour for a refreshment/bio break. These days you can knock off one hour because the standard motorist moves at 110 to 120 km …

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto The Things I read Today What did I learn today from sastra(scripture) or from the words of the guru? In the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna asks Krishna appropriate questions, with all of them being answered, of course. Another item t…

Yorkville, Toronto SOME GOOD RULES I belong to the road, at least the trail. That was the mood and spirit of our troupe that returned from the weekend Festival of India roadshow. We were reflecting on the fabulous time, grateful that we could be pa…

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Snow Deep Vallabha and I headed for Sault Ste. Marie’s waterfront, which has a trail starting from the Sleep Inn Motel where we rested and dreamed for the night. The trail along the St. Mary’s River is not detectible. You …

 Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Good in the Soo “I had been on the snowmobile for quite some time today. The sun and snow combined turned me red,” said the Chief of Police, Officer Hugh Stephenson, shortly after we met at the Marconi Banquet Hall at …

Sudbury, Ontario Good in Sudbury Not much time to walk today. Driving north consumed a bit of time. Destination, the Caruso Banquet Hall in Sudbury. Our little troupe consisting of Mahadeva, Annapurna, Vallabha Hari, Gabriel, Alec and myself were k…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Special Friday What’s so good about Friday’s around the temple? Well, extra work is put into food preparation and the end result is 10 women receive delicious prasadam at the YWCA, all packed professionally and devotionally. …

Rosedale, Toronto Sound Through the Masks The flood gates of love of kirtanare opening up. While St. Patrick’s Day is important to many, another saint by the name of Chaitanya also has his birthday celebrated today and that is done with meaningful c…

Queen’s Park, Toronto Going Directions It had been a long day. Tomorrow is special – Gaura Purnima. It was a littler after 8 pm, early for my evening walk. I realized it was my first moment for the outside to hit my face. It seemed like a coastal f…

Downtown Toronto A New Film Krisztina Danka is an award-winning film maker and she sent me a message today, on behalf of “Karuna Productions,” that a short film (eleven minutes) was released, hoping I’d like it. It’s called “Play, Pray, Walk, Laugh,”…