Charolottetown, Prince Edward Island
From The Speaking Tree
I had landed in Halifax at 1:15 AM, caught some rest at the home of hosts, Mukunda and Hladini, and found a few minutes to stroll with monk, Nitai Ram, before a drive to Charlottetown where we took part in a satsang, spiritual gathering. On the ride over we stopped at the border of Prince Edward Island to catch up on internet stuff. There, we googled a newspaper article that appeared on April 27th, 2014 with the New Delhi Times, a section called The Speaking Tree. I was honoured to be featured there as a person who is promoting pilgrimage. And here it is:
Walkathon To Eternity
The Canadian-born BHAKTIMARGA SWAMI believes in walking in the great outdoors to find the Truth. REENA SINGH spent a morning with the ‘Walking Monk’ in Noida at the inauguration of a new ISKCON temple.
He’s a self-confessed walking addict who says he got attracted to Swami Prabhupada’s Hare Krishna movement 41 years ago because it was ‘radical, daring and different.’ Bhaktimarga Swami began walking in 1996, when he wanted to do something really big as a tribute to Srila Prabhupada’s centennial celebrations, and he hasn’t stopped since. He’s walked across Canada thrice and is due to finish his fourth walk soon. Born John Peter Vis, the 61-year-old Canadian has also walked across Ireland, Israel, Guyana, Mauritius, and Fiji Islands and is planning yet another marathon walk in 2016 from New York to San Francisco.
He walks all mornings, 35 KM or so at a stretch and spends nights at camp sites. In between, he stops at schools, senior citizen homes, libraries and yoga studios and among Hindu communities, delivering the message of the Bhagavad Gita and conducting meditations.
Parikrama And Pilgrimage
All along, he also promotes being one with nature and says that many countries — India, Russia, Europe, Ireland, and South and Central America — have a rich heritage of parikrama and pilgrimage. “It was common in ancient times for young people to set off on a vision quest in solitude in a kind of walking meditation. Across the globe, there is a history of people travelling light, looking for a kind of transformation, an inner cleansing. We must look at this walking culture of our ancestors more deeply and realise the value of it,” he says.
“We now live in an automated society and so hardly ever travel on foot,” he rues. “My aim is to go to every town and village — meet people and get inspired by what they do, and try to inspire them. A support person checks on me once in a while and ensures that I am still alive and that I haven’t been eaten up by a bear! The whole idea is to gain a sense of resistance and take in whatever comes of its own accord — cold and hot weather, rain, snow, mosquitoes, flies — to walk through the dualities and to gain strength,” he says.
“What resonates with a lot of people when you get past that half century mark is that you have to spend a little more time in simplicity. Walking aids in that endeavour. My message is that we are the spirit, not just the body. Moreover, we were designed for walking, not flying, or even running. In many societies, there is a tradition of walking and leading a monastic life,” he says.
Was there opposition from his family when he took to the Hare Krishna way of life? “I am still Roman Catholic, and I still believe in God. I have only added to something I was already practising. So while my family was taken aback at first, later they were proud of me. I keep in touch with my siblings and all of them walk with me when I come to their neighbourhood — in dhoti, kurta, chadar, japa mala, tilak, and my Crocs!” he says with a laugh.
He admits western audiences don’t know eastern philosophy, but things are changing now and they are opening up to vedic concepts and eastern thought.
“To the western community, I also talk about my experiences on the road, tales from my treks and then teach them mantra meditation. Then, I literally pass on the hat, and donations pour in,” he says, when questioned about how he funds his walks. “People believe that if they feed a monk, something good will come of it,” he adds, with a twinkle in his eye.
His message is that the way to make spiritual progress is not just to establish your own inner temple or to visit a church or mosque. Spirituality isn’t limited to that. The world itself is a temple. “I get close to God when I am walking. Walking has a natural rhythm, you take in the great air, everyday is an adventure and when you are out there with nature, you get enlightened. That’s why the ancients did this. Why deprive ourselves of this today,” he asks.
“It’s my hope that city planners will plan great trails where people will have great experiences. It’s the ultimate experience to walk and travel light — it’s not going to Las Vegas, Disney World or Paris. It’s going on your feet and seeing the big Imax screen all around you — of nature, itself.”
Hair-raising Tales
With children, his approach is different. He talks more about his hair-raising experiences, of being attacked by wasps on the behind, his one-time interaction with a hungry bear…. “If a truck hadn’t trundled along at that point in the morning, I would have been toast — breakfast — for the bear. It was a humbling experience,” he adds.
Teens think monks are cool — the result, perhaps, of seeing so many Kung Fu movies, he explains. “A newer generation has sprung up and they are open. They admire my carefree, car-free lifestyle,” he says. “Of course, children need something exotic too — and my support person comes along with a real Amazon parrot on his shoulder — that’s a real attraction. I talk about the journey, the pilgrimage, what’s it about, how many pairs of shoes it takes to walk across Canada — four of them. I give them some numbers to crunch on. They love that,” he says.
Educators look forward to his visit. “The biggest challenge now is to get kids away from computers and out of the house. It’s inspiring for them to hear that someone is walking across Canada. Many of them are locked into their own little communities and our Project Walk tells the kids that the globe is big and there is so much going on outside,” he adds.
When he is not walking, he busies himself with theatre and is a well-known director of theatre arts. He has made Gita concise — and presented all 18 chapters of the Gita in a language people can understand. It includes two fusion dances showing Krishna’s dynamic virat rupa, or cosmic form, complete with music and rhythm in both English and Hindi.
May the Source be with you!
3 KM