Author Archives: H.H. Bhaktimarg Swami

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Gita Discuss I was in touch with our west coast Gita Chat group. It is a thoughtful team. We are seeking more takers. We have room. It runs for one hour every two weeks, not much time really.  Here are some of the points …

Hamilton, Ontario Steel Shaking I like visiting Hamilton, known by some as Steeltown. The reason I like visiting is because every time we bring bhakti around the response is really good. We were set for a sangha, or gathering, at 3 p.m. Some partici…

Dundas Square, Toronto Around the Corner The fun thing about walking is that when you turn a corner there is something new for the optics. Always a surprise. For instance, you can be on a straight walkway, sheltered from wind, but you turn that cor…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Peace for Ukraine I received a letter from one of our young leaders in western Canada, asking about doing kirtan to honour our devotees and people in general in Ukraine. I encouraged him to please chant for these innocent peopl…

Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto Waiting In preparation for next Monday’s knee operation, I ended up spending seven hours in this medical facility. I sat down in the waiting area like a good patient, when an elderly fellow, up for some body-part repla…

Casa Loma, Toronto The Prostitute (Based on the story of Pingala from the ancient text Srimad Bhagavatam) my poem:   The Prostitute   In the city of Videha lived a very beautiful woman Whose profession involved a regular change of linen F…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Beeline It During this whole pandemic period I have actually enjoyed the Gita Chats very much. While the entire stretch of virus is slowly coming to a close, we would be wise to preserve some of the items that shed light in th…

Yorkville, Toronto A Call Came A call came in on my personal phone. It was one of those recordings with a male voice representing social security and how I am suspicious of etc. You know, it’s one of those scam calls where they try to pry money out…

City Hall, Toronto The Wind Sent Me There are three ladies from the city that have their birthday today- Saci, Sadhana and my sister, Connie. At the least I offered to each of them a version of “Happy Birthday to you….” It is a cute “Hare Krishna t…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Kirtan Helps I’m not one to follow the news very much because of the depressing nature of most reporting. It is, however, essentially wrong to be naïve or ignorant of the world’s goings on. For myself, I like to have current e…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Pingala, the Prostitute What does prostitution have to do with consciousness of Krishna? Is there any compatibility here? We hear that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession and that this vocation was around in Krishna’…

Brampton, Ontario Rich in Food No walking today. Eating? Yes! Today I was invited by a Punjabi family for lunch. Ragni and Rajarsi are a couple who have been with our congregation since the ’80s. Feeling generous, the two had me over, along with bh…

Deer Park, Toronto Walking Deer Park I set out on my own tonight. My two usual walking comrades needed early rest. No regrets. Snow was falling, coming down nice. “Look at this, Pariksit,” I said holding up my camera phone to show him what he’s mi…

Rosedale, Toronto The Card At Robert Stanfield Airport Halifax, I was sitting at Gate 14 waiting for my flight and chatting with Sameer who is from the Ismaili community. He takes a prime interest in education and is involved in the Waldorf school …

Halifax, Nova Scotia Prayers for Those in Ukraine To the staunch devotees in Ukraine Great bearers of surprise and pain We offer humble prayers to you May the hardship you now go through Be short-lived and strengthen Your conviction while serving t…

Halifax, Nova Scotia Sunday Funday Ryan and Daniel were kind to drive me around. Ryan brought me to the hospital once again to see Shyamesvari, a cancer patient, and her back-up partner, Savyasacin. Daniel took me to the seniors at Ramsgate to see …

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax, Here I Am Sanjay is from Nepal but he has the look of an indigenous person from North America. It is simply an observation. He has a humble disposition and he was willing to walk with me for a short stretch in the Timbe…

Halifax, Nova Scotia No Dull Place It was a long walk in Terminal 3 to get to Gate B2, destined for Halifax. I was nice and early. I seated myself at the passenger’s lounge when I met Tracy. She was looking for a nibble to eat or a coffee, but no sh…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Letters on Cooperation I just wanted to share a letter that Prabhupada, our guru, wrote 50 years ago about the right attitude and the right action. So much of our spiritual advancement depends on attitude. Written to his disci…

Yorkville, Toronto Follow Sadhana I’m getting invitations to various locations. North Carolina, Montreal, Minneapolis, the Canadian Prairies, and overseas. One friend of mine asked me to come to Florida. “Just walk all the way down from Toronto,” he…

Roxborough St., Toronto Gabriel Gabriel is from a small town in Ontario – St. Mary’s – and he now resides in Toronto while making the effort to be with us on a daily basis, in the morning. He comes in through the door after leaving his shoes in the…

Yorkville, Toronto Great Sadhu One very inspiring monk of the 20thcentury is our param-guru, our grand guru, the teacher of Prabhupada. His name is Bhaktisiddhanta and he did much in terms of teaching and sharing the Bhagavat philosophy through the…

Yorkville, Toronto Great Sadhu One very inspiring monk of the 20thcentury is our param-guru, our grand guru, the teacher of Prabhupada. His name is Bhaktisiddhanta and he did much in terms of teaching and sharing the Bhagavat philosophy through the…

Hamilton, Ontario Good Things Come in Three There were three chanting sessions, with water/bio breaks in between, and it worked so well. First, Mahadev and Annapurna led us with guitar, harmonium, and, of course, the human voice. They selected a me…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Guru Conference This morning, or, what is evening in India, I participated in a Guru Conference with the theme “How to deal with Disciple Challenges.” Gurus (or teachers) spoke about and heard about their experiences in coachi…

Yorkville, Toronto Fun With Two Groups “Resist resisting” was one of the remarks that burst out of our Gita Chat with the Hamilton crew. The message implied here was to accept some inconvenience in order to build character. Another remark was, “Ge…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto How to Know? Someone asked, “How do you know when you are making spiritual progress?” This is a classic question and it came up in our Zoom Gita Chat with Florida. The simple answer is, or one answer is, “When you begin to lo…

Rosedale, Toronto Get It Right One of our temple/ashram staff was going at the last parking spot outside our building; picking at the snow and ice. With a mild nine degrees Celsius, elements that lie hard and cold were now transforming, and now tha…

Yorkville, Toronto Good Experience It is always encouraging to see young folks coming around, showing interest in the science of bhakti yoga; particularly the Bhagavad-gita. I had two students from George Brown College come to conduct an interview …

Yorkville, Toronto Good Experience It is always encouraging to see young folks coming around, showing interest in the science of bhakti yoga; particularly the Bhagavad-gita. I had two students from George Brown College come to conduct an interview …

Yorkville, Toronto Valen Nitai Day Today was Valentine’s Day and it showed, somewhat, with activities downtown as we walked a brisk one. It was assumed that lovers were out and about, in restaurants perhaps. For a Monday night, on a wintery night, …

Oakville, Ontario Nitai Avatar I’m so happy to hear new speakers take a crack at delivering a class for the first time. This morning Premarani, from Mexico, gave the class. Each person brings something unique to the table. Later I went to visit Ne…

Yorkville, Toronto Best Avatar My poem about Nityananda, whose birthday is on Monday.   Best Avatar   He is indeed by far The mercy avatar For He bore the blood During the love flood   As companion to Gaur Life was less-is-more Distr…

243 Ave. Rd., Toronto Bless You, Hari Bhakti Vilas Hari Bhakti Vilas is from Maharastra, India. He was a regular attendee at our morning program in Toronto. But now we will not see him coming again. Covid took his life this morning, but we are conf…

Ramsden Park, Toronto Forgive From the Gita, 11.42, “Thinking of You as my friend, I have rashly addressed You ‘O Krishna,’ ‘O Yadava,’ O my friend,’ not knowing Your glories. Please forgive whatever I may have done in madness or in love. I have di…

Owen Sound, Ontario The Sad Case of Humans A group of us were talking about addictions. We all know of people or are self-confessing victims of addiction, which can range from hoarding of things to substance-taking, pornography-gazing, to sex addit…

Owen Sound, Ontario Credit to the Credit Argentina devotees approached me for a Zoom call on the topic, “Personal Journey,” so I delivered what I could about my early days of contact with monks while I was at college. I was a fine arts student but …

Yorkville, Toronto Bheesma   Today was to remember Advaita, a fifteenth century saint. As for tomorrow, the eighth, we recall the heroism of Bheesma. Here is my poem:   Bheesma   He was the dear son of Mother Ganga, the river In child…

Casa Loma, Toronto Follow or Fall I love the Gita chats that have become part of my covid reality. Regular groups are hosted from Florida, Cleveland, Halifax, Vancouver, Saskatoon, Mississauga, Hamilton, Toronto, Mauritius, Niagara Falls, and Bueno…

Aurora, Ontario Warming Up I had a feeling that we broke some ice in two ways. Fresh snowfalls are rather regular these days, with some thaw occurring at intervals. This is the recipe for ice formations, which you might feel tempted to creak at the…