Deity Darshan: Rama Navami
→ The Toronto Hare Krishna Temple!










Click below for more Darshanpictures from Rama Navami Celebrations on Tuesday, April 8th:
 Post by ISKCON Toronto: The Hare Krishna Centre.

Attachment of family and work, Maya’s greatest illusion
→ simple thoughts

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Walking into a clients home it soon became apparent things aren’t right, then the news their son had died in the early hours, the pain on the family and his young daughter told you all you needed to know before the words.
Working for over 20 years in health care means for some clients you build up a close relationship and also get to know the individual family dynamics, the highs lows and the difficulties. Dispite this their is a great attachment.
Difficulty of family dynamics are hard to explain only as far as to say we have many functional dysfunctional families and from these we develop our identity and values. So from these their is identification with the body and those who are engrossed in this find it so painful when their is a loss of that loved one.
What always surprises me is given the exposure that that health care professionals have to the suffering that this material world inflicts on the entrapped soul that few stop and question what the meaning of life is. And its hard to explain, even to the disconnect from dealing with peoples pain and suffering while keeping that professional remoteness.
Trying the other week to explain this and how even on the worst night were we had over five people loose their temporary material body how I simply went home to bed unmoved by what had just happened, after all I had other patients on the ward who dispite the odds had servived the night. In many ways the profession doesn’t allow you time to stop and really analysis what is going on in front of you given theirs always someone new who needs to be cared for and they become your focus. Surviving on the discharge and the accolades that come with this.
Maya is amazing how she covers us so nicely to the reality of material suffering as we plan and plan for our futures and even when faced with the painful reality,
Humbling indeed is this knowledge and understanding.
Maya’s ability to bind us into this material world through our attachments to family and work.

Animals don’t break the Laws of Nature, so no question of incurring Sin
→ The Spiritual Scientist

The tiger does not eat rice and wheat or drink cow's milk, because he has been given food in the shape of animal flesh. Among the many animals and birds, some are vegetarian and others are carnivorous, but none of them transgress the laws of nature, which have been ordained by the will of the Lord. Animals, birds, reptiles and other lower life forms strictly adhere to the laws of nature; therefore there is no question of sin for them, nor are the Vedic instructions meant for them.

- Srila Prabhupada, Sri Isopanishad Mantra 1

359. Lacking those qualities
→ 9 Days, 8 Nights

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Tonight His Holiness Ramai Swami gave a talk on “Developing Spiritual Qualities”. As he went through the list from Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad-Gita, I couldn’t help noticing that I had none of those qualities.

Chapter 12, Verse 13-14.
One who is not envious but who is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor, who is free from false ego and equal both in happiness and distress, who is always satisfied and engaged in devotional service with determination and whose mind and intelligence are in agreement with Me–he is very dear to Me.

Chapter 12, Verse 15.
He for whom no one is put into difficulty and who is not disturbed by anxiety, who is steady in happiness and distress, is very dear to Me.

Chapter 12, Verse 16.
A devotee who is not dependent on the ordinary course of activities, who is pure, expert, without cares, free from all pains, and who does not strive for some result, is very dear to Me.

Chapter 12, Verse 17.
One who neither grasps pleasure or grief, who neither laments nor desires, and who renounces both auspicious and inauspicious things, is very dear to Me.

Chapter 12, Verse 18-19.
One who is equal to friends and enemies, who is equipoised in honor and dishonor, heat and cold, happiness and distress, fame and infamy, who is always free from contamination, always silent and satisfied with anything, who doesn’t care for any residence, who is fixed in knowledge and engaged in devotional service, is very dear to Me.

Chapter 12, Verse 20.
He who follows this imperishable path of devotional service and who completely engages himself with faith, making Me the supreme goal, is very, very dear to Me.

Wish me luck as I try to perfect myself.


Make A Determination
→ Japa Group

This is also called a Sankalpa - it's a determination to achieve something that you fix in your mind and is a very powerful tool.
Before you start Japa you can make a determination to hear properly, to avoid doing other things or to place yourself in a non-distractive environment.
During Japa you can also re-affirm the determination by saying it to yourself....for example "Just hear".
Try this before you start chanting and have in your mind what you want to improve and how to improve that and then make your determination.

Thursday, April 10th, 2014
→ The Walking Monk

Dubai,  UAE
 
Moving with Time
 
Downtime! Much sitting in the aircraft. Emirates, world 
class airline has conditions or facilities conducive 
enough for japa meditation, reading and writing,  all that 
I relish doing.
 
There's time to talk to the passenger sitting next to 
you, however, sometimes you respect the fact that its also 
 their downtime, or rather up-time. The flight from 
Toronto to Dubai is at an unimaginable height, need I 
detail the figure? Its just very high and very cold, 
outside.
 
It flashes to mind that we could be victims of a 
mysterious disapperance, going of the radar screen, as in 
the case of the recent Malayasian airline that appered  to 
vanish in thin air. Always a good reason to chant divine 
mantra's with more intrepidity.
 
Time presses  on with window shutters closed  which makes 
it confusing to decifer the hour. But thats ok. In the air 
with such incredible speed (exact figures unknown to me) 
you really enter a timeless zone, keeping an eye on 
boarding time is significant but once  off from departure, 
it really doesn't matter much. In a way its off-time.
 
A lay-over in Dubai with a six hour span and a  hotel 
voucher in hand permitted horizontal space to actually 
sleep which is practically impossible in the plane. 
Arabian Park Hotel was the space that was destined. No 
need for its lounge, its drinks or non-veg food. I'm a 
monastic that can keep  cheap thrills at bay.
 
And also, until the new day, new dawn or dusk we do not 
tarry but move forward with ever changing time.
 
May the source be with you!
 
0 KM (except for moving in the airport)

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014
→ The Walking Monk

Toronto, Ontario

Go It Together

I received a call from Michael who took to the Trans Canada Highway in 2001/2002 on foot with a backpack.  We made an agreement to go it out together on the road for a three week stint. 

Starting in mid May we plan to drive to Taber, Alberta, the spot from where I left off last summer.  We will stop a bit along the way, put on our shoes (I, with Crocs), while he will be equipped with camera, hopeful to capture the beauty of the road, the rhythm of walking, and all that visual vista stuff that people usually see as post cards.  The filming will be like a reenactment of the walk I did last summer, until we arrive at Taber, when business will be as usual to complete a fourth trek, bringing me to the edge of British Columbia.

I’m really looking forward to it because in addition to having the usual company of support person, Daruka, and his blue front Amazon parrot, there will also be Michael, a most amiable person.  Up for the challenge will be those occasional cool prairie breezes, and then the intermittent warming Chinook winds coming from the Rockies.  There will be the upward downward trends of pacing once hitting those lovely mountains.  I will not be surprised to hear the jazz of the road, that is, the last clumps of snow, sliding off the arms of the coniferous trees, and the feet making the beat gritting the gravel on the highway shoulder.  It will also be the time of invigoration, rebirth, of so much life springing into action. 

Michael knows the road I’ve tread, he’s done it before – the Crow’s Nest Pass.  And, of course, we’ll be seeing smart crows in flight, and I’ll be dreaming of smooth sailing swans during naps which will take place by the side of the road that will offer a peace like nothing else.  Hare Krishna! 

Thanks for calling, Michael, it’s a deal.  We’ve nailed down the date, May 17th. 

May the Source be with you!

2 KM

A day of celebration
→ KKSBlog

Although the official Vyasa Puja festival of Kadamba Kanana Swami will take place on 25 April 2014 in Radhadesh, the 12th of April is still a special day as it is his appearance day according to the solar calendar. Maharaj will travel to Durban today and has been requested by his disciples to attend a house program where they will honour him.

nov_2012_mayapurAt the time of this occasion, devotees glorify Maharaj. Some write to him, others read their offerings of appreciation to him but a young bhakta in Mayapur got creative and decided to sing his offering to Maharaj. Prahlad and his mother, Premalata dd (KKS) are from Prague, Czech Republic but relocated to Mayapur in 2011 so Prahlad could attend the gurukul and Maharaj has been their pillar of support throughout. You may listen to this meaningful offering by hitting the ‘play’ button of the media player below.

Musical Offering by Bhakta Prahlad_Mayapur

 

We would like to extend our best wishes to HH Kadamba Kanana Swami as well as our gratitude for being a source of inspiration and wisdom. Here are some memories of appearance day celebrations from past years.

 

12 April 2009 12 April 2011 12 April 2012 12 April 2012 a 12 April 2012 b April 2011 12 April 2012 29 April 2012