Lord Krishna is joyful
→ Dandavats

Our father, the supreme father Kṛṣṇa, is joyful. Don’t you see Kṛṣṇa’s attitude? Anywhere you see, Kṛṣṇa is joyful. He is not engaged in some industrial work or in some heavy machine making. He is simply playing on His flute. You see? If you can understand the origin person, Kṛṣṇa, then everything will come to
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Wednesday, June 22, 2022
→ The Walking Monk

Vancouver, British Columbia

Down on Marine Drive

By evening I was able to reflect on the day’s affairs as I strolled down on Marine Drive. It was past the sun’s setting. The air was cool; good for contemplation. I’ll add that overall, it is the coolest spring (and now the dawn of summer) that I’ve ever experienced.

A five-hour flight from Toronto and a three-hour time-zone change threw the biological clock a slight bit off course. I settled down in a room by the ISKCON facility, visited Govinda’s Restaurant for physical and spiritual nourishment, followed by a cat nap and then off to Devender’s. He has this quiet townhome in east Surrey where his family and I engaged in kirtan.

Three kids, two girls and a young son, Saket (2), are all adorable. We chanted and I listened. Devender asked what my thoughts were on whether he should go back with his family to India. “My parents are there. Here in the west, it is so materialistic.” He wanted my opinion. And to add – his folks are coming for a visit soon.

I suggested that he make his own decision, but that it would be nice if he got “fixed up,” as we say, here in Canada in his Krishna Consciousness, and share it with neighbours, friends, and fellow Vancouverites. That would gain, for him, some mercy from Krishna and our guru Prabhupada.

He appreciated the recommendation, which I was happy to hear.

May the Source be with you!

3 km


 

Tuesday, June 21, 2022
→ The Walking Monk

Midtown Toronto, Ontario

From Midtown

I put hours into drama practice. It’s coming along – the production “Demon.” I’m blessed once again with a good team, but it’s hard work. Following that came a visit to Adi Kurma’s. He’s a good cook. He pulled together everything I like – spiced avocado, boiled asparagus (lightly, then sauteed), sweet potato, moong dahl paratha and a lime-mint drink sweetened with maple syrup. All offered to the Lord. Thanks chum, I loved it!

A rush back to the temple/ashramlanded me at another Zoom call with a Gita Chat. With summer finally here (solstice is on) and finally with the weather to prove it (27 degrees Celsius) a walk was justified in the coolness of the night. Vallabha Hari was my companion and one of our book distributor stalwarts, Punya, who dropped us off midtown Yonge St. at the corner of Eglinton Ave, where construction for a new subway line is taking an eternity.

Yonge St. can be a lively place with decent shops of all kinds, cafés too, but not much that interests a monk like me. It’s just good to see people out and about. Vallabha at one point mentioned, “There’s an Indian restaurant and it has 100 percent western clientele.”

My thoughts are that, indeed, westerners are taking an interest in eastern cuisine and eastern thought.The Bhagavad-gita itself is the wisdom embodiment of what is eastern, but which, in reality, crosses all borders. The message is universal.

May the Source be with you!

5 km


 

Monday, June 20, 2022
→ The Walking Monk

East of Church Ave., Toronto

Getting Back

I’m getting back to doing plays now that the post pandemic restart button has been pressed. I’m preparing a production for Montreal and Toronto’s upcoming Chariot Fests; actually, reviving a piece of the past that is called simply, “Demon.” The duration is 30 minutes and the theme is about the young saint, Prahlad, and his conflict with his dad.

The troupe I’m working with is the Bhakti Academy Toronto (BAT) and we’re having a wonderful time. It’s great to get back on the stage. Hard work is ahead of us. That’s understood by all the members. On any bhakti projects, sincere team-work is required, which is a mere reflection of the endeavours of Sri Chaitanya and His sankirtanparty.

My day was largely to do with catching up after my week’s stay in Winnipeg and, naturally, one of those matters of catching up was doing some walking. Subhal, who manages to blow minds with his exquisite cooking on Mondays, drove Chandan and I to his home at Parliament and Gerrard. From there, we walked back to the ashram, a mere four-kilometre stretch. Chandan will be going back to India, so this was my only chance to walk with this young student.

He’s quite excited about his conquering sixteen rounds on his meditation beads. Chanting on those beads with this iconic number is quite the achievement and walking while chanting is a task that some folks relish everyday.

May the Source be with you!

4 km


 

Sunday, June 19, 2022
→ The Walking Monk

Brampton/Oakville

The Book Was Flying

The flight from Winnipeg on Air Canada was early, at 5:35 a.m. Usually at such an hour you can bet that passengers on a full flight like this will be fast asleep. Such was the case for all, except the pilot and flight attendants. I sat at the emergency exit seat, struggling to stay awake to fit in some japa meditation. It was hard. Fortunately, we are looking at a mere two-hour flight.

Nanda Maharaja Das picked me up in Toronto and zoomed me over to our Brampton ISKCON Centre.

“Happy Father’s Day!” was the greeting by young Jagadish, acting as Master of Ceremonies. As today’s speaker, I also opened up with the remark deserving of responsible daddies. I quoted from 14.4 of the Gita, wherein Krishna establishes His role in the seed-giving process. As I progressed in the talk, I slid into the promotion of the book, “The Saffron Path.” A book launch is what it’s called. I opened to Chapter 31 entitled, “To Dad With Love,” and read my poem to my father. It was hard to read it out loud from the emotional point.

After an ecstatic kirtan, where many dance up a storm, I went for the book signing. People were lined up for the occasion. The same transpired in Oakville with the community there. It was just amazing. I read the same poem.

Finally, Kasyapa Muni drove me home, to Toronto on Avenue Road. I plopped myself on a chair and pulled out the book after the program was over, still the interest in pedestrian pastimes persisted.

May the Source be with you!

3 km


 

Hera Panchami – Goddess Lakshmi Visits Lord Jagannath!
→ Mayapur.com

Today is Hera-pancami or Laksmi-vijaya! Lord Jagannath along with His siblings leaves for a vacation to His aunt’s place and His consort Mahalakshmi was left behind in the main temple. While leaving he had promised that He would return the next day, but time passed by and He never came back, nor did He give […]

The post Hera Panchami – Goddess Lakshmi Visits Lord Jagannath! appeared first on Mayapur.com.

Hera Panchami
→ Ramai Swami

The great festival of Hera Panchami is held on the fifth day after Rathayatra. Lord Jagannatha departs the temple in Jagannatha Puri (representing Dwarka) on the day of the Rathayatra and travels to the Gundica temple (representing Vrindavan).

Before departing, Lord Jagannatha gave his wife Lakshmi a final vow that He would return the following day. But the fifth day passed with no word regarding Lord Jagannatha. So Lakshmi summons her servants and gathers an army to bring Lord Jagannatha back.

She makes a big display and pompous entrance to the Gundica shrine. When they arrive at the temple, they begin beating and seizing Lord Jagannatha’s servants before forcing them to commit to returning to Him as soon as possible, preferably the following day.

The Nandigosh cart, the Ratha of Lord Jagannatha (which transported Lord Jagannatha to the Gundica shrine), is attacked by Mother Lakshmi’s servants as they return from the temple, and a small piece of the cart is broken off for them to capture.

“Lord Chaitanya performed several pastimes in the garden beside the road leading from the Jagannatha shrine to Gundica. The Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s bathing ceremony was conducted by a brahmana named Krsnadasa.

Following His dancing in the Gundica temple, the Lord enjoyed water sports with His followers. On the day of Hera-Panchami, they could witness Laksmidevi, the goddess of fortune, at work.”

We Live in Vrindavan and Nowhere Else
→ Dandavats

Although it is very difficult to enter into the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa pastimes, most of the devotees of Vṛndāvana are attracted to the rādhā-kṛṣṇa-līlā. However, since Nitāi-Gauracandra are direct incarnations of Balarāma and Kṛṣṇa, we can be directly in touch with Lord Balarāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa through Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu. Those who are highly
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