Planet ISKCON – Page 622 – Websites from the ISKCON Universe

Friday, June 29, 2018
→ The Walking Monk

Ottawa, Ontario

Analyzing Road Disappointment

When you live in Canada, you can spend hours in a vehicle because, the reality is, to get from one place to another can be quite a distance. I’m not exempt from the system. To get to Ottawa, five hours from Toronto, is achievable on foot in weeks. I had to get there today.

Dennis drove me to Newcastle to a carpool situation, there to be picked up for the remainder of the drive. On Highway 2, we passed by one of those Volkswagen vans. “Have you ever driven in one of those?”

“A hippy van?”

“Yes.”

“Not that I can remember.”

And then Dennis offered his opinion on the conveyance. Giving one’s opinion is something most people can’t resist doing. It must mean our brains are functioning. It’s a symptom of being alive.

Krishnadas then came and picked me up, and then we proceeded east on the 401 highway. We noticed a huge digital sign. “401 Closed Ahead.” Really? And then I offered my opinion upon reflecting on having seen this kind of thing before. When the busiest highway in the country stops moving as frequently as it does, you have to wonder and question the whole system of moving operations.

We shifted to a northern route, Highway 7, which also eventually came to a standstill a one point. This rarely happens to pedestrians. Our bodies are more agile. We can swerve around an object of mass if it is standing in the way. It is so much easier to think about walking as a choice. I really have to put patience into full gear when in a vehicle.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

Thursday, June 28, 2018
→ The Walking Monk

Toronto, Ontario

Had Planned

We had planned, for a few days now, to take a breather; to take a meaningful walk along a trail. The only thing is, we could only complete one-third of it.

Billy, Amala and Isvari joined me on the trek when I did my training, and where I made the decision in ’95 to do my first marathon walk across Canada. Somewhere between the Brickworks and Mount Pleasant Cemetery, I said one evening on a stroll, “Yes, I’ll do it!”

At the Brickworks, we made our first major stop at the pond. An old, wise-looking snapping turtle surfaced when he saw us. Oh, he had been gawking at us from beneath the surface of the water, and then he came up. No doubt it was food he was after. We couldn’t satisfy his needs other than to admire him like anything. We plucked a waterlily from his domain.

We enjoyed kambucha at the eatery nearby, but without Mr. Kurma, our turtle friend.

It was a steamy day, but the thick, dark and full trees gave relief. I pointed out to our walking crew what was chicory, birch, maple, oak, Saskatoon berries, salmon berries, cattails, burdock, mulberry, and more all along our trial. Every plant has purpose.

Billy is really the ‘belle of the ball’, the life of the party. He really knows how to keep up the thrills on the spur of the moment. I was dull. What to do? I didn’t sleep for a moment last night. What the dickens? And by the way, Charles ‘Dickens’ was an insomniac.

May the Source be with you!

12 km

Wednesday, June 27th, 2018
→ The Walking Monk

Toronto, Ontario

Kamil, the Rain, the Song

Kamil came to join us on the mat which was spread over fresh grass in Ramsden Park. There had been a recent rainfall. All was lush and in tones of green and blue. It was his second time out with us in out-of-doors kirtan. His first was December 31^st, and spilled over into and after the countdown for the new calendar of 2018.

Kamil followed us back to the ashramfor hot herbal tea, as it was an extremely cold New Year’s eve. He liked chanting then and he likes it now.

I admired his walking stick. I asked him to pose while he didn’t have his farmer’s coveralls on. Yes, indeed, he works with the plants, growing and nurturing them somewhere in Oshawa.

So I was not in a condition to walk much. A stiff left leg made it difficult. I’m going to tackle a three hour trek tomorrow along some ravines. I’ll be with others. We will bond.

Anyway, Kamil leant me his walking stick on the way back to the ashram,after an hour or so of sarod, spoons, mrdanga, kartals and most importantly—voices.

We stuck to one song—Hare Krishna, which was good enough. The climate was perfect. Rain drops started to hit our faces. It was time to go. The rain is particularly not good for the sarod. It’s fragile and precious and so conducive for chanting.

That’s what we did this morning—had a chanting session about Narada Muni, the sage who plays the vina, a similar stringed instrument.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

Tuesday, June 26th, 2018
→ The Walking Monk

Madrid / Toronto

The Form of Service

The ground was under my feet, from about 11,000 metres up in the air. It was farewell to Spain for now, after a week of classes, meetings, walking, and fun. I want to thank all those good souls who looked after me while I was at Vraja Mandala, the farm community outside Madrid, and the group who manage Hare Krishna Centro in the downtown district.

I claim no physical kilometres today, only those in the dream state in planning a 15 km trek through some ravines, along an actual loop which begins from our ISKCON Centre on Avenue Road. It will be a good bonding experience and, who knows, it is great exposure for those of us whom we meet on the trails. The walking and the chanting does tremendous good. It is a form of service.

While waiting for Flight 837—Air Canada’s aircraft—to arrive, I read from the Gitaa special segment from purport 10.11:

“Due to the contamination of material association, through many, many millions of births, one’s heart is always covered with the dust of materialism, but when one engages in devotional service and constantly chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, the dust quickly clears, and one is elevated to the platform of pure knowledge. The ultimate goal, Viṣṇu, can be attained only by this chant and by devotional service, and not by mental speculation or argument.”

The above verse, the two prior, and the one following 10.11, are four key verses, and their purports are major information capsules for material relief.

May the Source be with you!

0 km

Monday, June 25th, 201
→ The Walking Monk

Tres Cantos, Spain

On a Camino Branch

Janardan, president of the Krishna Centre in Madrid, led our party of three (including Narottam) through the dark, dry trail from Fuencarral, on the very outskirts of Madrid. This is more like what I envisioned The Camino to be—countryside, bushes, farms, dogs barking, remoteness, and maybe other pilgrims. But NO, we were up early, at 4:30 a.m. to take the first steps of a short distance—12 kilometres.

How powerful it was! Janardan’s cell phone was our map and flashlight at the same time. Every time we spotted the golden arrow, it gave assurance we were on the right track.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature was the constant thrust of wild flower perfume into the air. It was such a perfect trail that I would do it again. Most likely I will tackle Tenerife, the island. It looks like I have some troopers all set to go for a four-day stretch somewhere in the future. I’m usually asked, “What’s your next destination?”

There it is, Tenerife, at least, sometime in the future.

Additionally Mantri, the main deity priest at the Madrid centre, took me for some more kilometres during the evening. We were all comfortably locked inside the building for most of the day. Who wants to brave the 40° C conditions? By 8:30 p.m., we were poised to trek to the rio (river) and back. This is when everyone comes out of the woodwork. It was humid. Overnight my kurta(top) dried to a crusty salt from the sweat.

It was splendid being back in AC land—the centre.

May the Source be with you!

16 km