Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Meeting Mormans

Calgary, Alberta

“You are on your mission, aren’t you?” I asked Elder White a young man of the Morman faith. Clad in white shirt, tie, and smart suit White answered with an as a -matter -of -fact “I am”. The Morman from Utah don’t have to travel too far north to come to Calgary.

I had spotted the clean cut man, “unmistakably a Morman,” I thought while walking with others in a north-east suburb of the city. He had heard of Krishna and of a gorgeous Krishna temple in Spanish forks, Utah, U.S.A.

He asked about Krishna beliefs and values so I conveyed the answer and added what I knew of the Morman, the church of the Latter Day Saints. By now his mission companion joined us. Elder Willkie introduced himself and asked about the origin of “Hare Christian’. Out of innocents he mispronounced the word “Hare Krishna”.

He also asked about the colour of my robes. ‘’The saffron is reserved for monks in the renounced order. It stands for peace and freedom,” I said.

The two Elders, who were rather young , maintained a very respectful disposition towards us .The exchange was mutual. In the few past years I have heard our leaders in meetings express their appreciation for the social management of the Morman system. For instance one of the appealing aspects of that communities’ way of doing things is having their young men on a two year mission where they visit people’s homes to present their view of life and persuade people to join their membership. Another attractive feature I admire is the care given to their children and the arrangement of marriages, house and career.

In any event my walking companions and I had a rather pleasant encounter with two young chaps on the spiritual path.

In the evening I facilitated another workshop on the nine devotion at the yoga passage on the 11th avenue. People had great stories to tell regarding their life.

12 Km