Monday 26 September 2011

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

By the North Shore

Pictou To Melville, Nova Scotia

Impressions of today; Highway 6. It was a calm ocean to my right. Once the darkness ended some fog came to replace it. I saw deer tracks and a wild pheasant in flight, my first ever. Chestnut trees, rose hips, wild raspberry bushes, and rustic barns neatly kept to add to simple homes. No bill-boards, Yay! And the road, Highway 6- I was there for 6 hours- was saying to me, "Stay on this track!" People were rather reserved, there were some outside but mostly the were found in a vehicle, Booooo! I did pass by a patch of lavender and the fragrance was nostril stunning.

To upstage all the sights sounds and smells was the quality time with the brahmacaris. Dhruva had executed his first havan (fire ceremony) for an initiation. Heidi accepted the Sanskrit name Hladini Shakti which means God's pleasure potency. Also 4 month old Gokul, whose parents are accommodating us in their home received from Dhruva his first grains, a mixture of sweetened milk and rice.

Some neighbors participated in the program and chanted enthusiastically. They had never seen this type of rite-of-passage before. I was proud of Dhruva on his first priestly duty. Yogendra, like Dhruva being Nova Scotia born, had his first hand at preparing kofta (veggie balls soaked in rich tomato sauce) one of the preps for the feast.

These two young men and their grooming guru, Nitai Ram, along with five more celibate monks, are a homogeneous working team. And one of my main reasons for commencing the fourth walk (starting at the east coast) was to spend time with them in the area where they were to be travelling. The company is spiritually surcharging.

30 KM

No comments: