Monday 26 November 2012

Friday, November 23rd, 2012

 It Was An All-nighter
 
Montreal to Toronto
It was an all-nighter… and it wasn’t a party. I took the Megabus ride from 9 pm to 3 am between the two cities. Sleep is not possible on this conveyance for me. I did some reading and writing until bumps made it impossible to scribe, so I started reading the signs for the exits off the 401 Highway, our route. As the headlights beamed onto the signage, names came up that pulled on my heartstrings – Cornwall, Brockville, Kingston, Trenton, Brighton – all names of places that I walked through the summer. It’s quite different when your feet meet the places and when your eyes meet the faces. I won’t forget the speaking engagements at these various junctures along Highway 2 and the joy it would muster. I was actually feeling a separation for the road and the adventure it brings.
The trek I did make after arrival was down University Avenue and onto Simcoe Street to visit Devamrita Swami. He’s in town to speak at various spiritual engagement and to run a retreat over the weekend. At lunch it became irresistible to speak about the summer’s road adventures. The topic was light; how to handle mosquitoes, snakes, bears and cougars in the Canadian wilderness when you’re doing the trek. After lunch the topic was more grave, how to handle the illusory energy –the temptations of the mind, the flesh?
Frankly, encounters with beasts and wilderness are perhaps easier to handle than the power of maya, illusion.
8 KM

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