Monday 7 January 2013

Saturday, January 5th, 2013

Main Feature

Scarborough, Ontario

I will soon be addressing the issue of itchy feet, antsy body and restless mind by doing some real travel. I relish the ravine hikes done locally, but it’s time to move on and accept the mendicant’s curse. I’ve been spending time with families at their homes conducting satsang, gatherings of enlightenment. Last evening it was a home program where ten young families attended. Tonight, it was at least 25 families. Tomorrow it will be a trip to the northern city of Owen Sound for more of the same, chanting and dancing and with families. It was within no more of 2 minutes of arriving home from this evening’s satsang that I received a call. “Jack is going fast. It looks like he’s going to pass away within minutes.” And so it was within minutes that I arrived at Scarborough General Hospital to see Jack and his immediate and extended family. Before arriving, the family, being attuned to such preparation for when a dear one is about to depart for a better world, Kith and Kin were engaged in japa, chanting on their beads. Jack’s mom, 86, just arrived from Guyana for a last exchange with her son who is dying from lung cancer. She was also chanting.

This is the highlight of our culture – the chanting. It’s our heartbeat, our lifeblood and prime pulsation. This main feature of all events has been a full swing function for 3 generations of families for the Krishna Consciousness movement. Historically, the use of mantra power has been prevalent for not hundreds but thousands of years in the subcontinent of India. Whether someone was expressing themselves through dhyana yoga (meditative yoga) or sacrificial ceremonies or elaborate rituals, through the ages the consistent feature of Vedic piety was sound that liberates.

Whether in the midst of families or singles or amongst the trees, prairie grass or snow, the mantra Hare Krishna will be under the divine spotlight for me.

8 KM

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