Sunday 7 April 2013

Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013

Happy to be back

Bon Acceuil, Mauritius

I’m back to where I belong, on the road.

Krishna followers on the island of Mauritius have so kindly arranged for a daily route that I could take after assembling at a local temple for the early mangal-arti service at 4:30 a.m. That means I get to embark at 5:15 a.m with anyone who wants to trail along. There were takers, a dozen or so who lead me through the towns of Plaine des Roches and Riviere du Rempart.

Mauritius was never a place where I could find difficulty to have walking companions. The temperature was great. So were the folks we stumbled upon, those waiting for a bus on their way to work or school. Hare Krishna is well-known here and with a majority of hindus on the Mauritius turf; it’s no wonder that we are established.

I spoke to Sriniketan, one of the pioneers of the movement. He has a clear synopsis of the old days. I hope this native of Switzerland writes a book about it one day.

When speaking to people, as I did this evening for a Gita class, I had to slow it down. Their first language is a French derivative called Kreole. So I went half-speed on English as I taught a verse from the Gita 7.27 speaking of how we are born into delusion since day one. It turned into a memorisation session in addition to the message it carried- “Get out of the delusion. Detest contempt. Redirect desire from a selfish one to a more selfless one.”

16 KM

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