Sunday 5 May 2013

Saturday, May 4th, 2013

So Gratifying

Toronto, Ontario

It is so gratifying watching the increasing number of people enjoy the yoga food at Govinda’s.

Govinda’s is a chain eatery/restaurant found in locations around the world and offers a pure vegetarian karma free menu. One location is in our ashram building at the premises 243 Avenue Road. We first opened it in the 80’s, myself and Visvakarma, a spiritual brother opened it together. Only recently has it taken off in terms of patrons showing up in good numbers. The room in our ashram where the exceptional food is served is called Govinda’s after a name of Krishna, which implies His dearness to animals, especially the cow. Hence, you have this animal friendly meal, an all veg entrée which is great for the soul. Weekends (except Sunday when it’s closed) is particularly a popular time for visiting Govinda’s. I managed to greedily consume the day’s end of the line at the end of the day. Some baked yams and a kind of casserole dish, colourful and tasty, before heading out for a 10 km hike along the Don River. My companion was a Trinidadian by the name of Archie. Certainly I needed to burn off the contents of my stomach. According to Ayurveda, the health/healing department of Vedic wisdom, it’s not good to eat after sundown.

It was a pleasure to trek with Archie, he loves to walk, and to dance. You have to see him during kirtan chanting sessions, he’s got this really unique step. He dances like Hanuman, the monkey god. He keeps the upper arms rather stiff and dangles his lower arms along his sides. It’s a must see at kirtan time, as much as it is tasty to eat at Govinda’s.

10 KM

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