Friday, January 22nd, 2016

Friday, January 22nd, 2016
Toronto, Ontario

Perceptions

If you are going to go on pilgrimage to India, this is not a bad time of the year to make that move.  I don’t know too many winter buffs amongst those from the great white north, Canada. An escape to warmer climates is what snowbirds do.  I’ve seen the great migration of bhakti yogis exit stage right for the land of Bharat around this time for years.

Personally, I take well to the austerity that comes with the cold, and I think sometimes I’d rather be an ice cube than a fire brand.  No, I’m not a fan of India’s balmy summer, but I’ll go next month out of obligation and for recharging the spiritual battery.

I do mention the warmth of people when they leave for the holy places of pilgrimage.  I mention this because I don’t see Praveen.

Who is he anyways?  Praveen is a gentle soul.  Whenever I’m in town, he will join me for that trek that Mandala and I take.  He just left for India.  We take a stretch along Yonge Street. We meet employees that have this luminescent yellow green attire while they’re on their way to the waste management depot.  They say good morning, we say good morning.

We also see people waiting at the bus stop at Bloor before the subway opens.  They are all so quiet.  When they see us, they kind of perk up at our sight, when they see Praveen in his standard white dhoti, I’m sure they wonder, “Muslim?”  When they see me in the saffron, the likely assumption is, “Buddhist?”

Whatever the perception, there IS a perception, and if they are left thinking, even momentarily, “God’s people” or “two religious paths getting along with each other”, then I think it’s a plus.

May the Source be with you!

5 km