Monday 11 April 2016

Thursday, March 17th, 2016

Thursday, March 17th, 2016                         
Pune, India

Everything is a Workout                         

I’ve been receiving invitations to be driven to a park about three kilometres away.  There I can get some walking in.  But I declined the offers in favour of staying on the campus where I can pace back and forth at the temple’s veranda.  Going through traffic in these hustle/bustle cities in India, even for a short length, is not my cup of tea.

I pace, and a small group paces with me, and we all put in the leg-and-lung power together.  The legs do the walking.  The lungs do the chanting.  For the legs you can call it a subtle work-out.  The chanting, on the other hand, is a strenuous one-- one with the mind.

There’s a constant struggle to keep that rascal mind under the thumb.  The mind is a slippery little critter. It slithers around in a quiet speed and mode.

In the bhakti-yoga tradition a portion of the day is spent in disciplinary action, in confronting the mind.  Exercise such discipline and you’ve got a friend.

Physical work-out did become a component for the day.  Right under the deity Balaji is a hall that is reserved for our drama practices.  The space has turned into a gymnasium of sorts.  From 2pm to 9 pm we carry on with direction and the intellectual side of a script, putting it into practicalities.

The volunteers we have are basically computer people who do very little for their physicality. Our weekend assignment, the play “Krishna Is…,” is starting to take form with the help of stiff-ish, but sincere, volunteers.

May the Source be with you!

5 Km

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