Friday 10 June 2016

Tuesday, May 31st, 2016

Tuesday, May 31st, 2016
Sterling Heights, Michigan

Doing What Needs Doing

The land is flat in Michigan, much as it is in Ohio.  Somehow it's conducive to my skeletal structure.  So walking has been good.  Even though I'm on my two day break from marathon trekking, I'm still picking hours to be out of doors for reading, writing, and some administrative phone calls.  It's about giving me a balance.  I've been working in the back yard of the residence of Vivasvan, my support person of last fall's walk through the northeast of the US.   But I see this more sedentary service as a kind of a continuity to walking, primarily because I'm doing it outside. 

The little bit of walking that I am covering in Michigan allows me to connect with the birds.  They seem to be saying, "You got some food for me?"  Mosquitoes are also making a visit.  The evening hours were spent with members of Harmony Collective in Ypsilanti, a facility run by Deva Madhava, who is a jewel of a Vaishnava.  What a community, family feel this place is.

Amongst the guests were Sean, who takes just-released prisoners and integrates them into society again.  There was also Father Joseph, who leads a parish in the Greek Orthodox Church. The latter is a vegetarian and chants on mala (beads) every day.  He chants the Hare Krishna mantra.  He carries himself well in the pastoral mode. 

Attendees had a few moments to share in the great words of Sri Krishna.  Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 8, Text 9, wherein we found a great definition of the Divine, and a great directive:

'One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.'

May the Source be with you!

3 miles

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