Friday 25 August 2017

Thursday, August 24th, 2017

Austin, Nevada

Not Austin Texas

The sign hung from a bar on two metal legs and read “Road Closed.”  Marshall and I felt it didn’t apply to pedestrians so we forged ahead on their rather walkable road.  Two miles down, we met some of the workmen on the road.  One of the construction crew held up the reversible stop/slow sign.  Really, there was no traffic but us, two foot travellers.  Still, Jerry, whom we had come to know, held up the side that says, “Slow!”

“How slow should we go?” I asked him.  “We’re only doing three miles an hour.”  It was a light point in his day.  He talked about standing there for many hours and admiring the fact that we walk.  He also liked our cause which is all about slowing down, or cutting down on what we call raja-guna.  We made friends.

I also took the opportunity to carry the Gita with me for a memorization exercise.  From Chapter 7, Krishna is identified as power: “I am the strength of the strong devoid of passion and desire.  I am sex which is not contrary to dharmic principles.”

As I was memorizing the Sanskrit of the verse, an RV pulled over with a trailer hitched to it and on the trailer was an 800 pound Buddha, 8 feet tall, and all wrapped in an orange-toned plastic.  The sculptor, Virginia, and her partner, are en route to the “Burning Man Festival” held right here in Nevada.  I thought,  I would like to go if I didn’t have to pay the astronomical fee.  There’s lots of good souls that attend events like this.  It’s going to happen near the area where I'm walking.  https://burningman.org/event/

May the Source be with you!

20 miles

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