Friday 17 November 2017

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Toronto, Ontario

What A Life!

I’m feeling a bit grounded just being in one place for two consecutive days.  It’s a good feeling.  With that is a sense of privilege as a resident of an ashram (monastery).  What an honour it is to live the life I am living, sometimes on the road and sometimes not in the field but in a safe home!

How fortunate I am to be that early riser and to live out that opposite kind of existence.  Like the verse from the Gita which expresses such uniqueness.  It is from Chapter 2, Verse 69:            
ya nisa sarva-bhutanam
tasyam jagarti samyami
yasyam jagrati bhutani
sa nisa pasyato muneh

            “What is night for all beings is the time of awakening for the self-controlled; and the time of awakening for all beings is night for the introspective sage.”

I was reflecting on this in the course of my evening walk just before I should have been in bed.  I was thinking, You lucky dog! You have a lifestyle that allows you peace and mental comfort!

The major pain I feel, frankly, is the conflict I see in others.  As I walk along Yonge Street, which at 9:30 p.m. is mostly a time for the young and a place for the young.  I hear quite prominently the two words “like” and “f—-” coming from the mouths of the pedestrians around me.  My ears have a hard time with those too-often expressions.  Again I think how blessed I am to have the uttering of God’s names in the environment I’m usually in.  In the ashram, no problem.  On the street, no problem also because I’m chanting in the course of my walking.

What a life!

May the Source be with you!
6 km 


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