Monday, May 28th, 2012

Hawk and Others

Salisbury,  New Brunswick

Hawk is the name of a 33 year old hermit-type fellow here in Moncton.  He takes on the look of a shaman.  Long-haired, in black, and carrying a wooden staff with a curve and an attached piece of otter fur and eagle's feather, Hawk is my walking partner for the day.  He was inspired by our presentation last night in hearing about the virtues of walking.  He turned up at 3:30 am.

As a real trouper he stuck by me for a whole five hours until feet and calves started aching.  I told him in the beginning that I would take half the time to chant on my meditative beads.  He was totally cool about that and just walked by my side and listened.

I admit that part of the day's trek along the Petitcodiac River had me occupied in thoughts of other people who came around last night - people in addition to Hawk.  One of them was Rick, a real live ascetic who for three years now has been residing in his home-made tent in the bush.  By day he works at a Sears warehouse lifting objects (which accounts for his bulging biceps).  By night he's in his tent, deep in the forest, sharing space with slugs, spiders, mosquitoes and for one cold winter a porcupine.  It's inspiring.

Who else came last night?  Well, there was George, a worker at the local penitentiary and Amos, who is employed at a funeral home.  My thoughts were on the no less than forty-five people at this mini Kumbha-mela (a festival of mystics held in the Himalayas).

A young couple from Halifax drove the three hours to meet up with me at Salisbury.  The last leg of the day's journey ended at an old rustic covered bridge, a common landmark in the province of New Brunswick.  Inside we exploded our song of honour to our guru, Srila Prabhupada.  Twas great! 

29 Km

Sunday, May 27th, 2012

Empty and Full

Moncton, NewBrunswick

Dieppe is the twin city to Moncton and is primarily a francophone community.  The two cities are physically divided by the Petiticodiac River, a snaky stream of water that goes empty at the ocean’s low tide and then abruptly fills up with the moon’s pull.  Tourists come here to view the highest tide in the world.

From Meramcook I walked along Hwy 106 until it suddenly ended to merge with super-highway 2, the Trans Canada Highway. Lo and behold an alternative grand road was spotted by Daruka.  This became Hwy 132 bringing me past a retail strip, restaurants, and churches with full parking lots.  The United, Catholic, and Kingdom Halls were filling in with parishioners as I walked by. Some folks noticed me.  Yes, I’m different, but still believe in the same God.

At Patrice’s place where Daruka, the brahmacaris and I have been hosted more faithful people of the new age kind filled his backyard for my delivery on yoga walking.  “I walk the line, and this has nothing to do with a Johnny Cash song.  Walking the line refers to treading the path of dharma, duty, responsibility, or obligation.”  I went on to tell stories of my duty as a renunciant who roams to learn detachment from this world.

I also engaged the crowd in learning a verse from the Gita.  They thoroughly enjoyed 18.54, a message about being joyful in transcendence, being above mundane desires and lamentation.  To follow, when the brahmacaris rolled their drums and we inserted the maha-mantra, it finally became dance time.  I bet that the followers of the churches on the other side of the river were not dancing -although no less enlightened.

It was a gathering of great souls who were drinking in the aural beauty of spiritual sound and moving physically to that sound.

I want to thank Patrice for his helpful massage.  I also want to thank Jagannath Misra of Burlington for his financial support and Murari Gupta of Miami for assisting in many wonderful ways.

30 Km

Saturday, May 26th, 2012

Provocative but Nice

Sackville,New Brunswick

“Well, how are you kids doing?” addressed the jovial fellow.  He was talking about Matt, who’s 20 and me, who is almost 60.  The two of us were walking west on quiet highway 106 through Dorchester when this fellow, in his late 60’s, was doing some maintenance work in his front yard.

I explained about the 4th walk and he warmly but provocatively questioned, “how do I know it’s your 4th or that you’ve done any walks at all?”  In mild defense I told him I write a daily journal of my experiences, that I have my walking companions and support person as witnesses and various reps from media that have come out on the road to report. I could have gone on to show calluses on my feet and let him feel the IT band or stiff lumps on my thighs but I chose not to get personal.

“Why are you walking?” he queried.

“Lots of marathons go on, running, cycling especially, and mostly they are conducted for causes of disease awareness.  My walk is of a different nature.  It’s to address the disease called ego.”

With that he quipped, “I’ve got an ego.  I’m a politician in this area of Dorchester.”

I asked him if he considered politics and ego synonymous to  one another.

“Sure.  Politics is about moving things and making noise.”

“What a character!” I thought, but he was basically nice and was a communicator.

In Sackville, the brahmacari monks and I were scheduled to present the topic of meditation.  The focus was on sound vibration.  We decided to select a Gita verse and activate that portion of the brain connected to memory.  The verse that all attendees learned was from chapter 6, dhyana yoga.  It goes as such:

“As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the transcendentalist whose mind is controlled remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent Self.” (6.19)

27 Km

Friday, May 25th, 2012

This Day Wins
Kensington, Prince Edward Island

This day wins, hands down, for interaction with people. I suppose the great weather had much to do with it. It's the weekend now and from Summerside to Charlottetown (the general area where I'm trekking) the density of population increases. It was the pedestrians and not me that took the initiative to say something first.

"I read about ya' in the paper. Good luck!" was the message. Eric McCarthy's article "Chants, songs, and bulrush part of monk's first day on trail" appeared on page 2 of The Journal Pioneer and so people responded very well.

At noon we converged with the monks of Nova Scotia and chanted in a procession through Summerside's main street. That was a rarity, perhaps never been done before in this sweet place. Then we rushed to a Wellness Centre in Charlottetown for kirtan and relaying pedestrian pastimes. Dancing with the mantra really took off in a nice way followed by questions.

One attendee, in particular, asked if I had any stress. I had to think about that one. She had assumed that life in the renounced role is rather carefree and being a foot pilgrim is for the most part fairly carefree. She's right but as long as you are human there's going to be some anguish over something. Naturally I have concerns about my own community as there are ups and downs, successes and failures amongst all of us.

The woman, Tanya by name, really got me thinking. And here's what I put out as of genuine concern. I explained I bear in my heart a daily heaviness for the future generations. I see a general instability in many young persons' lives. The quality of food, lifestyle and environment that the next generation is born into are not as wholesome as it could be.

It did shake me knowing that this is a consistent thought. And yet I picked up my spirit with hope when I see two of the young persons, Mitch and Ryan, show up for our second satsang gathering for the day. We reflected on the Gita verse 3.14 and discussed karma yoga and how to channel your senses, mind, intelligence and soul in the service of the Supreme.

It was a winning day.

27 Km

Thursday, May 24th, 2012

On The Trail and Beyond

Muscouche, Prince Edward Island

With the emergence of the sun, the fog gets lifted, opening up to trees like the maple, white pine, ash, oak, white cedar and more. Their limbs are more like arms which offer an outstretched welcome. Through wetlands we see the engineer work of beavers. We see a couple of loons showing off their diving skills. We suck on cattail plants to get some nourishment, and on the trail, there’s lots of coyote droppings and the occasional splatter of blue robins’ eggs.

With me is Nick, a ski instructor and camping sales clerk turned monk. He wanted to give the walk a whirl; he sees the venture as a rare opportunity. When Nick and I came to areas which revealed the open fields, seed potatoes were being readied for planting by local farmers. The soil is red and so are the beaches where two of the coastlines, the north and south, practically meet; we walk through the skinniest section of the island. A cyclist takes interest in Nick and I who sit for a break, enjoying delicious veggie wraps and the making of a friend began. At evening time I head eastbound with Nitai Ram and Karuna Sindhu, two humble, but extraordinary monks who head up the ashram in Nova Scotia. At a village called Murray River lives a couple who have been married for 40 years, congratulations to Gaura Nitai, a Scotsman with a strong accent, and Lal Gopal, born of Cree decent,of Saskatchewan. They are students of Srila Prabhupada like I am. Much to their credit they are leading that very simple self sustaining life that our guru used to speak about. They bake their own bread, make their own soap, grow veggies that supply them from April to November, they herd cows, and are on the verge of making their own clothes from Llama’s hair, which they also herd. Even their toilet produces composting matter for fertilizer. I never thought a toilet could inspire. Their next door neighbours are Buddhist monks from Taiwan. Indeed, since being on the Island I sometimes get mistaken for being a monastic of that order. There’s a lot of similarities. Meat fish and eggs are taboo. When there is some roadkill near their monastery, the monks come out to enact a small ceremony honouring the passing on. But wait a minute! I believe they don’t accept the concept of a soul. What then, reincarnates? I pondered the question and I go to sleep, hoping to see more sights, hear sounds, smell scents and appeal for answers.

33 Km

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

Mantra Mosquitoes

Inverness, Prince Edward Island

What could be the karma for 3 renunciants who broke one of their precious vows?

Here’s what happened. Newly initiated monk, Hayagriva, Bhakta Matt, also in saffron cloth, and I, a swami, broke our vegetarian vows by swallowing mosquitoes. It wasn’t intentional. The little guests came to explore uninvited, our oral caves. I was coaching the other two monks to chant their obligatory mantra as we walked. To be like a ventriloquist so that the little guys don’t have a chance to make an entrance. Did we ever struggle with them for the first two hours down the Confederation Trail until Daruka came to the rescue. He whipped out our saving grace – bug repellent. Blisters and bites were the first day’s experience of my companions on the gentle island of PEI. Like heroes, they bore the pain. We relished each other’s mutual company.

Meanwhile two other monks of Nova Scotia, Tirta Bhavana from Siberia, and Karuna Sindhu from Canada, were not working, and arranged for a program at Sandy’s place. Sandy is a yoga teacher. He’s a he, and is teaching other males. The turn out to our gathering was mostly yoga gurus, in the masculine gender, which is rare.

They wanted to have kirtan chanting and hear about the importance of sadhana and that it is not all just about stretching. “Let’s get beyond that,” suggested Justin who is also an actor playing the role of Gilbert in the renowned production, Anne of Green Gables. I talked about sadhana as a spiritual workout from a marathon walkers perspective. On the list of sadhakas, who enacted traditional walking feats, were Chaitanya, Shankar Acharya, Sukadeva and Buddha. Kirtan really propped up everyone’s day at Sandy’s home in Charlottetown. Kirtan is always the highest chakra point in sadhana.

Now, if we have offended any living entities, such as murdering mosquitoes in the process of our earlier walking engagement, a big part of absolving negative karma, is by feeling regret. The most relevant thing to do is engage in mantra power. Chanting mantras with the heart relieves much negativity.

30 Km

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

I’m On The Road Again

Tignish, PEI

Daruka and I lodged at the Heritage Inn, a former convent for nuns.  It was an ideal location, one minute from the Confederation Trail, my walking route.  One woman I met on the trail said that the path was a railway line established in the 1800’s.  In 1968 the train ceased operating.  It’s another one of those stories about ‘rails to trails’.

I met a few folks on the path, certainly more bugs proportionately.  Near wet lands and density of trees, the little guys were plentiful.  Stopping in some parts for a moment such as to urinate, meant a cloud of mosquitoes would practically polka dot my saffron robes.  It is understood that both in the mosquito community and the black fly kingdom, it’s the females that bite, while the boys remain laid back. 

 One of the towns I walked through, Albertan, had a claim to fame for fox farming.  In 1913 and beyond black and silver fox were bred for the fur industry, but that exists no more.  Incidentally two fox, a mix of black silver and red, hung around our lodging place for the evening.  Fox are a marvelous mould of a creature. 

Daruka and I lost each other for a good 4 ½ hours.  I was walking down a rather straight trail and he with parrot, Billy, was driving to intersecting roads where the trail crosses.  It becomes complicated at times, and at one point I got hungry, so I chewed on the inner leaves of a cattail plant.  We finally found each other at the village of Bloomfield.  There we met Nancy who works at the Petit Post Office.  She was inspiring and told us that she prays often.  “How to keep happy in the face of problems?” she wondered.

I offered to say that balance and happiness are often synonymous.  “Keep busy, keep engaged, but keep enough time for some introspection. God must be at the center.  The Bhagavad-gita, sacred text, explains that we try to be temperate in our activities.  Depression often come from being under engaged, and nervous breakdown and stress arrives with too much engagement, and no time for self reflection.”

She then offered to say, facetiously, “You can ask God for patience, and the answer will be, ‘You might have to wait for a while.’”  Thank you, Nancy, for that, and thank you Eric and Cindy, who came from your respective newspapers to enquire about Canwalk, and the 4th trek across Canada; on its 2^nd leg since commencing last September. This walk is meant to encourage pilgrimage.

37 Km

Monday, May 21st, 2012

That Always Works

Sylvester, Nova Scotia

The mother of two initiates attended the fire ceremony this morning. Hans' new name is Hayagriva. His mother, Sylvie, is from Quebec and she seemed delighted to be present. Nora, a local Nova Scotian and the mother of Matt, is also relieved that her son is brighter and happier these days. Matt's sanskrit name is Mukunda.

Several Haligonians came out for curiosity's sake to witness an agni hotra, a fire sacrifice, as the ancients would do. Correction - our version is a bit modified yet it inculcates the most important ingredient, which is mantra chanting.

Andrew, who recently arrived from a training program, took on head chef duties. He was checking out exotic recipes as a group of us returned from a japa trek through Pictou.

We handed him a clump of dandelions we gathered along the way. Even I rolled up my sleeves to make a pakora batter to make fritters out of them. They came out delicious.

At 'Phoenix Rising Yoga Studio', we were requested to speak. "What did you have in mind for me to speak about Nancy?" I asked the facilitator.

"People want to hear about your walking experiences," she said. So on we went delineating on the accounts of pedestrian pastimes. Her guests, if I could use a sixties expression, a groovy group, heard of my inspirational moments.Their questions centred around karma, reincarnation and expressions of Islamic extremism in our world. We topped off discussions with mantra participation once again, a formula that always works.

10 Km

Sunday, May 20th, 2012

How Are We Received                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Sylvester, Nova Scotia

In the first week of March, our east coast monks moved into a new home, now called KRSNA HOUSE. It's a modest house on top of a hill in the village of Sylvester.

The air is basically good except for when the smoke bellows out from the local pulp and paper plant at nearby Pictou. It's usually exceptionally good air. And the water is phenomenal. As is stated in the Gita, Sri Krishna identifies the sweet taste of water as His very self. Taste this H2O and you're tasting God.

And how about the people of Nova Scotia? Do they have a taste? Well the neighbours really seem rather accepting of the newcomer monks. One woman was struggling with starting her lawn-mower, so our guy, Daruka, went over to her, like a good samaritan, to assist her during our morning promenade from Maple Street.

In general our exchange with people faired well. In Celebration of our new place and reunion, our band of monks took to Spring Garden Road in nearby Halifax for kirtan on the grass at the library. Yet the highlight of the day was kirtan indoor at a community place called 'the Hub' in downtown Halifax. A good group turned up. Again, acceptance was terrific with the exception of an Oriental woman, manager of a restaurant below. She had not anticipated the singing, the drums and the dancing above.

"is this going to happen every Sunday?" she questioned in a frenzy.

 

"No," we answered, indicating that it was a special occasion. So, not everyone becomes a fully embracing welcomer. Such is the way of the monk, you recieve varying levels of hospitality.

6 Km

Friday, May 18th, 2012

Going East

Montreal, Quebec

Daruka, our driver, his pet parrot, Billy, and Anthony and I sped eastward bound on the nation’s busiest highway, the 401. On this six hour drive, I suggested to Daruka that we give his ’93 mercury car a break, near the approaching Quebec border. Anthony and I managed to put in a 7 Km walk on Highway 2, which was parallel to the 401. Needless to say, it was a breather for us humans and a single bird, as much as it was for our conveyance.

When we reached Quebec and Montreal’s precincts, we drove the balance of 100 Km chalking out the walking route that I would be taking through the streets of Dorion, Beaconsfield, and other residential sections, as part of the 4th Trans Canada walk. Finally we reached the desitnation, 1626 Pie Neuf Blvd, the location of our ISKCON centre. Moving along waterfront properties at this section of the St. Lawrence River, doesn’t get more pleasant than this.

By mid afternoon, we reached Montreal, enough time to prepare for the first of a three day festival, an anniversary for the installation of the Krishna murtis (sacred images). It was 35 years ago that the murtis of Radha Krishna, called Sri Sri Radha Manohara, were brought to this location. I was given an opportunity to speak along with others about the pioneering days of Krishna Consciousness in Montreal. I relayed how I had visited this community in early ’73 when the centre was located on Park Avenue at an old bowling alley. A young fine arts student at the time, I was exploring life and so I went to check out my first Krishna temple ever. To reach there you have to take a staircase to a third or fourth floor. Halfway up on the middle landing, on the wall, was written with black marker, “You are halfway up to the spiritual world, keep going!” 23 years later, on my first trek across Canada, I stopped by that building on Park Avenue, long after devotees moved out. The signage was still there, as clear as crystal water. Our guru, Srila Prabhupada, had walked those steps in ’68. On my visit I stooped down at the stair landing, bent over, and in reverence pressed lips to the sacred space on the floor.

7 Km

Thursday, May 17th, 2012

What Do I Take?

Toronto, Ontario

What does it take to prepare for a trek that's going to stretch out for sometime? Tomorrow morning I'm set to drive, direction - east, with Daruka from Winnipeg and his companion, Billy the parrot, to continue Canwalk 4.

The essentials for physical upkeep are sleeping gear, a tent, a two-burner Coleman's Stove, my robes (dhoti, kurta and chaudder), toiletries, shoes of course, food supplies and maps. For spiritual maintenance I'll have my japa meditation beads, reading material including the Gita, writing material and also books to distribute and sell.

In addition to this I will carry with me, or rather it will carry me - a ton of enthusiasm, loads of good health and showers of mercy from guru and Krishna.

Naturally, when you plan a trip you'll be forgetting something important. What that is, who can say? At a moment of importance the left behind item will reveal itself. Then you may kick yourself for not remembering to take it with you. Then you will recall how you are a resident of Kali Yuga, the age of forgetfulness, and are vulnerable to imperfections of life.

The book Bhagavatam informs us that in this age we are short lived, slow to self-realization, lazy, misguided and are generally always disturbed. I would say that these are the very reasons for the serious trek. It's good for health, body, my spirit, my sannyasa (renunciation) will be put into traditional action. With mantra, guru and God, there lies a power in you. There's a hope that the world will slowly transition and that the malpractices of Kali Yuga will first go down a few notches on the priority list and that a harmonizing amongst the living entities of the world will be the happy by-product of the dynamic undertaking. This undertaking is a form of sankirtan, a cooperative enlightenment. There will be many mantras chanted along the way, lots of sharing and encouragmeent as was done on previous marathons.

There are new trails to travel and new hearts to connect with.

10 Km

Wednesday, May 16th, 2012

Students Opening Up

Pickering, Ontario

We entered the chapel of the school onto a comfy carpet and removed our shoes as we do in a Vedic custom. Tommy Valookaran, the chaplain of the building at St. Mary Secondary School, was gracious.

"Would it be alright for us to move the chairs to the side, opening up the space?" I asked him.

"Sure, when the students arrive, I'll ask them."

When the thirty-five or so Grade 11 young men and women arrived, I could sense they were feeling a different space. We did make the space clear. We asked them to sit on the floor. We introduced ourselves, Madehavendra, Uttamananda and I dressed in our bhakti attire. We explained the get up, our lifestyle, our philosophy, the individual circumstances that lead us to our becoming monks. We then engaged them in chanting first with OM.

This rhymes with HOME. I asked them to repeat, "There's no place like HOME." They did. "Now repeat, 'there's no place like OM!'" They followed that very well and with my lead elongated the OM. Then we embarked on chanting the maha mantra "Hare Krishna!" From there we danced and also engaged them in stretching with salutations to the sun (even though it was overcast and raining outside). You have to believe surya, the sun is there.

What's always interesting about adolescents is that as wonderful as they are, they do live in a teeny (as in tiny) world with not yet too much experience. That will come though in time. They will work there way out of the box.

Just by having them stare at us with interest and hear us helped to break down walls. When I merely mentioned about my leaving on Friday for a 4th walk across Canada there walls may have come tumbling down, at least in a dream-like mode. Questions shot out about our way of being. About 50% of the queries had to do with the life as a walking monk. They were opening up.

8 Km