GOOD AT HIGH PARK

Friday, May 30th, 2025

High Park, Toronto

Finally! A day without rain. Forecasters said it was to be my temperature of 22° C, which is most suitable for outdoors anything. I convinced our Bhakti Academy members to give some thought to kirtan chanting at high park, my favourite location in the city for spreading Krishna consciousness and the joy of it. “Outside is the place to be.”

Trying to reach the spot on Friday afternoon with traffic at rush hour is not easy. However, when you get to the spot at the park's entrance by the Jack Pines all anxieties that may confront us, are suddenly behind us. When my good friends from British Columbia, Partha and Uttama, came earlier this month, we took them to High Park for kirtan at that time. We sat down at the same place by the Jack Pines, and they concluded, “This is Toronto's Stanley Park.”  Stanley Park is a popular, scenic place in Vancouver.

As soon as we sat down this day on mat in a circular formation and we set our instruments down with the display of our books and started singing, the magic began. One by one, pedestrians dropped by and listened to the mantra and the beat while others either slowed down or broke into a jig, a swing in stride, or just tried to sing along. Few ignored us; at one point, a woman unbeknownst to us, came into the circle and asked for the mic. She started leading the Maha Mantra, now that's cool! At one point I had to break away for a call as I needed privacy and quiet. There, an elderly woman a mere 20 metres from me seated on a park bench, escaped death. A substantial dead branch fell and just missed her by two feet. A miracle? Maybe!!

MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU!

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