MAY THE SOURCE

Thursday, August 8th 2024

Trois Riviere, Quebec

Very special about today was my appointment to the first arati, service for the deity this morning. I say “first” because a shipment recently came in of a new set of deities of Krishna more particularly, the images of avatar, Chaitanya and Nityananda. Made from a resin, the artist, Akilananda, from Salem, Ohio, brought them over to the retreat and their purpose is to function as festival deities for worship. I became the proud pujari to these gorgeous deities at the 4:30 a.m ceremony.

The thali, or tray, with all its deity paraphernalia, was ready and prepared for my execution in the worship. As I was in the process of that worship our Belgium visiting monk, Bhakti Prabhwa Swami was leading the kirtan chanting session with songs in praise of guru and God. It was magical. 

In the early afternoon a group of people who own cottages in the local area, came to check out this project at the Art of Living. I managed to speak with them at the same massive hall, "The Meditation Hall”. They were quite inquisitive about the different aspects of the culture of bhakti. Very pertinent to our discussion was the belief in a higher power, so I said that we are all humbled to the presence of the Source. “People say, May the Force be with you!”, but more appropriate would be “May the Source be with you”, the origin of the Force .

MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU!

4 km