Saturday, February 18th, 2023
Mayapura, West Bengal, India
I met in the morning one of my old friends from fifty years. It was 4 am, and I was on my way to morning sadhana when Ghosthakura, a French Canadian from Burlington, Ontario, was waiting for his ride. He looked a bit down.
"How are you, Ghosh?"
"I’m waiting for Girija (his wife) and a vehicle to take us to the hospital in Kolkata. I’m going for my knee operation.”
Ghosh is about my age. He joined just a few months after me and became a serious monk. Now he’s dealing with physical challenges like I have been – in my case, with two knee replacements.
“You’re going to be alright. I went through it.”
Ghoshthakura’s reluctant voice was not the voice of extreme emotion compared to other messages of today. Although the words from email don’t carry feelings in the same way a face-to-face interaction does, I did bear a weight in the heart when hearing that our hosts yesterday in the village nearby just lost their grandfather after we left. The cremation is today. Another email message came from Alberta. An ailing devotee, Sadhana, is hospitalized, and that is perturbing his friends in that part of the world. Naturally, it pounds on my heart as well, since he's my student.
I’m getting all kinds of reports about physical failings on this day, and it includes one of our actors who has a high fever. But like a real trouper, he moved with the spirit that the show must go on. He reminds me of Prabhupada, who carried that warrior spirit.
That spirit gives me hope. The show will be great.
MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU!
5 km
Hare Krishna to everyone. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🕉🕉🕉🕉🕉🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏