Krishna Bus Tour

Part 11-Serpent River

"It's too bad we have to drive in the dark.This is one of the most beautiful areas in North America. " 

Bhakti Marg Swami was my keeper upper. He's walked across Canada four times! With his orange robes, one of the boys said he looks like a walking traffic cone.

"It's a bus tour tradition," I said. "We drive while everyone sleeps."

"Yes. Long drives are boring."

"Was this part of the route you walked?"

"Yes. It's hard to believe the main road across Canada is so quiet. People would sometimes join me and walk for a while."

When he's not walking, Swami oversees the Canadian Krishna temples. "Management can make you shortsighted," he said. "Walking gives me a fresh perspective. My motto is, Less squawking and more walking. Impossible problems tend to sort themselves out."

"I've seen that happen," I said. "I've thrown myself at problems that wouldn't budge."

"But step aside for a moment," Swami waved his hand, "and let Krishna do His magic."

We rode in silence for a while.

"What can we do?" the Swami said. "We're very small. We try our best, then ... Krishna does the rest. Speaking of rest..."

I thanked the Swami for staying up with me.

Parikshit came up to take his turn.

He's studying drama and wants to make a career of it. His trained voice is easy to hear over the road sounds. "I've never been around so many devotees my age," he said. "I grew up in Vrindavan, India. There's a lot of devotees, nice devotees, but everyone is ..." he glanced at me.

"Go on...go ahead and say it."

"It's mostly ... old people."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I apologize for being old."

"No, it's ... I mean ... you're OK, but sometimes old people can be discouraging."

"They forgot what it's like to be young."

"Exactly! But with this group, we encourage each other. I feel I can do anything."

"Whereas with old people you feel stifled."

"Yes!"

"They can hold back your creativity; it's as if they're afraid of it."

"Absolutely." He spoke with perfect diction, I heard every syllable.

"I've got experience of that," I said. "You want to contribute, you've got ideas, but they hold you back."

"Really? You've been through that?"

For a brief moment I considered telling him why I was selling our house. "I don't want to forget what it's like to be young. When I joined the temple everyone was young and full of ideas. We made plenty of mistakes, that's how you learn. People my age have forgotten what it was like. New ideas scare them."

Parikshit talked about his plans way beyond his allotted keeper upper time.

"Oh no," I said, "I've made you break the rules. Sorry about that."

"No, I'm fine with it. Thank you."

"Get some sleep."

***

Narottam looked like a samurai with long black hair and a man bun. I asked him to turn his head toward me so I could hear him over the road sounds. He's from Alachua, studying at Santa Fe community college. He helped get the Krishna lunch program going there.