Thursday, May 11th, 2023
Ontario, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virgina
We set out for a retreat to New Vrindavan, W.V., and it took a while. Our caravan of three vehicles arrived at the American border, Niagara Falls, and the hiccup was that two of our passengers were required to go for questioning at the building of doubt – Customs. No real problem, just time.
We picnicked at Goat Island near the falls, and one of our drivers misplaced the key to the car. A ranger was kind to return it when a pedestrian found it on the grass. No problem, just time.
After a long stretch of cruising on major highways, our gas ran low, not only for our gas tanks, but also human tummies. Our prasadam snacks weren’t enough, so we pulled into the Subway where a Nepalese gentleman with a big grin was serving. We offered our big longs to Krishna, and then indulged. That was sweet for both types of tanks were satisfied. Only thing is, it did consume some of our time.
One good thing about our route from Ontario to West Virginia is that Butler, Pennsylvania, is on the way. This is the cherished place where our dear guru, Prabhupada, planted seeds of bhakti in forming his Hare Krishna movement. It was here that he spent one month ins September of 1965 at the then YMCA. He cooked at the residence of the Agarwals. While our crew was out for sacred sightseeing, I was on Zoom with the weekly ‘Gita Chat.’ That was sweet! It did eat up time, though, time well spent.
I did hug a group of Vietnamese monks at Niagara. It was brief and meaningful. We all arrived at West Virginia late after 9 pm. Hello!
MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU!