I just came back from my afternoon daily walk. My spiritual master left me strict instructions to go walking for an hour everyday. So I've been doing my best by following his instructions. Although in the beginning of my walk I had a bit of trouble, due to lower back problems. I was in pain with it this morning but the pain calmed down a bit by the time I went out for my walk.
Today I walked down Avenur Road and then made a left on Bloor Street. The next thing I knew I found myself inside a mall called The Bay Company I think. It reminded me of Parmatown Mall back home in Cleveland Ohio. So I decided to take a stroll in there. Back home at my hometown mall people walk around the mall for exercise they don't shop, so I did the same. But as I was walking I saw a store there that caught my eye called The Himalayan Gem. From a distance I saw a small murti of Krishna playing the flute. I guess it was He that lured me in there and maybe let me know it was okay to walk inside the mall too. Also I saw Ganesh there and Hanuman, and the Om symbol. It made me take out my Bhagavad Gita to find the verse about Krishna being the symbol OM. And I found it in Chapter 7 Text 8, Krishna says, "Oh son of Kunti, I am the taste of water, the light of the sun and moon, the syllable om in the Vedic mantras, I am the sound in ether and ability in man." So that led me to also think about how Krishna really is everywhere. Because almost everytime I go out for my walk I almost always see Krishna in store windows. So I guess I could take those routes just to see Krishna.
Another verse I read after that one is this Ch. 6 Text 30, Krishna says: "For one who sees me everywhere, and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he lost to me." I still have difficulty with that verse about seeing Krishna in everything. When you live in a temple, you can see Krishna everywhere but once you step outside into the material world it's more difficult because Krishna is covered over people's hearts due to maya(illusion). I also thought of Lord Chaitanya's prayer as well the last prayer that says: "I know know one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so, even if He handles me roughly by His embrace, or makes me broken hearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipable Lord unconditionally." So when I'm out in the material world I try to see Krishna everywhere but it's hard and I'm glad I only walk for an hour because it makes me want to hurry back into the temple and see Krishna present. But I am going to be tested in California with this when Krishna is not present at my family's house. Good thing I bought some pictures of Krishna to keep Him with me at all times so that I can still in a way be in a temple. Because I know I can very easily get trapped by Maya when I'm visiting with family and I don't want that to happen. This is one reason why I'm terrified to leave this temple.
I hope that when I return to Toronto I can tell Maharaj the realizations I've had and I'd love to hear what he'd have to say about it.
