Montreal/Canada

​On my arrival in Montreal Airport I was curious to experiment by showing my old and damaged passport at the immigration. And surely enough, the lady at the passport control immediately noticed the defect and commented somewhat jokingly: "So you tried to fix up your passport a little, did you?" She was visibly relieved when I pulled out my new one and explained the situation. Upon my question whether it would have caused me a problem if I didn't have the new passport, she confirmed: "Yes, we would have had to take you aside and talk to you...."
I was glad that Krsna had made me go through the ordeal of getting a new passport in Moscow, so I could now enter Canada without facing any problems. Just see - Krsna arranges everything perfectly....

​​It was my first visit to Montreal. The temple here is a former church, which offers very spacious facilities for our temple activities. The beautiful Deities of Sri Sri Radha Manohara, Gaur Nitai and Jagannath are worshiped in all opulence and dressed gorgeously.
Srila Prabhupada had spent a whole month here - Montreal is one of the first temples he established. The devotees showed me the place where Prabhupada used to sit outside on the grass and give darshans....
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It took me a few days to adjust to the six hours of time difference, and I was glad I had planned in some extra days to relax.
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​I gave a morning class and also the Sunday feast lecture. Most devotees are in Indian bodies here, and I immediately felt very much at home amongst them, almost like being in India....!
I was scheduled to offer the seminar "Giving and Accepting Shelter" over the weekend, starting on Friday evening and continuing over the entire Saturday and Sunday, and concluding on Monday evening. We had a nice group of devotees who eagerly attended the discussions. Gokulananda Prabhu, a disciple of Srila Prabhupada also participated and found it extremely relevant and eye opening. His presence and thoughtful comments and realizations had a very enlivening effect to the atmosphere, and we enjoyed churning the theme in a personal and trusting setting.
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​I was impressed by his humility and his genuine eagerness to hear from a much junior devotee like myself, with such great appreciation. This is what it means to be senior: to show the humility and interest to hear from junior devotees, in the spirit of encouraging and uplifting them, and contributing by sharing personal realizations and insights - a well-wishing and encouraging mood, which is so much needed in ISKCON in order for the young generation to feel appreciated, inspired and nourished.

​The topic of giving and accepting shelter was very relevant and timely for the community here. The senior devotees had been pondering over the need to establish a mentoring system in order to reach out to devotees and give ongoing care, guidance and support in a very personalized way. In this seminar we found all the answers why we have been losing so many devotees over the years - so many people come to Krsna consciousness, hang around and then fade away again. This could surely be avoided if we would make more effort to reach out and nourish them. I have had the experience that after twenty years of not having visited a certain temple we can sometimes hardly find any devotees who we know from the earlier days. Sometimes the only personalities who are still there are the Deities.....! Of course, some devotees might have gone to other yatras, but many have simply lost enthusiasm and inspiration to be active in Krsna consciousness. And this observation can indeed bring us to the point of questioning the efficiency  of our preaching efforts. I heard devotees quoting Srila Prabhupada, that preaching to devotees is more important than preaching to nondevotees. And it is more difficult. One has to come up with something more solid and deep in order to inspire senior devotees. We also find the instruction in the Garuda Purana, that unless we reach out to those in an inferior position, our life remains superficial - full of "Haribol-relationships". Infact, we can hardly even make progress beyond the kanistha level. And unless we are firmly sheltered ourselves we can't give shelter to others. Giving and accepting shelter is the very essence of spiritual life and is accompanying us throughout our entire spiritual practice, on all levels: taking shelter of the Lord, the holy name, Srila Prabhupada, Guru and the Vaisnavas. By cultivating sheltering relationships with the Vaisnavas around us, we will gradually be able to take shelter of Krsna, His holy name and Guru. But unless we have cultivated sheltering relationships with the Vaisnavas - when facing challenges and tests in our life we will easily take shelter of our mind and false ego, and thus be lost. Without sheltering relationships we lead a risky and external life.

On the 1st of June I took a comfortable train to Toronto....

Your servant, Devaki dd