"One of my Heroes"
Hero in the dictionary is defined as “one who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.”
One of the purposes of this website is an attempt to introduce you to such heroes. I want you to get a glimpse into a brighter world within this one.
Bhaktimarga Swami is from Canada. He walked across Canada in 1996; It took him 7 1\2 months. What really amazes people though is when they find out he went back the other way, and then back the other way, and then again – 4 times now!
Why over and over? His underlying reason for all four walks was to promote a life of simplicity and encourage pilgrimage. So when our motivations are for reaching out to others, we never want to stop.
When asked to share a highlight from each walk, this is what he replied:
(1996) On the first walk, a Mountie pulls over near Chilliwack, he asked for my ID. I gave him my passport; he took forever to background check. Finally he came back to where I was walking, out of his cab, and handed back my passport, and said everything's okay. He said nothing else. Then I asked him, "Officer, can you explain what the problem is? I'm just walking in my own country?" And he said, "You're near Chilliwack, there's a penitentiary here, all the inmates wear orange, so I got a report that you could probably be an escapee (referring to my robes)".
(2003) I was walking through a town, Escasony, in Cape Breton, populated mostly by people of the Mic Mac nation. There was such a stir and excitement from the local people that a walking monk was coming through. And there's a whole string of people offering me congratulations, donations, even a big umbrella, because it was raining. The only general store in the town, where I took a little refuge from the heavy rain, the owner of the store said, "You can take anything you like off the shelves, and it's yours." I was touched. Finally, as I was leaving the town, a native man walked towards me, and with the biggest beaming smile, asked, "What are you doing" and I said, "It's my second time walking across Canada for the spiritual healing of the nation." He said, "Geez, nobody ever comes to our town!" and his smiling stretched even wider, and burst out in the most jovial way, "Thanks so much for coming!"
(2007) I was near Castlegar, British Columbia, and it was a quiet day on the Crow's Nest Pass. I offered a prayer to the Creator, saying, "This is my 3rd walk, and I haven't seen one living bear. God, if you could please come to me in the form of a bear, it would be so awesome." Minutes later a grizzly showed up, and he was clearly after me and my walking partner for the day. We had enough bear smarts to not run. We started to chant protective mantras, we started to talk to the bear a little bit and walk backwards, raising our arms to make ourselves look a little bigger than we actually are. We said to the bear, "Oh, you're so big and strong." We did not know what was going to happen to us, he was practically at our heels. We were in the wilderness. That day I had not seen one building, it was actually a national park. We were not sure whether we were going to live or die. Then an incredible sound in the mountain valley reverberated throughout and we looked way in the distance, noting a semi-trailer trying to climb its way through shifting gears on the gradual slope upward. The noise created a rumbling and echoing sound. The bear was bewildered as to where the sound was coming from. What my partner and I saw, what appeared to be a dinky toy, was coming closer and closer, and became gigantic suddenly. The grizzly looked behind and dashed off like a bullet, tucking himself behind trees. We never saw him again that day. Moral of the story? You've gotta watch what you pray for.
(2014) I was going along Highway 2 early one Sunday morning in Southern Ontario, it was a sunny morning. I like to wave to the motorists from time to time. I waved to this one person who happened to be a woman in her middle age. She made a u-turn suddenly, and then parked on the shoulder of the road where I was. She opened the door to her vehicle and behind her came her dog. The door was left open and the radio was on with Johnny Cash singing, "I keep a close watch on this heart of mine, I keep my eyes wide open all the time... Because you're mine, I walk the line." This woman was a little bit tipsy, and I guess had some drinks the night before. She wore a low cut top, and she said in a very seductive way, "What are you doing?” I said, "Well, I'm a monk and I'm walking across Canada to promote pilgrimage." She said, "Well, I know a very nice spot down the valley by the water where the sun comes up so bright. I can drive you there." I said, "Well, my excuse here is that I have to stay on the road because my support person will not be able to find me." The enthusiasm of the woman suddenly dropped. She was very disappointing that I was not interested. In the meantime, God was sending a message through Johnny Cash, through the radio waves, "Walk the line..." So I quickly excused myself and said, "I have to keep going, it was very nice meeting you, Hare Krishna." And she just kind of stood there frozen for a little while.
He is planning another walk, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his spiritual teacher coming to North America in 1965. This will be from Boston, to Butler, to New York. The adventure begins September 2015.