“That’s Swami Bhaktimarga!” I exclaimed to Angela as we approached Moyie on our drive to Calgary last Thursday morning. I’m not sure what excited me more — seeing the saffron-robed Hare Krishna for the first time in eight years or remembering his name. And how to spell it.
I didn’t stop, but when we got to Calgary I sent a message to a friend to see if Bhaktimarga Swami (I erroneously reversed the name and title he uses) could be located. Checking his website and blog, I knew for certain it was him, the same man I had interviewed when he spent a night at an Erickson Road campground back in 2006. As we sat and chatted about his cross-Canada walking trek, his third, I recall being in awe of this gentle and articulate man. He exudes strength, calmness and intelligence.
On Monday, I reread the story I had written about Bhaktimarga Swami and his “friend-raising” walk. More memories came flooding back, and my excitement grew when I was contacted by a member of his support team. Would I like to get together with him before the swami headed back out on the highway toward his goal of Vancouver Island?
As I read through that story I couldn’t help but smile. An issue that continues to eat away at me appeared in the first paragraph:
“Is it possible to travel across Canada in an unconventional manner without raising funds for a favourite cause?”
The surest sign of summer in Canada is the steady stream of walkers, runners, cyclists, unicyclists and rollerbladers — and the list goes on — that take to the highways, inevitably to raise funds or awareness for their favourite cause. More power to them, at least in their quest to cover a long distance in what will almost certainly be a life-changing experience. But what is it that makes people crave the publicity, without which no funds will be forthcoming? I have the Nike attitude — just do it!
As I think back over the many stories I have done on these folks, the two interviews I remember with the greatest fondness are the ones with Bhaktimarga Swami and another fellow, last year, who was riding a horse from Northern BC to a ranch in Alberta. Apparently he is masterful at taking unbroken horses and training them to be ride-worthy in a very short time. He didn’t seek out the publicity — I was notified by a restaurant owner — and he wasn’t looking for money. I liked him immediately.
Swami accepts contributions for his travel costs, but he doesn’t arrive with his hand out. And he loves to talk to groups of students and adults, regaling them with stories (“tales of trails”) from his walks and talking about the need to get out of our vehicles and experience the outdoors on foot. But he isn’t attempting to sign them up as Hare Krishnas.
Swami committed to his celibate, monastic life more than 40 years ago, and he is clearly comfortable in his own Crocs (he switches from good quality sneakers to Crocs part way through each day on the road. “The feet need the change in the routine, just like the rest of the body,” he told me in 2006. Now, eight years older, he’s slowed down a bit, averaging 35 kilometres a day where he once averaged 42 kilometres. But the determination remains as strong as ever.
“I do believe that collectively working on our inner strengths does heal a society that socially beckons for improvement,” he writes. “I leave you with these suggested courses of action to challenge what I identify as our culprit, rat-racism, our modern day crisis: More walking, less squawking. More praying, less braying.”
Not bad advice even those who aren’t likely to embrace beliefs from either the East or West.
On late Monday afternoon, after a presentation at the Creston Valley Yoga Studio, Bhaktimarga Swami arrived at my office for a visit. On the eve of my 60th birthday, I was pleased to note that my memory hadn’t dulled with time. In our half-hour chat, we covered many topics, had some laughs and swapped ideas about philosophy. It was every bit as satisfying a visit as the one I so fondly recall from eight years ago. I wish him continued safety and good health on his journeys of discovery.
Lorne Eckersley is the publisher of the Creston Valley Advance.