I had thoroughly intended to get up early this morning, go to gurupuja at Sri Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir, attend Bhagavatam class and then head off and try and do as much of the parikrama route as possible. But instead of setting the alarm, I actually turned it off! When I finally awoke, I was despondent and so self critical,"There you go again!" I admonished myself. "One or two days of doing fairly well, and then you fall apart. Might as well do nothing at all!"
But hunger finally propelled me into motion, I staggered to the chai stal to try and jump start my synapses with a Thumbs Up cola and beheld a truly awesome sight! It was as if a small city had all decided at the same time to get up and move! A near unbroken line of people, stretching as far as the eye could see in either direction! This was of course the joyful procession of pilgrims on the parikrama path, many carrying stalks of sugar cane slung over their shoulders, the leaves fluttering like pennants in the breeze!
My mood soured further as I compared them to me, who at 11 had just gotten up, had not said even one round, had done nothing at all for nearly half a day!
Eventually though, after a few more hours of dithering, eatind something ( while honoring the proscriptions of ekadasi- Iknew today WAS ekadasi, no use trying to deny it!) I decided it was better late than never and that I should just set off and see how far I could go.
so, after taking Tylenol prophylacticallly, I set off! I am so glad I did. Trully the parikrima is nothing like ANYTHING practiced in america. It is a religious event, and most walk barefoot(yours trully wimped out on that one!). It's also a family and social event. And, to cater to whatever needs the crowd has, much of the route is lined with vendors of some sort; food, icecream, fruit, sugar cane juice, trinkets and amulets, posters, and lots of toys. A particularly popular item( or at least one that was being hawked a lot!) was a battery operated dog that does flips. The atmosphere had something of a county fair about it. festive and devout simultaneously.
I slowly made my way along the route, with stops at the free food stalls, to sip water, to rest my legs. But at about the half way point, I noted the sun rapidly setting, and I began to feel the aching joints of my knees and hips (what a geezer I have turned into!) I decided it was time to head back having no desire to complete the route in darkness.
So my question is, "Do I get partial credit for having tried this?"