by Ram Mohan on Saturday, October 9, 2010 at 12:30am
Ok. Yesterday morning, I’m driving through New York for the first time in 18 years, in a 36 foot long, 13 foot high truck. I’m taking I-278 around the city to reach an appointment on Long island, but already before 7am it’s rush hour and traffic is gridlocking. I’m going to arrive too late and miss the client. Then I see a sign, “all trucks over 12 feet must exit. I’m really screwed now.”
Ok. Yesterday morning, I’m driving through New York for the first time in 18 years, in a 36 foot long, 13 foot high truck. I’m taking I-278 around the city to reach an appointment on Long island, but already before 7am it’s rush hour and traffic is gridlocking. I’m going to arrive too late and miss the client. Then I see a sign, “all trucks over 12 feet must exit. I’m really screwed now.”
I pull onto the streets, wondering where the hell am I and how am I going to make it back to a new freeway entrance with no height restrictions. I cross over a “Henry St” and think, this must be the same one from Bhumi’s ” old New York, Henry St, temple album.” Pulling over I look at my phone GPS and (I am not making this up) find that I am 2 blocks from Schermerhorn st. Now remember New York has a population of 19 million people. The five boroughs alone, are 300 Square miles. So on the spur of the moment, I decide to drop in. Of course, right outside, there is a empty parking spot for a 36 ft vehicle. I walk in and (again, I am not making it up) literally 3 minutes later, the conch is blown for deity greeting.
So there I am standing in front of Radha Govinda again. After a demon versus angel, argument in my head over whether to stay for Guru puja or not, I decide that I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, and opt for staying. Finally the conch blows to end the aortik, and I leave with a Maha sweet. 278 loops, like a large meandering river around that section of Brooklyn, so that just 8 blocks away is another freeway entrance, and yes, the traffic has completely disappeared now. I hit some traffic, later on long island but get to my appointment almost dead on time.
It was surreal. One minute I was making my way through that hellish traffic and the next I was singing Govindam prayers to the deities and then I was back again on that horrible freeway. I felt like I was a puppet, or it had been a dream. It was almost like I was not the doer. To the atheist, this is a series of coincidences. To the new ager, it’s probably the power of the mind, and how everything is based on desire. Both are right, but have only a partial picture of the ever elusive truth. To me it is yet again, proof that Krishna is God and in total control.