Monday, February 5, 2007

Inconvenience

As I came through the gates of the Vivikananda Ashram for my regular Friday evening Vedanta class, I was surprised to encounter a young caucasian male sitting cross legged in the grounds. He was in shorts, a little scruffy and looked like he needed a shave. He appeared to be in meditation, sitting with his eyes closed.
I said hello to him with the motive of finding out if he had any spiritual intentions to be there. He said that his name was Anton and that he was from Russia. He had just arrived in Kuala Lumpur after having hitched a ride from Phuket and was enroute to Australia. He said he organises marathon kayak races. He didn't have a place to stay until 15 February which was when he expects to secure his visa to Australia. As I was at lost to how I could help him, I told him to join the class. He asked if he had to pay for attending the class. I assured him that it was free. He lugged his haversack over his shoulders and followed me. He sat at the back of the class while I continued to sit in my usual place, a seat in front and closer to the teacher.
After class he approached the teacher who asked Doc(one of the Friday class members) to help Anton. Doc was at odds as to what to do because it was almost 10pm. He thought if he could find a Sikh temple which he knew to always welcome travellers but after a few phone calls to his friends he was not able to find one. Feeling partly responsible, I offered to accompany Doc to find a place for Anton. We decided to drop him at a buddhist temple nearby where I bade Anton farewell and gave him $50 bucks to get by.
Doc said that Anton should not have imposed himself on the class and should have planned and budgeted for his trip. I said that we couldn't judging him because we didn't know the full story of how and why he ended up here. I hesitated in telling Doc that it was on my suggestion that Anton joined the class since it would not cost him a cent to sit in and perhaps find the class interesting. Doc thanked me for accompanying him as he admitted that he has beginning to entertain wild thoughts of what could happen by ferrying a stranger in his car.
My thoughts of the event were several:
1. I had a problem when Anton asked for accommodation and had passed it to the class without asking the class f

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