Home is where...

I "officially" moved from Toronto back to Ottawa yesterday.

On the train ride to Ottawa I was either lost in sleep (lol!) or lost in reflections. One thought kept cropping up and that was the idea of "home." If the definition of "home" means a physical location where you reside for an extended period of time, then in my lifetime I have had four homes: Montreal (where I was born and grew up for ten years), Ottawa (where I attended high school/university and really started to become interested in spiritual life), Radhadesh (where I learned about Krsna Consciousness and the importance of devotee association) and Toronto (where I continued my lifetime learning of KC and had the opportunity to share what little I have learned with others).

I consider all four places home. They have all given me something that no other place could give me....but even then I feel this definition of "home" is very restricting. What about all those other places where I felt "at home" which are way too numerous to name....don't they count?

With all these thoughts churning inside my head, it reminded me of an exercise that we did at the last japa retreat that I attended. We were asked, "What is your safe place?" and immediately the word home came to mind. However, I become confused and was wondering where to choose and it was at that moment it hit me. Borrowing the words of a friend who is constantly badgering me to "think outside the box" i realized home doesn't HAVE to mean a physical location....what if it means a situation or scenario instead? Immediately an image came to mind....sitting in a rocking kirtan lead by my beloved Guru Maharaja....that is HOME.

Why? Because I am surrounded by devotees and the holy name. That is why Montreal, Ottawa, Radhadesh, Toronto and all the other wonderful places that have felt like home, truly are home....because the devotees and the holy name are present there. It is the common link and it is why we can have some small glimpse of the spiritual world right here...because that's what is going on in the spiritual world: the chanting of the holy name in the association of the devotees.

So to answer the question of "Home is where?" Home for me will always be where the devotees are chanting the holy names of Hari.