By Acarya Dasa (assisted by Jayabhadra Dasi)

The ‘All India Padayatra’ travels to many different parts of the country and on their journey they also try to visit schools. The aim of visiting schools is to give the children the transcendental taste of the holy names. During the month of October the padayatra party visited as many schools and colleges as they could.

One school we visited was in Venkatampalli located in the district of Anatapur. Akhiladhara Prabhu gave a special class to the school children –he explained the importance of chanting the holy names and how beneficial it is for children to do so. After the class we had kirtana with all the children, who danced and thoroughly enjoyed the transcendental happiness that comes when chanting. Our padayatris asked the students if they were enjoying themselves and many responded by saying that they had never had so much fun at school before and that they really enjoyed the chanting. We were happy to play a part in introducing the holy names to these children and to see them dancing blissfully. Soon after we served prasadam to all the children. Everyday around India, the ISKCON Food For Life program distributes prasadam to almost 1000 children, all of whom get the mercy of the Lord as a result. We were glad to add our humble contribution to this program started by Srila Prabhupada in Mayapur.