By Sridham Dasa (Proddatur Padayatra leader)
By the causeless mercy of Guru and Gauranga, and special guidance of All-India Padayatra leader Acarya Prabhu, the first year of the Proddatur Padayatra in Andhra Pradesh has been completed successfully and we are now stepping into our second year.
We celebrated this milestone in the form of a three-day grand pandal program attended by approximately 1,000 devotees from various ISKCON temples in India. This padayatra is being conducted under the guidance of ISKCON Proddatur president Madhresh Prabhu, who keeps us enthused. I thank the many devotees who have helped us with the padayatra by donating groceries and walking with us. In this service, four of us brahmacharis are working together to carry the padayatra forward.
I would like to share an important point. In Maharashtra, every year there is the Dindi Yatra, where all Maharashtra padayatris join the Pandharpur Wari walking from Pune to Pandharpur Dhama. In a similar way, we are trying to establish the same tradition here in Andhra Pradesh. As soon as the Sri Rama Navami festival concludes, we will begin an annual padayatra from Ahobilam to Tirupati. We have taken a vow to organize this padayatra just like the Dindi Yatra.
Through the Proddatur Padayatra we are able to conduct preaching activities in four to five districts. Although it does not fully cover every place, it allows us to reach the major areas. After completing this route, we continue our preaching in the surrounding districts.
We celebrated padayatra’s first birthday at Ahobilam, the place where the padayatra started. Together with the congregation devotees we decorated the chariot and the divine oxen. We invited the head pujari of the Ahobilam temple and he blessed us and congratulated us for the successful completion of one year. Madhresh Prabhu drove the chariot and we all did nagar sankirtan in the area surrounding the temple.
This yatra is continuing by the mercy of Acarya Prabhu, who is taking very good care of our padayatra. He keeps calling and guiding us. Madhresh Prabhu, along with Sakshat Narayan Prabhu, Sahastrajit Krishna Prabhu, Niranjan Govind Prabhu, and Yudhishthir Govind Prabhu are also giving very good support.
Special thanks to Ramapati Prabhu for always being ready to help us. In every emergency he had helped us and stood by our side. Devotees from many temples are also participating. Therefore, I would like to thank all the devotees and everyone who participated in the padayatra throughout the year.
Here is the Padayatra report of one year.
Villages Visited: 132
Towns Visited: 20
Total Distance: 876km
Srimad Bhagavatam Sets: 4
Maha-Big Books: 1,943
Big Books: 92
Small Books: 30,030
Srila Prabhupada Booklets: 20,587
Hare Krishna.
