By Acarya dasa (All India Padayatra leader)
Radhastami is a special occasion for padayatris: it is the birthday of Srimati Radharani as well as our All India Padayatra, which has now turned thirty-nine years of age.
Padayatra was inaugurated on Radhastami 1984 at Dwaraka and since then has completed seven rounds of India, walking and preaching all over the subcontinent. It’s going on nonstop, and whatever difficulties are encountered we try to overcome by the mercy of guru and Gauranga. It’s a preaching journey. Our only aim is preaching and sankirtan is the heart of padayatra: we sing and dance and distribute Srila Prabhupada’s books. The AIP has covered more than 303,500km and is still going on. It is a great achievement for all of us.
Padayatra is one of a kind. It makes history. The people in the villages and towns that padayatra has visited remember padayatra and Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. The children have grown into young men and women and as they again take darshan they become overwhelmed. Padayatra has made so many suffering jivas fortunate, giving them the holy name and sowing the seeds of devotion in thousands of hearts. People who had no idea about ISKCON have started chanting the Hare Krishna maha mantra and reading the Bhagavad-gita, and in turn we have connected them to the nearest ISKCON temple. They are then followed up and many have got initiated.
Five devotees have served as leader of the All India Padayatra: Jaya Vijay dasa, Sanak Sanatana dasa, Istadev dasa, Rupa Goswami dasa, and I am the current servant having been in the AIP for more than 10 years trying my best with all my heart and soul to serve Their Lordships. Obstacles come our way – in the rainy season sometimes we don’t get a place to stay, in the hot sun we continue to walk – but it’s all for the pleasure of guru and Gauranga and our pain vanishes as we think of our most merciful spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja.
Achievements of padayatra since 1984:
Villages stayed at 50,000
Villages crossed 55,200
School programmes 5008
House programmes 61,544
Pandal programmes 1002
Book score 2022:
Small books 31,443
Medium books 730
Big books 1448
Maha big books 8441
Total books distributed 42,062
Sets distributed:
Srimad-Bhagavatam 27
Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta 53
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta 22
This year’s book score to date 30,300. Haribol!
Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar ki jai.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai.
