The Padayatra in \u00a0Bengal took place during the rainy season. \u00a0It rained every day.\u00a0 On some days it rained so strongly that all we had to do to take an ablution was to stand outside for a few seconds. In spite of the weather the padayatris <\/em>continued their regular program of sadhana<\/em>, book distribution and evening harinam<\/em>s. As a result of this hard work and intense determination to serve the Lord no matter what, while in Bengal Padayatra India distributed<\/p>\n 5000 maha big books and 87500 small books. Prasada<\/em> was distributed to more than 210\u00a0000\u00a0 people, and roughly one million people received the darsana<\/em> and carnamrita of Nitai-Gaurasundara.<\/p>\n Valuable assistance of the Bengali devotees<\/strong><\/p>\n While walking in Bengal the localISKCON \u00a0Bengali devotees \u00a0helped us to preach the mission of Sri Caitaya Mahaprabhu and to distribute love of God by chanting His Holy Name. The Nama- Hatta devotees performed wonderful service by cooking daily bhoga<\/em>offerings for Sri Sri <\/em>NitaiGaurasundara. They also served prasada<\/em> to the p<\/em>adayatris<\/em> and the local people.<\/em><\/p>\n Together with the Nama-Hatta devotees, \u00a0Param Doyal Dasa traveled with us during our last few weeks in Bengal, helping to organize daily festivals for the local people. These festivals were attended by hundreds of people everyday. Our Padayatra party was also fortunate to have the association of Gauranga Prem Maharaj, who traveled with us during our last two weeks in Bengal and for a few days in Orissa. \u00a0He daily gave insightful lectures and always extended \u00a0much \u00a0kindness to all the padayatris<\/em><\/p>\n Padayatra<\/em> in West Bengal had started on December 25, 2013, and it was brought to a close on the 3rd<\/sup> of August 2014. To mark the last day in that state we did harinam<\/em> in Digha, a seaside resort town.\u00a0 The presence of the oxen and the Deities made it a majestic procession.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n On the 4th<\/sup> of August\u00a0 our Padayatra party entered Orissa. We\u00a0 stopped \u00a0in a small \u00a0village called Chandra \u00a0Ishvar,<\/em> home to the large \u00a0ISKCON temple of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath. \u00a0We stayed in a \u00a0big hotel nearby and took bath in a beautiful nearby kunda<\/em>. We also performed the\u00a0 morning and evening programs in the temple, during which \u00a0Gauranga Prem\u00a0 Maharaja gave beautiful lectures.<\/p>\n Orissa is similar to West Bengal as there are a lot of Vaisnavas there, but they are less exhuberant \u00a0and the population is not as dense. Every day ISKCON devotees from the local Nama- Hattas joined our party. It was wonderful to see how they \u00a0took \u00a0good \u00a0care of us and assisted us in the organization of festivals. \u00a0The \u00a0padayatris <\/em>\u00a0still keep distributing many books, now \u00a0in Oriya, the local language.<\/p>\n On August 10th \u00a0we\u00a0 celebrated Balaram Jayanti in the village of Jalpur. \u00a0This village is \u00a0located on the banks of \u00a0a beautiful river called Suvarna Rekha, in which Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundara and we, Their devotees, took bath. We also performed abhisheka <\/em>of theDeities in a local school. During the ceremony, Dhira Nayak prabhu lead kirtana<\/em> then Kripa Sindhu prabhuand Hema Hari prabhuchanted \u00a0Vedic hymns. Late on, all those present received the carnamrta<\/em> from rom Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundara. In the evening, as usual, we had kirtana<\/em> , Gaura arati, lecture, and distribution of prasad.<\/p>\n The next morning, \u00a0August 11th, \u00a0at the invitation of Prataparudra Prabhu, a wonderful old devotee from Orissa, the padayatris <\/em>visited the local ISKCON temple in his native village. It is due to him that there is now a temple of Sri Sri Radha Madhava and many devotees there. After kirtana<\/em> Acarya Prabhu talked a little bout Padayatra, and Hema Hari Prabhu gave an inspiring \u00a0lecture about the four asramas<\/em> in Krishna consciousness. Another wonderful senior devotee, \u00a0Hema Hari Dasa, joined us \u00a0on the first day of Padayatra in Orissa. With his friend Gopi Prabhu, \u00a0he\u2019s been\u00a0 traveling with us to this day. Both of them are very helpful, especially in the preaching field. The same day Padayatra entered the town of Jaleshvar. In the evening we visited the famous temple of Kaliya. This temple is new, but the deity is very ancient. Somes say that once they even sacrificed people for her. But today another sacrifice was being performed, the sankirtana yajna\u00a0!<\/p>\n Tasting the divine khira<\/em> of Lord Gopinath in Remuna<\/strong><\/p>\n On the 16th of August Padayatra stopped in the village\u00a0 of \u00a0Remuna, where the famous lila<\/em> of the theft of khira<\/em> (sweet rice) took place. Over \u00a0500 years ago the great saint Madhavendra Puri was \u00a0traveling to Puri to get some sandalwood for his Sri Gopal deity in Vrindavana. When he stopped in Remuna and saw the delicious khira<\/em> offered to the deity of Sri Gopinath, he desired to taste it to offer the same to his Gopal deity. Since Madhavendra Puri was\u00a0 only accepting food that was offered to him, he left the temple without tasting the khira,<\/em> as none was offered to him. After finishing his worship the pujari<\/em> of Gopinath\u00a0 lay down to rest. In his dream Gopinath told him,” Get up, I hid a \u00a0pot of khira<\/em> under my garment for my devotee Madhavendra Puri. Go and give it to him” \u00a0So\u00a0 the pujari got up, found the pot and gave it to \u00a0Madhavendra Puri. Since that time \u00a0Gopinath has been know as Khirachora (the one who stole khira<\/em>) Gopinath. We got to taste the amazing taste of this divine khir<\/em>a, but, unlike Madhavendra Puri, we had to give Gopinath 25 Rs. for each pot. But it was well worth it.<\/p>\n
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