{"id":1102,"date":"2014-10-23T23:32:32","date_gmt":"2014-10-23T18:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/?p=1102"},"modified":"2014-11-16T23:40:04","modified_gmt":"2014-11-16T18:10:04","slug":"the-summer-padadayatra-in-czech-republic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/the-summer-padadayatra-in-czech-republic\/","title":{"rendered":"The summer padayatra in the Czech republic keeps expanding year after year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer 2014\u00a0: Our \u00a021st Czech Padayatra \u00a0was such a blissful and unforgettable event! We walked for sixteen days in the South Moravia region of the Czech Republic. This year\u2019s padayatra was special in many ways.\u00a0 At the beginning of the walk \u00a0approximately thirty devotees from\u00a0 the \u00a0Euro Bus Tour \u00a0joined us for three days. These enthusiastic young devotees from different countries were a great source of inspiration for us. During two evening cultural programs they danced, performed a mime show about a soul trapped in the material world and a mridanga<\/em> show similar to the ones done by Mayapuris,\u00a0 with\u00a0 two drummers \u00a0playing different techniques to entertain the public. One of the Bus Tour participants did an attractive show of different dancing styles ranging from bharat natyam <\/em>to Bollywood dance. There was also some bharat natyam <\/em>from our dancers, and the Shyam performance, which was more like\u00a0 a drama dance about\u00a0 the soul lost \u00a0in the material world and finally reuniting with Lord Krishna.<\/p>\n

Then, a historical moment occurred\u00a0: \u00a0after ten years, Lokanath Swami, the Padayatra minister, visited\u00a0 our Czech Padayatra. His holy presence was so transcendental and sweet that we were immediately transferred directly to the spiritual world! He also participated in two evening programs for the public, where he addressed \u00a0the crowd and\u00a0 lead lively kirtanas<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When we arrived in Hodonin, the biggest town of this year\u2019s route,\u00a0 there was a yearly folk festival , and our great bharat natyam<\/em> dancer, Lila Mohini, had the opportunity to dance on the main stage for twenty minutes, while some 1100 visitors were eagerly looking at her performance, admiring\u00a0 her skills.<\/p>\n

Altogether, we held 13 evening programs, with a total of \u00a0approximately 1200 guests, we distributed around 2600 coconut sweets during these programs, 591 packs of prasada <\/em>and 800 maha<\/em> bananas thrown from the cart. Different TV stations came to shoot us three times. \u00a0We distributed a record number of books\u00a0 -2862- which is almost the double of last year (1473 books). \u00a0Another memorable fact is that our beloved ox Nanda, who is now fifteen years old, walked with us for the tenth time. That was his last padayatra<\/em> though, he now deserves some rest on the Krsnuv Dvur farm where he will be well taken care of. He really did a great job throughout the years and we will miss him a lot.<\/p>\n

If we look at our 2014 Czech Padayatra as a whole, it was simply wonderful, \u00a0and we want to expand it even more for the next years! Padayatra bhakta vrinda ki jaya!<\/p>\n