(from ISKCON Amravati, \u00a0Maharashtra)<\/p>\n
I joined\u00a0 the All India Padayatra in September 2013 in Dhanbad, Jharkhanda. I very much like harinama sankirtana<\/em> and book distribution, which are integral parts of padayatra<\/em>. That\u2019 s why I joined the Padayatra India party for six months.\u00a0 Every month I did different sevas: distributing books, washing \u00a0kitchen utensils and paraphernalia, setting\u00a0 the mike and projector for the evening program, showing \u00a0videos, driving the \u00a0cart,\u00a0 taking care of the oxen, and of course, chanting a lot.<\/p>\n Learning to feel the Lord\u2019s presence and protection<\/strong><\/p>\n Once \u00a0in Jharkhanda \u00a0we\u00a0 were attacked by gundas. They injured some of us with their weapons, robbed money and valuables. By \u00a0the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai \u00a0the police suddenly arrived,\u00a0 and the bandits ran away. \u00a0Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita,<\/em> \u201cma sucah<\/em>\u201d \u2013do not fear. \u00a0The Lord always protects His fully surrendered devotees and gives them abhayam<\/em>, fearlessness. I remember how in a lecture Lokanath Swami\u00a0 rephrased the Lord\u2019s words,\u00a0\u201cOh dear, come near<\/em>, sit here, do not fear<\/em>, I am here!\u201d \u00a0When \u00a0Acarya Prabhu, our padayatra<\/em> leader, \u00a0talked to Maharaja about this incident , he was very much worried, like a father for all of us. He asked how many got injured and whether we got medical help. Then \u00a0he gave us his medicinal words of wisdom by telling us that in Bihar and Jharkhanda there is a legacy of looting\u00a0 parties and pilgrims crossing these areas. \u00a0Shyamananda Pandit, Narottama Dasa \u00a0Thakur and Srinivas Acarya were also attacked and looted in these area when they transported the books of the Six Goswamis from Vrindavana to Bengal. An hotel owner had revealed to\u00a0 Sanatan Goswami that there was a plan to rob him of his gold coins and then kill him and his servant while le was traveling in the jungle from Bengal to Virndavana.<\/p>\n The news of the attack had appeared in all the local newspapers and was broadcasted on local radios and TV channels.\u00a0 The incident, and the padayatris<\/em>,\u00a0 became famous. As we kept walking ahead\u00a0 many people approached us, paid their obeisances to Nitai-gaurasundar and Srila Prabhupada. \u00a0People\u00a0 were telling \u00a0us, \u201c You \u00a0were all attacked by the terrorists, How did the police arrived there? Show us what books you have!\u201d \u00a0Lots of books were thus distributed, more preaching took place, and people came to know more about ISKCON. Maharaja commented it was all the plan and the arrangement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, nothing happens by chance.<\/p>\n On padayatra<\/em> I got the \u00a0opportunity to visit many holy places places, such as Jharkhanda and West Bengal where our Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu performed His pastimes. I was very happy to see that with Padayatra<\/em>, harinama<\/em> and\u00a0 large scale book distribution are going to very remote places which ISKCON has not reached yet.<\/p>\n Witnessing hearts being transformed<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019d like to share the following incident which took place in the Bhagalpur district in the state of Bihar. \u00a0As usual, we were walking behind the cart distributing books. \u00a0There was a long queue of vehicles on the road, and our padayatra<\/em> party \u2013 cart, tractor, trolley and kitchen trolley- was also caught in that traffic jam. When we came to know that some political party had blocked the road to protest against the Bihar government our padayatra<\/em> leader requested the police to let us go through, but they refused. As it was about to get dark we somehow drove\u00a0 the cart on a path through the jungle \u00a0and then joined the main road. But our cart had gotten damaged during that jungle trip.\u00a0 On top of it, our tractor and \u00a0our kitchen trolley were still\u00a0 stuck in the queue. No chance for us to get any prasadam<\/em>! By evening the road was opened again but due to the traffic jam our tractor trolley \u00a0had banged one vehicle. The owner of the vehicle started threatening us, shouting, \u201cWe will see you \u00a0tonight. Wherever you stop, we will find you and kill \u00a0you. We are all gundas\u201d. \u00a0They\u00a0 sure did as they had said. While we were performing Gaura arati<\/em>, the entire gang arrived to our camp. As we were dancing and singing we were least aware of the presence of these gang members, and consequently less affected. First they saw our beautiful Gaur Nitai, then our gentle oxen, and \u00a0these transcendental darsanas<\/em> quickly\u00a0 transformed their heart, which started to soften. After the evening \u00a0arati<\/em> they talked to us with lots of love and affection, not holding a grudge any longer. They said,\u00a0 \u201cWe never knew you \u00a0are all padayatris<\/em> and \u00a0that you are distributing love of God to everybody\u201d. When they saw our books they bought a Gita<\/em> from us. \u00a0The most amazing thing is that\u00a0 they did all the arrangements at our next day\u2019s destination. We had heard the story of the transformation of the hearts of Chanda Kazi, \u00a0and \u00a0of Jagai and Madhai,\u00a0 but now we witnessed such transformation ourselves.<\/p>\n Padayatra<\/strong>, the<\/strong>J<\/strong>ourney from <\/strong>M<\/strong>ystery to <\/strong>M<\/strong>ercy<\/strong><\/p>\n The life of a padayatri <\/em>may appear to be a mystery to ordinary folks. Some may wonder, \u00a0\u201cHow do they survive such hardships and why do they go through them in the first place ?\u201d The humble souls embarking on padayatra <\/em>have been enduring scorching heat, heavy rains and icy cold winds since 1984. They have accomplished a feat that baffles even the greatest of minds, \u00a0having done \u00a0the complete tour of India\u00a0 five times already! \u00a0The mystery of why padayatris <\/em>do this is simple: to attract the mercy of Guru<\/em> and Gauranga<\/em>.<\/p>\n We hope to shed some light on the mystery and the mercy \u00a0by describing a a typical day on Padayatra <\/em>India. Devotees rise early to attend mangala-arati<\/em> which commences at 4:30am. Thereafter the padayatris <\/em>chant the holy names from 5:15am to 7:00am when sringar arati<\/em> begins, shortly followed by Guru puja. After this spiritually enlivening program they head out, packing their personal belongings in \u00a0one of the trolleys. The Padayatra<\/em> is now ready to begin its ten to fifteen kilometer journey to its next destination. The mercy of\u00a0 Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar<\/em> touches all who see Them. As the Padayatra <\/em>moves along \u00a0devotees play a tape of Srila Prabhupada chanting the maha mantra.<\/em> The padayatris <\/em>make sure to work together for the success of Padayatra,<\/em> which can be seen in the way in which tasks are delegated upon arrival in a village or city. \u00a0There are two devotees in the cart, one driving it, and the other one making announcements while guiding \u00a0the \u00a0cart, <\/em>and all\u00a0 the others are walking, continuously distributing books to people living\u00a0 around.<\/p>\n The Padayatra <\/em>\u00a0comes to a stop at 9:00am, once they have found a place where water is readily available and where there are suitable places for the devotees to sit and take rest. All the devotees involved in the kitchen service bring \u00a0the kitchen trolley, cook bhoga<\/em> and \u00a0then make offerings to the Deities. \u00a0Meanwhile other devotees take care of the oxen by feeding them grass and giving them water to drink. The padayatris <\/em>always ensure that proper care of the oxen is taken because they are so fortunate to be carrying Sri Sri \u00a0Nitai Gaurasaundar<\/em> and Srila Prabhupada <\/em>on their shoulders. Lokanath Swami always says \u00a0that these padayatra<\/em> \u00a0oxen aren\u2019t ordinary oxen – they are blessed as this is their last birth – therefore they should be taken good care of. \u00a0After the offerings are made the devotees honor prasadam<\/em>, take a little rest and then they begin their walk to their next destination, the goal being to reach there by 1 to 2pm in the afternoon.<\/p>\n Upon arriving at the destination, the Padayatra <\/em>is welcomed by the people of the village. The chanting of the holy name and the Deities inspires the local people to assist the padayatra<\/em>; they readily make arrangements for accommodations, water and other necessities. After the padayatris <\/em>have settled in everyone attends to their delegated duties be it cooking, taking care of the oxen, washing utensils or back-up services for the Deities.\u00a0 In the evening devotees offer bhoga<\/em> to the Lord and honor prasadam<\/em>. By this time the Padayatra <\/em>leader, Acarya Prabhu, begins planning for the next day. He usually goes ahead to the destination and makes arrangements for the Padayatra\u2019s <\/em>arrival. Gaura arati<\/em> takes place at 7pm, and is then followed by katha <\/em>for the assembled villagers, after which a video about ISKCON is played for the gathered crowd. The evening ends with distribution of halva<\/em> and khichadi<\/em> maha-prasadam<\/em> to the villagers.<\/p>\n Life on Padayatra <\/em>can be very trying at times; we are not always welcomed at the places we travel to and we are sometimes faced with unfriendly followers of different sampradayas, mayavadis<\/em> and \u00a0atheists. There have been many situations were padayatris <\/em>had no choice but to sleep under trees because we did not have accommodation, and there were even moments where we had no water to drink. Yet, despite the difficulties, \u00a0we continue on with our seva<\/em> because our deepest desire is to please Srila Prabhupada and our Guru Maharaja. Padayatris <\/em>are always guided by Srila Prabhupada\u2019s words, \u201cPreaching is the essence.\u201d Therefore they give their whole hearts, bodies and souls to preach the Holy Name.\u00a0 This may be a mystery to some, but it is definitely no mystery to the devotees whose seva<\/em> attracts the mercy of the Supreme Lord.<\/p>\n All glories to the padayatris<\/em>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (from ISKCON Amravati, \u00a0Maharashtra) I joined\u00a0 the All India Padayatra in September 2013 in Dhanbad, Jharkhanda. I very much like harinama sankirtana and book distribution, which are integral parts of padayatra. That\u2019 s why I joined the Padayatra India party for six months.\u00a0 Every month I did different sevas: distributing books, washing \u00a0kitchen utensils and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1758\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}