{"id":1896,"date":"2015-08-12T10:46:39","date_gmt":"2015-08-12T05:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/?p=1896"},"modified":"2015-08-13T10:51:49","modified_gmt":"2015-08-13T05:21:49","slug":"padayatris-make-school-children-dance-and-chant-in-ecstasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/padayatris-make-school-children-dance-and-chant-in-ecstasy\/","title":{"rendered":"Padayatris make school children dance and chant in ecstasy!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mydukur kids\u2019d never been so happy<\/strong><\/p>\n

On August 3rd<\/sup> Padayatra India reached the town of Mydukur in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. As we were doing nagar sankirtana<\/em> and book distribution in the town, the principal of \u00a0a local school became very much impressed. He asked us many questions about\u00a0 padayatra<\/em>, how it started, who was our inspiration and so on. That was a great opportunity \u00a0for us to glorify Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON and Lokanath Maharaja, our beloved Gurudeva. We told the principal details of his life, and how he inspired us in our spiritual life. The principal then invited us to do a small program for the school children. We took it as Sri Sri Gaur Nitai\u2019s mercy and happily headed for \u00a0the school.<\/p>\n

In the school we performed harinama sankirtana<\/em> for the children.\u00a0 All of them sang and danced with us with full vigor, greatly enjoying themselves, jumping\u00a0 high with loud shouts of \u201cHaribol! Haribol!\u201d, their bright faces reflecting the happiness they felt. Then we had a short and simple lecture for the children, trying to \u00a0inspire them to take up spiritual life at an early age by following devotees\u2019exemple.\u00a0 All the school teachers were very happy to see all their students dancing and singing. One of the teacher said he \u00a0had never seen them so happy before. \u00a0Our \u00a0country certainly needs such\u00a0 \u00a0principals in all its schools, persons who are themselves interested in spirituality and also want their students to take up spiritual life. Then only can there be a happy and prosperous future for all!<\/p>\n

Surprise Ratha-yatra in Tributaram<\/strong><\/p>\n

On August 6th <\/sup>we arrived in Tributaram, where we stayed for two days. When Maturesh Dasa, a disciple of Bhakti Caru Maharaja who had been on Padayatra India for four years, came to know that Padayatra and Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar were coming to town, he made all the necessary arrangements for the padayatris<\/em>. He informed everyone about our \u00a0arrival, which produced amazing results. The first day we did nagar sankirtana<\/em> in the city, and \u00a0all the \u00a0nama-hatta devotees joined the chanting and \u00a0book distribution. The next day they arranged \u00a0for a Ratha-yatra and to our surprise about 500 people joined the \u00a0procession. In the evening we held \u00a0Gaura-arati in one of the squares, and many people came to chant and dance with us. The local devotees had\u00a0 about 100 kg of pongal<\/em> rice Prasad, enough for about 3000 people. The news of the program spread all over \u00a0town and all the \u00a0local newspapers broadcasted the event.<\/p>\n

Vijay, the Padayatra ox, goes back to Godhead<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have a sad news \u00a0to report. On June 12th<\/sup> Vijay, one of our padayatra oxen, was seriously injured while one of our devotees was fixing the\u00a0 hoof plate on his hoof. His blood vessel got cut during that procedure and he could not walk any longer. We did all the necessary treatments \u00a0and \u00a0had two devotees take care of him. After eight days we shifted him to the goshala<\/em> of \u00a0ISKCON Narasaraopet, entrusting him to the care of the devotees there. On \u00a0July 23rd we heard\u00a0 the sad news that Vijay had left \u00a0his body. This ox was not an ordinary animal, he had pulled\u00a0 the cart carrying Sri Sri \u00a0Nitai Gaurasundar and Srila Prabhupada for many years. We are sure he\u00a0 must have definitely gone\u00a0 back to Godhead to \u00a0enjoy the eternal service of Gaur Nitai. Srila Prabhupada had told Lokanath Maharaja that this was the bright future of the padayatra<\/em> oxen.<\/p>\n