Vraja Mandala, a special treat for padayatris<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The month of kartikka <\/em>is known as urja vrat<\/em>, urja <\/em>means power and vrat <\/em>refers to a vow. So, as the name suggests, we were given the energy and power to keep travelling throughout India to fulfill the preaching mission of Srila Prabhupada. It was a wonderful experience being on the Vraja Mandala Parikrama and receiving mercy from Srimati Radharani, Nitai Gaurasundar and our beloved Lokanath Swami as well as many other senior devotees. When we are on the streets of India on p<\/em>adayatra<\/em>,<\/em> we really do miss the association of s<\/em>an<\/em>n<\/em>yasis<\/em> and senior devotees \u2013but on Vraja Mandala it\u2019s a feast for the ears, eyes and tongue. Every day the nectar flowed from the mouths of vaishnavas<\/em> who described the different lilas<\/em> of Lord Krishna. Every day on Vraja Mandal Parikrama was a special day, but the most auspicious one was the Govardhan puja<\/em> celebrations in Varsana Dhama.<\/p>\n Alas it all ended tooquickly and, with heavy hearts, we had to leave Vrindavan Dhama and the parikrama<\/em> on November 15th<\/sup>. We travelled for two days till we reached Madurai in the southern part of Tamil Nadu on the evening of November17th<\/sup> to rejoin our padayatra<\/em> party.<\/p>\n Madurai and the kindness of Balaram Dasa<\/strong><\/p>\n When we arrived in Madurai, Balaram Dasa, a disciple of Jayapataka Swami happily received us. He had a large guest house which he constructed especially for devotees. It was so large it could accommodate a thousand devotees all at once. We stayed there for three days. \u00a0Balarama also made tasty arrangements for prasadam<\/em>.<\/p>\n During our stay in Madurai we made all the necessary preparations for our travels on the streets of India. The padayatra <\/em>cart and trolley required repairs, which we managed to complete in those three days. On November 21st<\/sup>, with all the repairs done, we held a grand harinama sankirtan<\/em>a<\/em> in Madurai. This was the first sankirtana <\/em>we did after kartikka<\/em>. Balaram Dasa had made all the arrangements for the sankirtana, <\/em>he had even invited the local residents to participate in the procession which included a large elephant! We circumambulated the famous Minakshi Temple while doing kirtana <\/em>and distributing many books.<\/p>\n When we were about to leave when Balaram Dasa gave us a one lakh rupee donation, about $1643.65, for Prabhupada seva<\/em>. We thanked him for his generosity and for his wonderful hospitality. So, the \u2018All India Padayatra\u2019 is on the move again; this time we are heading towards Rameswaram and hope to reach there by December 15th<\/sup>. Thus, by the mercy of Vraj Dham and Guru and Gauranga, we are back on our mission, preaching on the streets of India with all enthusiasm and spiritual strength.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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