By Sundarkrishna and Anantacharya Dasa<\/p>\n
This was Latur\u2019s second p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101; located in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, the city is popular with tourists attracted by the historical monuments. Our first holy walk lasted for three days in October of 2016 starting in Latur and ending in Ter. This time we held a six day p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 starting again from ISKCON Latur but finishing in Tuljapur, in the Osmanabad district. Tuljapur located 84 kilometers away from Latur is well-known for its \u2018Tulja Bhavani\u2019 temple dedicated to Goddess Bhavani. Pilgrims come from all over to visit the temple.<\/p>\n
Inspiration<\/strong><\/p>\n Lokanath Swami attended the ISKCON Maharashtra Preaching Ministry (IMPM) talks held in Latur this year. This was when he instructed us to arrange another p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 here. We gathered strength from his words and decided to do it. Our team consisted of 35 devotees all of whom were engaged in various services such as sa\u1e45k\u012brtana, and pras\u0101dam and book distribution. The main attraction of the p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 was a bullock cart carrying the deities of Sri Sri Jagannath, Baladev, Subhadra Devi and Sri Sri Gaura Nitai deities. Walking with the deities of Jagannath, Baladev and Subhadra made everything more special because it was like having a p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 and ratha-y\u0101tr\u0101 combined.<\/p>\n Day 1, 12 July 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n Our p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 cart was decorated and all the devotees filled with enthusiasm to start the Holy walk. We walked from the ISKCON Latur temple to Ausa, a town with a municipal council in the Latur district 25 kilometers from the city. We then stopped at \u2018Ausekar Maharaj Math\u2019 for the day.<\/p>\n Day 2, 13th July 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n We walked 20 kilometers from Ausa to Belkunda where we ended the day. We held sa\u1e45k\u012brtana and sandhy\u0101 \u0101rati with many villagers joining us for the program. In the morning all the p\u0101da-y\u0101tris gathered for ma\u1e45gala-\u0101rati followed by Srimad Bhagavatam classes. Afterwards we moved onto our next destination.<\/p>\n Day 3, 14 July 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n Our next stop was Ujani, a village in Ausa Taluka 15 kilometers from Belkund. As we neared the village the villagers came up to welcome us with \u0101rati and garlands and washed the bulls\u2019 feet. In the evening we had a small session on \u201cThe Glories of the Holy names.\u201d Many people gathered for the class and we distributed pras\u0101dam after. We also invited everyone for ma\u1e45gala-\u0101rati (which they called kakad \u0101rati in their dialect). Our next destination was Patoda.<\/p>\n Day 4, 15 July 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n After travelling 12 kilometers we reached Patoda, a village in Osmanabad Tehsil in the Osmanabad district.<\/p>\n Day 5, 16 July 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n We travelled 12 kilometers to the village of Kakramba in Tuljapur Tehsil in the district of Osmanabad district.<\/p>\n Day 6, 17 July 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n We finally reached Tuljapur about 10 kilometers from Kakramba. We arrived on the auspicious day of ratha-y\u0101tr\u0101 organized by the Tuljapur devotees. It was a great celebration and even better to reach our destination and have one more event waiting for us. There were more than 250 people who attended the ratha-y\u0101tr\u0101 which was a 4 kilometer procession.<\/p>\n Acknowledgements<\/strong><\/p>\n We wish to thank all the devotees who made this p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 possible. Thank you to the devotees who arranged the classes, headed the kitchen department, organized the sa\u1e45k\u012brtana, headed the advance party team, organized the morning programs and distributed books.<\/p>\n On behalf of all the p\u0101da-y\u0101tris we humbly wish to thank Lokanath Swami Maharaja and Srila Prabhupad for having blessed this p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101. We are happy to have made this p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 an offering at the lotus feet of Lokanath Swami.<\/p>\n All thep\u0101da-y\u0101tris were enthused, motivated and blissful after the walk. We distributed 100 big books and 200 Back To Godhead (BTG) magazines during the p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101.<\/p>\n To all temple leaders<\/strong><\/p>\n We come from a small temple with a few devotees but with the blessings of Lokanath Swami and our desire to please him it was possible for us to do this holy walk. Pleasing Guru is the only perfection of our lives and we should strive hard for it. We believe that every temple should have p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 because it fills devotees with a mood of preaching when they meet people who are searching for the absolute truth and when they see them inspired from the walk.<\/p>\n Jai Srila Prabhupada!<\/p>\n\n\t