Our p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 party planned on leaving Nileshwaram on August 29th<\/sup> but Caitanya Rasamrita Dasa insisted we stay and celebrate Radhastami in his village. He also asked that we do a few preaching programs in other parts of the town. Radhastami is made more special because it\u2019s \u2018The All India Padayatra\u2019s\u2019 birthday too! The p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 started in 1984 in Dwarka, on Radhastami by Lokanath Swami. Since then we have circumambulated India 5 times. Lokanath Swami wishes for this p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 to continue for thousands of years to come.<\/p>\n P\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 realizations <\/strong><\/p>\n While in Nileshwaram, we remembered p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101\u2019s 34 year history. Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar, the deities of p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 have left the comforts of the temple to walk with us in the hot sun and rain preaching the Holy names all over India. Every soul is waiting to meet the Lord and p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 is effectively delivering Him to them. Village to village, door to door on sa\u1e45k\u012brtana, Their Lordships give Their dar\u015bana to everyone. To commemorate the special day p\u0101da-y\u0101tris shared their realizations of being on p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 and how the Lord has helped and inspired them to keep on going.<\/p>\n Sahadev Dasa\u2019s wonderful dream<\/strong><\/p>\n Sahadev Dasa, who joined us from Russia shared his feelings about p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101. After serving with us for some time he had to leave because his visa had expired. Since leaving, every night he dreamt of p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 \u2013he dreamt he was walking and serving the bulls et cetera. Once, in a dream, all the p\u0101da-y\u0101tris went to his house. His mother, who is not very favorable to his devotional life, was to his surprise serving all the p\u0101da-y\u0101tris with all her heart; welcoming them, offering them pras\u0101dam and gifting everyone with clothes. Very soon afterwards, Sahadev Dasa was able to renew his visa and returned \u2018home\u2019 to his walking temple to serve Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. Sharing realizations such as these, with one another helps to inspire us.<\/p>\n Double benefits<\/strong><\/p>\n Later that day Rupa Raghunath Maharaj gave katha on the glories of Radharani. He explained that serving Radharani will take us to Krishna and that we get \u2018double benefit\u2019 because we are serving \u015ar\u012b Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu who is:<\/p>\n \u015br\u012b-k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a-caitanya r\u0101dh\u0101-k\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a nahe anya<\/em><\/p>\n Meaning that Vai\u1e63\u1e47avas consider \u015ar\u012b Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu non-different from R\u0101dh\u0101-K\u1e5b\u1e63\u1e47a. Maharaj continued: \u201c\u015ar\u012b Caitanya Mah\u0101prabhu has also come with bhava and complexion of Radharani. So definitely you all must be very dear to Radharani.\u201d Afterwards we all sang bhajans glorifying Radharani followed by \u0100rati and pras\u0101dam.<\/p>\n We stayed in Nileshwaram for one more day holding various preaching programs in different parts of the village. We left the day after that to our next destination. Caitanya Rasamrita Dasa walked with us for a few kilometers and before departing he invited us to visit his town again the next time we were in that area.<\/p>\n It is our 34th year on p\u0101da-y\u0101tr\u0101 and I would like to ask all of you to pray for us p\u0101da-y\u0101tris so we can continue to serve Guru and Gauranga eternally, without any obstacles.<\/p>\n Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar ki! Jai!<\/p>\n Srila Prabhupada ki! Jai<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All India Padayatra Book scores: August, 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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