{"id":4663,"date":"2018-03-14T16:45:15","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T11:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/?p=4663"},"modified":"2018-03-16T16:02:26","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T10:32:26","slug":"south-africa-iskcon-lenasia-participates-9-km-26th-shivratri-walk-organised-hindu-co-ordinating-council-johannesburg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/south-africa-iskcon-lenasia-participates-9-km-26th-shivratri-walk-organised-hindu-co-ordinating-council-johannesburg\/","title":{"rendered":"SOUTH AFRICA: ISKCON LENASIA PARTICIPATES IN THE 9 KM 26th SHIVRATRI WALK ORGANISED BY THE HINDU CO-ORDINATING COUNCIL OF JOHANNESBURG"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Padmanabha\u00a0Dasa<\/span><\/p>\n

Invitation<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Kishore Badal,\u00a0 chairman\u00a0 of the\u00a0 Hindu Coordinating Council \u00a0(HCC) of Gauteng , South Africa, forwarded\u00a0 an\u00a0 invitation\u00a0 to\u00a0 ISKCON to participate\u00a0 in their\u00a0 26th<\/sup> Shivratri\u00a0 Walk. Various\u00a0temples\u00a0in Johannesburg were also invited to participate\u00a0in the\u00a0walk\u00a0with\u00a0various floats\u00a0to\u00a0honor\u00a0Lord Shiva, the topmost Vaishnava. The organizers had also asked the ISKCON devotees to provide the lunch\u00a0for\u00a0the\u00a0public\u00a0and all\u00a0the walkers. Caitanya\u00a0Dasa, temple\u00a0president\u00a0of ISKCON Lenasia,\u00a0welcomed\u00a0the\u00a0invitation\u00a0and immediately gave approval\u00a0and\u00a0funding.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Preparations<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Right away devotees in the ISKCON camp engaged in frantic\u00a0preparations\u00a0to\u00a0make\u00a0this\u00a0event successful.\u00a0Syama\u00a0Rupa\u00a0Dasa and Padmavati Dasi provided over 300 packets of prasadam caramel nuts, all packed by\u00a0Bhaktin Narishka. Nareshwar\u00a0Prabhu\u00a0volunteered\u00a0to cook 3 containers of biryani\u00a0and 1 of dahl.\u00a0 Adhar\u00a0Mataji\u00a0collected\u00a0BTGs and books to\u00a0be\u00a0 distributed free of charge\u00a0\u00a0 to the public, and\u00a0 Manoj Prabhu\u00a0 coordinated the Kirtan team.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

The event<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Sunday\u00a0 February 11th\u00a0 2018 25\u00a0 devotees\u00a0\u00a0 assembled\u00a0 at the Jayas temple in Falcon street, in the South of \u00a0Lenasia to join the HCC and 8 other\u00a0 temples with their\u00a0 floats\u00a0 honoring Lord Shiva,
\nRatheem\u00a0 Krishna\u00a0 Prabhu\u00a0 started Kirtan with the pranam mantras\u00a0 and continued the whole time with the maha mantra. Our\u00a0sankirtana\u00a0party\u00a0danced and chanted\u00a0enthusiastically\u00a0along the way. Many\u00a0people\u00a0came out of their homes\u00a0to\u00a0take an audio darsana\u00a0of the holy name; most of them had never heard it before.\u00a0 On either side of the\u00a0road teams\u00a0of devotees\u00a0were distributing prasadam and\u00a0Srila\u00a0Prabhupada\u2019s books.\u00a0The Johannesburg Police Department and some volunteer marshals escorted the walkers\u00a0during the procession. We stopped at\u00a0nine\u00a0different\u00a0temples\u00a0where\u00a0arati was performed\u00a0to the Lord Shiva Deities on the floats.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u00a0took us\u00a05\u00a0hrs\u00a0to complete the walk. It was awesome to distribute the holy names, prasadam
\nand books to\u00a0people. I\u00a0 am sure\u00a0 Srila\u00a0 Prabhupada\u00a0 and Lord Caitanya\u00a0 were pleased\u00a0 with the efforts\u00a0 put\u00a0 by their\u00a0\u00a0 grand\u00a0 disciples\u00a0 – especially\u00a0 because it was the auspicious\u00a0 day of Vijaya
\nEkadashi. The procession stopped at the\u00a0Sai temple in Kingfisher Street\u00a0where devotees sang the\u00a0Nrsimhadeva\u00a0prayers to\u00a0conclude\u00a0the walk. Nareshwar\u00a0Prabhu and his\u00a0team were very busy distributing biryani and dhal to the public. We\u00a0then\u00a0danced\u00a0and walked\u00a0another\u00a0500\u00a0meters to Syama Govinda\u2019s\u00a0house, where we honored\u00a0a delicious Ekadashi\u00a0prasadam.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n