The Maharashtra Padayatra reached the village of Aravade on February 24, 2021, a place worshipful for us padayatris as it\u2019s the birthplace of our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja. In a meeting I had recently with Gurudev he enquired about padayatra\u2019s route. I told him we\u2019d be heading to Sangli then Miraj and on to Pandharpur, and he then asked if padayatra would be going to Aravade. When I said that we had been there twice, Maharaja replied, \u201cGo to Aravade also.\u201d<\/p>\n
We were thinking of celebrating Nityananda Trayodasi somewhere in the Sangli district, but the Lord had His own plan. Lord Nityananda wanted to celebrate His birthday at Aravade and it was by Gurudev\u2019s order that we attended the event there. Nityananda is adi guru. Nityananda Ram is Lord Balarama Himself (balar\u0101ma hoilo nit\u0101i) and is akhanda guru tattva, the one who shows the devotee the path to spiritual advancement. Without His mercy one cannot even hope to attain Gauranga\u2019s lotus feet.<\/p>\n
We arrived at ISKCON Aravade\u2019s beautiful Radha-Gopal temple on the eve of Nityananda Trayodasi to find preparations for the festival were well under way. We parked our chariot in the temple courtyard so that devotees who came to the temple could first take darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. All the padayatris were then assigned to various appearance day services.<\/p>\n
On Nityananda Trayodasi our padayatra deities were beautifully decorated and the temple\u2019s Sri Sri Radha-Gopal were also dressed immaculately for the occasion. Fifty-six bhoga were offered to Radha-Gopal and Nitai-Gaurasundar and I was invited to perform the abhishek and lead the kirtan. About 200 devotees participated in the programme and honoured prasadam at the end.<\/p>\n
The next day was market day, so a lot of people from nearby villages were in Aravade. We performed a grand sankirtan in the central square where we were joined by several villagers. Sankirtan is not new for the local people as preaching programmes are organized by the temple in the village and surrounding areas. Because it\u2019s our Gurudev\u2019s birthplace, large festivals are held here and nagar sankirtan is an integral part of such events.<\/p>\n
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