{"id":7833,"date":"2021-09-27T12:39:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T07:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/?p=7833"},"modified":"2021-09-27T12:39:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T07:09:54","slug":"pola-festival-celebrated-at-bardoli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.padayatra.com\/padayatra-new\/pola-festival-celebrated-at-bardoli\/","title":{"rendered":"Pola festival celebrated at Bardoli"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Damodarlila dasa, Maharashtra Padayatra leader<\/strong><\/p>\n

On September 5 the padayatris arrived at Bardoli to a rousing welcome from residents. The village leaders had earlier kindly arranged for our accommodation in a nearby Hari temple. That evening we had a grand nagar sankirtan and although it was raining people joined in and danced with us.<\/p>\n

The next day was Pola, a thanksgiving festival celebrated on a large scale by farmers in Maharashtra to acknowledge the\u00a0importance of bulls and oxen \u2013 a crucial part of agricultural activities and the farming community \u2013 where the washing of bulls and colouring of their horns takes place.<\/p>\n

The villagers asked that our oxen be part of the celebration and I readily agreed as I thought perhaps the villagers would develop a connection with the oxen. These oxen are not just any animal. Our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, says: \u201cThey are very fortunate as they are serving Their Lordships in animal life also.\u201d The oxen carry Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar\u2019s chariot on their shoulders and because they have such a service attitude, they\u2019re always ready to contribute. In fact, when we couldn\u2019t walk due to the pandemic, they were sad because their routine was disturbed.<\/p>\n

We decorated the oxen and their horns with colours and tied bells around their necks. The Pola festival was situated on a large paddock where the village oxen had been gathered to be worshipped by the farmers, who are grateful for their assistance in maintaining their livelihood. All the oxen\u2019s hooves were washed, kumkum tilak was put on them and Marathi puran poli, a kind of sweet dish, was offered to them.<\/p>\n

We have two oxen, Nandi and Garuda, who we love very much. They are special souls. Normally oxen are worshipped only on Pola, but our oxen are worshipped every day as a gift to them for the service rendered by them to Their Lordships. We take care of them and\u00a0serve them and our padayatra is dependent on them.<\/p>\n

All glories to our four-legged padayatris.<\/p>\n