By Dhirnayak Dasa, Bengal-Orissa Padayatra leader
The inauguration of the Bengal-Orissa Padayatra was an offering to Srila Prabhupada on his 125th appearance day anniversary. It took place in September 2021 on the auspicious day of Radhastami and was also a part of the World Holy Name Week celebration. Sankirtan is the heart of padayatra; we padayatris do not move an inch without sankirtan. Padayatra in the true sense is spreading the glory of the holy name. The whole year, in fact each day, is a celebration for us.
New place, new people, new adventures are always waiting for us. On Radhastami we performed sankirtan in Mayapur itself and the next day we headed towards the Rajapur Jagannath temple joined by many temple and congregation devotees. We had kirtan explosions at many places. Mayapur is a sankirtan land, so people happily joined and danced with us.
We started from the Mayapur Chandrodaya mandir and moved ahead to Ganga nagar performing sankirtan. Our journey through the remainder of September 2021:
September 14 Sridham Mayapur, which is part of Antardvipa. We celebrated Radhastami there asking Radharani to bless all of us to carry our service of padayatra perfectly.
September 15 Rajapur Jagannath temple, Simantadvipa.
September 16 Krishna nagar.
September 17 Narasimhapalli. Lord Narasimha came here and washed his hands after killing Hiranakashipu. Mandakini River, Godrumdvipa.
September 18 Bhaluka, Godrumdvipa.
September 19 Mohisura, Koladvipa.
September 20 Samudragarh, Samudrasen Raja, Ritudvipa.
September 21 Nadaigaon.
September 22 Dhatrigaon.
September 23 Nakula Brahmachari Sripath, Ambika Kalna.
Wherever we went people joined sankirtan, enthusiastically welcoming Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar to their villages and towns. It was a great fortune to have Their Lordships in their villages.
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