By Ritudvipa Gaurachandra dasa (Uttar Pradesh Padayatra leader)
The Uttar Pradesh Padayatra celebrated Sri Radhastami Mahotsava 2023 at Mau, a city in the east of the state known for its saree industry, which is a traditional business and centuries old art of the people. Our padayatra was inaugurated on Radhastami in 2019, so at this year’s festival padayatra turned four years old.
The padayatris decorated the deity chariot with garlands and flowers and Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar were handsomely dressed. Almost 500 devotees from Mau and surrounding villages joined us for the auspicious day as we offered 150 bhoga to Their Lordships while everyone took part in kirtan, the devotees and congregation dancing to their hearts’ content.
Abhishek of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar was performed and all those devotees participating were blessed. We heard katha on the glories of Srimati Radharani as well as those of padayatra, and after maha arati prasadam was served to the assembled devotees.
It’s all the mercy of guru and Gauranga and the Vaishnavas that we have been able to carry on padayatra nonstop for four years, going to many villages, towns and cities. We walk for about 10km almost every day, sometimes stopping in a city for two nights to cover it by sankirtan. We celebrate all major festivals, that too in places where people don’t know about ISKCON, blissfully spreading the Lord’s holy name.
We do face difficulties, but the Lord takes care of us and the mercy and love of our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, keeps us going. His love for us is unending; he keeps inquiring about our well-being and making us realize how fortunate we are to be serving in Srila Prabhupada’s mission and authenticating Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prophecy.
We are eight padayatris walking and serving together. We have two pairs of oxen – Rama, Krishna, Gaura and Nitai – Maharaja gave these auspicious names to our oxen. Throughout the past four years we have covered almost all the districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Names of our padayatris:
Ritudvipa Gaurachandra Dasa
Asim Gaura Dasa
Manohar Madhav Dasa
Amarapati Dasa
Bhakta Ravi
Bhakta Narayana
Bhakta Subhash
Bhakta Kaushik
Achievements of padayatra:
Distance walked 9600km
Villages crossed 800
Villages stayed at 450
Pandal programmes 90
School programmes 30
Book score 2022:
Small books 9306
Medium books 76
Big books 524
Maha big books 3289
Total books distributed 13,195
Sets distributed:
Srimad-Bhagavatam 37
Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta 7
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta 4
We pray at the feet of all devotees to bless us so that we can continue to serve eternally.
Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar ki jai.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai.
