By Murli Mohan Dasa
Devotee Devendra dasa recently conducted a one-day padayatra from Ghanerao village, about
16km north of Ranakpur, to Desuri village in Rajasthan. Ghanerao is a major tourist destination
due to the Ghanerao Royal Castle, but the village is special for Vaishnavas because it was the
childhood home of sixteenth-century poet and Bhakti movement saint Meera Bai, where she
worshipped Lord Krishna throughout her life.
Padayatra began at Meera Bai’s parents’ house, which has been converted into a lodging and is
adjacent to a small temple of Lord Krishna where Meera Bai worshipped Giridhari Gopal. The
padayatris then moved on to the Lord Narasimha temple, which houses the deity of Laxmi
Narayan and hosts a large fair every year on Sri Narasimha Chaturdasi. Padayatra then made for
Desuri’s main market about 5km away and from there to the Vrindavan hotel. About sixty people
attended padayatra all the way to our destination where a prasadam feast was served to all.
Desuri hotelier Sri Nandu Singh provided much assistance organizing the padayatra along with
several local sadhus and the mahant of the local Dwarkadhish temple. Mr Singh is a very good
devotee and very supportive. All India Padayatra leader Acarya dasa met him when padayatra
reached this place a year ago and Mr Singh became inspired by the padayatris and their
preaching mood.
It was about then that Devendra started preaching and conducting one-day padayatras in nearby
villages. I always attend the padayatras and other programmes to personally guide them.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
