by Muni Priya Dasa
Getting congregation members to sponsor books
The story of this year’s Czech Padayatra began in autumn 2015 when we were thinking how to best celebrate the 50th anniversary of ISKCON and how to please Srila Prabhupada. Our first beacon was Lokanath Maharaja’s appeal to organize at least 50 padayatras around the world. This was our first “DOUBLE IT” moment – to double the number of padayatras in Central Europe. This year we managed to again have a padayatra in Czech Republic and also to inspire our brothers and sisters in neighboring Slovakia to revive the tradition of Slovakian Padayatra and hit the road too.
Another answer to the question, “How to please Srila Prabhupada?”, concerned the number of books distributed. This was our second “DOUBLE IT” moment! In 2015 we distributed 2000 books in two weeks, so this year it meant that at least 4000 books must go out. It sounded crazy but we immediately made the decision public and started to take practical steps. We first extended the duration of the walk by one week and made sure we had enough books in advance. But our greatest efforts went to obtaining a sufficient number of experienced book distributors as well as new ones. We also wanted to distribute 50 small sets of Srimad-bhagavatam, therefore we made an offer to the congregation: they could donate for any amount of books which we would then distribute in their name. Overall we got sponsors for 1382 books.
Padayatra: too hot to drink but too sweet to resist
Padayatra itself was like a hot sugarcane syrup: so hot it was nearly impossible to drink it, but so sweet that most of us were very eager to drink it again and again for the whole three weeks. To cool us a little bit, Krishna sent us a few cloudbursts. The worst one was so strong that the wind started to push our cart although it was stationary. Soaked by continuous torrents of rain we had to put a big ladder under the wheels to stop the cart from moving. Frequent evening rains affected attendance of our cultural programs, but since this year we had bet on intense Facebook advertisement and bought two spacious folding tents, we still had an attendance of at least 60 to 100 people, even during the rain. It may not look like much but Czech towns and villages are like ghost towns during summer. It often happens you meet only two or three people outside during the day.
Compared to last year, the gross number of visitors increased by 50%, from 1200 to 1800: we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of ISKCON, aren’t we? We distributed several hundred plates of tasty prasadam consisting of potato pakora, cucumber raita and fresh cherry tomatoes, and hundreds of bananas flew off into people’s hands. During surveys and competitions, we gave more than 200 prizes to happy winners. These prizes were mainly Srila Prabhupada’s books, but kids could also choose toy cows, pictures of Srila Prabhupada and Krishna, and the first three winners got maha garlands.
Sankirtana madness unleashed on padayatra to reach the goal of 5000 books
And how did it go with our book quota? At the beginning it was hopeless. Every day we were behind our quota, but Krishna appreciated our determination and the long preparations we had made, and gradually we boiled up to a right working temperature – around 108 degrees Celsius. We had several strategic meetings preceding padayatra and daily “war councils” during the whole walk. The most important thing was that we managed to secure the participation of a heavy cavalry sankirtana unit from the Prague temple (Czech Republic being a small country, this “heavy cavalry” consisted of three brahmacaris in a sankirtan van ). Our own padayatra sankirtana party was also running full speed during all three weeks and occasionally we were joined by other sankirtana warriors from Czech Republic and Slovakia. Gradually we got to the right rhythm and the goal of 4000 books was becoming a reality. Sankirtana devotees were distributing on and on, everywhere and to everybody. All other services were managed in such a way that book distributors would have maximum support and ideal conditions for their sadhana and distribution service.
After two weeks it was clear that we would be able to distribute 4000 books and the hope started to arise that we could reach the 5000 book target. 50th anniversary and 5000 books go nicely together, don’t they? That’s what we thought, and it unleashed a veritable sankirtana madness on padayatra. What was the result? By the end of the walk we had distributed 5141 Srila Prabhupada’s books, which is one and a half times more than what we did last year.
Fantastic programs organized in the aftermath of padayatra
During this padayatra Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar revealed Their sweet hidden plan and us padayatris, although sweetly tired and exhausted, celebrated Their wonderful victory in ecstasy. The nectar continued even after padayatra had ended. As we did last year during evening programs, we had also collected questionnaires with contact information of people who had serious interest in our future programs and events. Once padayatra was over we started sending them a small internet magazine called “Peace and health” which contains information on practical topics such as relationships, work, and health. It also contained an invitation to a program that we had arranged in the towns through which we walked. Only two months after the end of the summer padayatra we have already organized altogether nine successful programs (lectures, concerts and cooking courses), and we are now preparing more lectures for a high school. Sometimes we have even three programs during a week in different towns. In one of these towns we launched Saturday feasts two times a month and we even got a personal support from several members of the city council. The mercy of Lord Gauranga and Nityananda is limitless and a few drops also fell on our unqualified heads. We beg all of you, dear Vaisnavas reading this report, for your blessings to be able to continue this ecstatic preaching program year after year.
The motto for our 2017 Padayatra: DOUBLE IT!
Like last autumn we are now already preparing our 2017 Padayatra. Guess what is our goal? “DOUBLE IT!” We beg your blessings to distribute at least 10 000 of Srila Prabhupada’s books. So far we organized a two-day sankirtana seminar which was attended by 50 devotees. The result? Several devotees decided to prolong their participation in Prabhupada’s Christmas marathon, others set higher quotas for themselves, some decided to begin distributing occasionally and one devotee decided to distribute full-time.
Dear padayatris brothers and sisters, what about you? Will you leave us alone? Join us! The year 2017 is coming soon and the 51st anniversary of ISKCON will never happen again. DOUBLE IT! Double at least something: the duration of padayatra, the number of devotees participating and, if it’s possible, the number of books you distributed in 2016. Because the world has gone mad, it is getting increasingly more and more crazy, and every man and woman today needs Srila Prabhupada and his books!
