By Acarya Dasa
Divine intervention
On July 25th our party reached the town of Koiladi, home to a large Annapurna temple. As we approached the town we heard that many people go to this temple, so we decided to go there and do saṅkīrtana. After saṅkīrtana we all began to distribute books when suddenly a man appeared and started to shout, “Hey you cannot distribute books here!” We continued to stay in the area which angered the man even more, so much so, he wanted to beat us. He was just about to attack one of our pāda-yātris when a young boy stopped him. The boy grabbed him tightly and dragged him away. After the incident, Sahadev Dasa from Russia led kīrtana while we started distributing books again. I began to think, “Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu would never allow anyone to disturb His mission.” Whenever we have obstacles on pāda-yātrā the Lord intervenes; it is incidents such as this that makes us more dependent on Him.
We later met with the Annapurna temple committee when the members came to take darśana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. Afterwards they asked us to come take darśana at the temple and before parting they purchased some books from us. They were happy when they heard that we walk all over India preaching the Lord’s message and distributing books. That day we distributed 612 books by the mercy of Guru and Gauranga.
A pious son
Once we travelled to a Kalyanamandapa (a hall or pavilion for public rituals) where we were hoping to get accommodation for the day. We met with the owner who said that we would have to pay 5000/- Rs to stay there. Then we met his son who welcomed us when he saw us dressed in dhoti and tilak. I explained that we could not afford to pay so much for accommodation because we are walking preachers. His son was a pious man and said he would not charge us to stay there but his father would never agree. So, he took 5000/ Rs from his own pocket and said, “Here use this to pay to him.” We did. After paying, we brought the tractor and the bulls closer to the hall when suddenly we heard the owner shouting, “Hey! Don’t bring them here you’re bringing mud and dirt all over.” I said nothing and just waited there.
This man did not like sadhus and his only aim in life was earning money, but when he approached our cart and saw our Lordships his heart melted. Some of his friends were around and they told him that we are sadhus walking all over India spreading the Holy Names. They also explained how learned all the pāda-yātris are and that we are dedicating our lives to the service of the Lord. He listened and looked at the Lord as they spoke. The next morning when we were about to leave, he came up to me, returned the 5000/- Rs, gave us a donation of 1000/-Rs and took books from us.
Jai Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar ki! Jai!
