BLESSINGS FROM VRAJA DHAM –THE ALL INDIA PADAYATRA RESUMES THEIR HOLY WALK

By Acarya Dasa

A Feast for the Ears, Eyes and Tongue

Every year during the holy month of Katikka there is a parikramā (circumbulation) of Vraj Dhama. During the walk devotees visit the twelve forests where Lord Krishna performed His līlās (pastimes). This is an ideal activity in the month of Kartikka, because parikramā absorbs one in the pastimes of the Lord and the chanting of the Holy Names. Since the inception of this parikramā many of our pāda-yātris join along with our ustsava deities of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. This year a few pāda-yātris remained at ISKCON Mangalore to take care of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar, the pāda-yātrā cart and the bulls. The rest of us joined the Vraj Mandala parikramā on October 5^th.  This is a wonderful experience for us; we receive so much mercy from Srimati Radharani, Nitai Gaurasundar and our beloved Lokanath Swami as well as many other senior devotees. When we are on the streets of India on pāda-yātrā, we really do miss the association of sannyasis and senior devotees. But on Vraja Mandala it’s a feast for the ears, eyes and tongue. Every day the nectar flowed from the mouths of Vaishnavas who described the different līlās of Lord Krishna. Every day on Vraja Mandal Parikrama was a special day, but the most auspicious one was the Govardhan puja celebrations in Varsana Dhama.

An Opportunity to Serve

On pāda-yātrā we hardly get the opportunity to serve Vaishnavas, but parikramā gave us that chance to our hearts content. When the parikramā devotees return, tired after walking we serve them prasādam and offer them water. Only after everyone has honored prasādam do we honor prasādam. It is by the mercy of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar that we are used to walking in the hot sun everyday on pāda-yātrā, this helps us to better serve those attending the parikramā. There is a lot of pleasure in serving the devotees; even hard work is joyous as each pāda-yātri lifts 20 liter water bottles on our shoulders while serving.

Receiving Blessings

We were fortunate to meet Lokanath Swami, our beloved Gurudev, at Raval the last destination on parikramā. He asked about our wellbeing and gave us his blessings and spiritual strength to continue our Holy walk. We were all very happy and were filled with enthusiasm after seeing and speaking with him. Gurudev always inspires us with his instructions and love. Soon the parikramā was over; we collected all the mercy and with heavy hearts returned once again to our pāda-yātrā duties. We stopped at ISKCON Mangalore and continued on with the ‘All India Pāda-yātrā’ from there, on November 10^th 2017.

Please give us your blessings and well-wishes.

Jai Nitai Gaurasundar!

Jai Srila Prabhupada!

Jai Gurudev!

All India Padayatra Book Score from January to September 2017

Note: No book distribution took place in the month of October as pāda-yātris were on Vraj Mandal Parikramā.