By Manoj Barai
My family and I accompanied the All-India Padayatra to Chirodi, a village in Maharashtra’s Amravati district with a population of almost 2000. It is renowned for its Avadhuta Maharaja temple and its 24-hour akhanda bhajans. The padayatris would be staying at the temple guesthouse. It’s all through the causeless mercy of Srila Prabhupada that the inhabitants of such locales can have darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundara and the association of padayatris.
Having left the village of Manjarkheda we followed the padayatra for 20km, reaching Chirodi by 12pm on March 26. Sometimes padayatris are welcomed and sometimes there is no one to ask for water, but padayatris are always filled with enthusiasm – they don’t know what it is to be tired. Upon arriving at Chirodi they picked up their buckets, went for bath and then started preparing for that evening’s programme.
Kaunteya Sakha dasa, the kitchen in-charge, invited us for prasadam. He said, “Prabhu, today is my last day in kitchen seva. Tomorrow I will be a part of the book distribution team, so please come for prasadam.” I was happy to tell him, “I will surely come. I love to be with padayatris.” On padayatra the various services are allotted to each person for a specific time, so that all padayatris gain experience of every service. This makes each one an all-rounder.
In the company of my in-laws we made sure we were at the temple for the 5:30pm arati. It would be an opportunity to preach to my relatives, who for a long time have been following the Avadhuta Maharaja of Chirodi. When we arrived the padayatris had just finished their prasadam and were getting ready for the programme. AIP’s Acarya dasa decided to have Gaura arati in the temple courtyard, as in the evening many people come to the temple with their children. As the arati began the boys started coming near the rath and clapping. One of the padayatris held their hands and encouraged them to dance in the kirtan. The girls, however, were hesitant. My wife, Jayabhadra dasi, was calling them but they were obviously shy. Then kirtan showed its miracle, and as she started dancing a few girls joined her and eventually all the girls were dancing. It was quite a scene, boys dancing on one side and girls on the other. The girls actually danced and copied so nicely that Jayabhadra remarked that they were “dancing as if they knew all the steps.”
Prasadam was then distributed to the congregation. Acarya announced, “Please, just take a book for ten rupees.” I was surprised when some boys went home and returned with ten rupees. Ruparaghunath Maharaja signed the books and said, “New bhakta here … Haribol.” My brother in-law, Dinesh, also took a Bhagavad-gita from Maharaja. Chirodi – a small village, but it gave us a wonderful experience.
