by Vrajaloka devi dasi
Thursday July 25th to Sunday August 4th
To promote a cruelty free lifestyle, respect for Mother Earth and a sustainable future, padayatris will engage the Krishna Valley’s oxen and plant a tree in every town and village they will walk through.
This summer again we will launch our padayatra organised by the Hungarian devotees J As we did in previous years, our harinama group will visit the busiest holiday spots: cities and villages in Western Hungary around Lake Balaton and Lake Velencei.
We will visit more than 20 locations with the aim to share the message of Lord Caitanya with as many people as possible and distribute Srila Prabhupada’s transcendental books to as many people as possible.
Besides these goals, during this year’s pilgrimage, we would like to campaign for the urgent necessity of protecting our world by adopting a cruelty free lifestyle. We want to highlight that the prerequisite of these two goals is recognizing the importance of developing our spiritual consciousness.
These days scientists, civil activists and religious leaders all have pointed out that our modern society, which is based on overconsumption and exploitation, cannot be maintained on the long term, and that the world has reached a stage where a serious and profound change is inevitable. That’s why the motto of this year’s pilgrimage is ‘On the road for change’.
Consequently, for the first time this year, in conjunction with local civil organisations and young people, we will plant a tree in every city or village we will visit. By doing this we want to draw attention to our obligation to protect the world and its inhabitants and to the importance of living a cruelty free lifestyle. Local governments and representatives of the press have been invited to these tree planting events as well.
We want to practically demonstrate to people that living a simple life while cultivating high thinking, leading a cruelty free and conscious lifestyle and chanting the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra, represent an alternative which leads to a sustainable and happy life for everybody.
During the first few days our padayatra team will be accompanied by a bullock cart from our Krishna Valley farm community.
The core group consists of almost 30 devotees but during the weekend many more will be joining the pilgrimage, thus sometimes bringing the headcount to 50 – 60 people. Many parents will be bringing their children, which means that entire families will join us. For a few days the teachers and the students of the New Vraja Dhami gurukula will also join the padayatra group.
From July 26th to 28th Asita Krishna Svami will be with the group and inspire us with his marvellous morning lectures and his uplifting company.
The padayatris will stay in the primary schools of the small villages (this time of the year is summer school holiday), and they will depart from there each day.
There will be a live broadcast from several locations, which you’ll be able to view at these links :
https://www.facebook.com/groups/193784877990922/
https://www.facebook.com/padayatrahungary/ ( Locations and schedule also available on this site)
We kindly invite you and everybody who is interested. Join us, even only for a few hours or for a few days, take part in this pilgrimage or in the tree planting project.
Registration: https://forms.gle/8bngHb4nsVhiu9LH7
If you feel like supporting the mission of Lord Caitanya and the distribution of the maha mantra but unfortunately cannot participate in this special padayatra , you can still help by purchasing padayatra T-shirts or finance the purchasing of the trees we will plant;
For donations and purchasing T-shirts please visit: https://www.facebook.com/padayatrahungary/
https://www.facebook.com/govindaklub.hu/
Further information:
Somogyi Tibor (TrijúgaDász)
00-36-30/5024889
Somogyiné Simon Viola (Vradzsalóka Dévi Dászi)
00-36-20/550-5791
Yuga dharma harināma saṅkīrtana yajña ki jaya!
ŚrīlaPrabhupāda ki jaya!
Gaura-bhakta-vṛnda ki jaya!