By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra leader
Since the Covid-19 lockdown the All-India padayatris have been staying in the town of Mahuva in the Bhavnagar District of Gujarat. Initially we stayed in the shade of an onion factory that gave off a foul odour, and with no walls around us there was dust everywhere from the wind. No-one was providing us accommodation due to the pandemic and also that we have with us a foreign devotee, Bhakta Michael. After fifteen days we shifted to the Jnana Manjari vidyapitha school, with the help of school proprietor Manish Bhai. It is now four months that we have been at the school. Local people are favourable and there are devotees in Mahuva who have been helpful from time to time. Manish Bhai has also supported us and provided whatever we needed without delay.
Janmastami
Our day started with mangala-arati and sankirtan. Throughout the day about 100 people came for darshan of Their Lordships. In our previous visit to Gujarat the AIP stopped at the village of Dongar, the home of former Vidyavalabhanagar temple commander Braja Mohan dasa, where some people took chanting beads from us and started chanting. Now they are disciples of Gopal Krishna Goswami Maharaja and many of them were pleased to come to Mahuva for darshan and join us in the festivities. The congregation devotees in and around Mahuva also had a desire to attend Janmastami and perform abhishek, but due to the current physical-distancing regulations Manish Bhai said, “If the government authorities get the news, they will not give us permission for celebrating Janmastami.” He therefore advised congregation devotees to come for darshan but not to attend the celebration. In Mahuva there are about thirty devotees regularly chanting sixteen rounds who also joined us.
Throughout the day we all performed sankirtan and attended our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja’s online class. Manish Bhai brought more than thirty bhogas made of pure cow milk. At 10pm abhishek was done of our Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar and also a devotee’s Gopalji deity brought especially for the occasion. A swing was made for Gopalji and after abhishek He was nicely dressed and put into the swing and everyone gave him zhula. As part of the celebration we also had a dahi handi festival. A pot filled with makhan and curd was tied at the top and the 12-year-old son of a devotee broke the pot. Everyone enjoyed the event. Then we all sang nanda ke ananda bhayo jai kanahiya lal ki followed by sankirtan. One hundred and eight bhogas were then offered to Their Lordships as well as a cake brought by Manish Bhai. The cake was very beautiful as it was in the shape of a pot from which makhan was overflowing. The cake cutting was performed for the pleasure of the Lord followed by maha-prasad distribution. It was 2.30am by the time the programme was completed.
Srila Prabhupada’s appearance day
We celebrated Srila Prabhupada avirbhava the next day. We got up early and performed mangala-arati. We had invited the local devotees for the anniversary celebration as they could not attend Janmastami with us. Srila Prabhupada plays a very important role in the life of a devotee and we can’t think of life without his presence and mercy. It is all because of him that we padayatris have our existence. He ordered our spiritual master to start padayatra and thus we got our services in padayatra. Prabhupada is always with us day and night on the cart. Before having darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar people have darshan of Srila Prabhupada and they are always amazed, often asking us, “Doesn’t this Maharaja talk with us?” Some have a realization that Prabhupada tells them to buy books and start chanting. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. All the devotees glorified Srila Prabhupada and also took different resolutions for his pleasure. In fact, we celebrated avirbhava for two days, as devotees were glorifying Srila Prabhupada for that long. Then we performed pushpa-abhishek of Srila Prabhupada. After that we also thanked Manish Bhai for his help throughout the lockdown. I offered him a prasadi garland of Their Lordships. He had also donated dhoti chadar to all the padayatris and sponsored the Janmastami celebration. Then we all had maha-prasad together.
The next day we called all the school staff for prasadam and darshan of Their Lordships. All of them were very much impressed by the darshan and we also had a small katha for them. Mahendra Bhai, who daily brings 10lt of milk and flowers for Their Lordships, had also sponsored prasadam for us. He had tested positive for the corona virus and was admitted to hospital. As we got the news, we all prayed for him and after fourteen days he had recovered. Then he came for darshan and was very pleased with Their Lordships and also thanked us for praying for him. Thus, we celebrated Janamstami. Even in the throes of a pandemic we were all enthusiastic and participated in the celebration with all our hearts.
