By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra leader
The All-India padayatris spent the month of Kartika on Vraja-mandala parikrama with the utsava deities of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. Our chariot remained parked in ISKCON Vrindavan’s Krishna-Balaram temple courtyard where padayatra’s deities, Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar, were served by two padayatris, Mayapurvasi dasa and Asim Gaura dasa. Our god-brother, Sadashiv dasa, who served in padayatra for eight years, also came daily to offer tulsi manjaris at Their Lordships’ lotus feet.
After completing parikrama we all went for darshan of Sri Sri Krishna-Balaram and our beloved Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. Our senior god-brother, Sanak Sanatana dasa, who served as All-India Padayatra leader for ten years, is now ISKCON Vrindavan temple vice-president and also manages ISKCON’s goshala. Sanak Sanatana would come every day for darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. He insisted we stay in Vrindavan under the shelter of Sri Sri Krishna-Balaram and to allow the Brajavasis to have darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. When I mentioned that it was marathon time he replied, “Padayatris have marathon the whole year.”
Our chariot had needed repairing for a long time and Sanak Sanatana ensured that was done. He also got the tractor and trolly repaired so that we would not have any problem later on and arranged for our stay in the temple and our prasadam. We were due to leave Vrindavan at the beginning of December but Sanak Sanatana and other devotees would not allow us to leave. My left hand had been injured a few months earlier and I couldn’t lift it, so Sanak Sanatana prabhu took me to an orthopaedic specialist and now it’s healed. I felt all of this was our Lordships’ arrangement, for we hardly stay anywhere for such a long time. Our chariot got repaired and my hand also, both ready to serve Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar.
Sanak Sanatana shared with us his realization of padayatra when he said, “Their Lordships arrange everything. We just have to surrender and pray to Them. These deities are very special, the most travelled deities of the world, so please serve Them nicely.”
How is it possible that every day a place is arranged and prasad is arranged? Every single thing is arranged directly by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and by the blessing of our travelling Srila Prabhupada. And we always have to remember that Srila Prabhupada’s last wish was to travel on a bullock cart to visit the holy places.
Srila Prabhupada, ki jai.
We left Vrindavan on December 20 having stayed for almost one month. ISKCON Vrindavan’s Pancha Gauda dasa joined us and performed sankirtan on the day of our departure. We all thanked him and Sanak Sanatana for their help. We also thanked the matajis who were making daily garlands for our Lordships. They too were saying, “Stay back. It’s very cold. Don’t move ahead,” but Padayatra India needed to move on.
We headed north from Vrindavan to Chaumuha, where Brahma had come to ask forgiveness of Lord Krishna, and then on to Chhata. It’s very cold now and as we make our way further north to Kosi Kalan, Faridabad, Mahendragarh and Kurukshetra it will only get colder. Sometimes we find a school to stay at but occasionally we have to sleep in the open in this unbearable cold. Early one morning when I opened a door a breeze rushed in that was so cold, I could not move and had to sit down but thought that unless we accept these austerities, we will not receive the mercy of Lord Krishna so I got up and began serving. Sometimes water is unavailable and we have to draw it from a well while tolerating the cold, but by the mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga all goes well.
All glories to Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar.
