By Manoj Barai
WANTING TO EXPERIENCE LIFE ON PADAYATRA
I had always talked to Acarya dasa, the All-India Padayatra leader, and had got information from him, but I had never personally experienced what it means to be a padayatri. I had a desire to stay with the padayatra for a day or two and live the life of a padayatri. Sitting at home, talking on the phone and reporting were all easy tasks, but I wanted to experience the actual walk with them. And I know that Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundara fulfil all desires.
Padayatra was passing through the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra during Kartika, after which Nitai-Gaurasundara returned from Vraja Mandala Parikrama and re-joined the party. On November 30 padayatra was set to reach Kalamb village in Yavatmal, renowned for its Sri Chintamani Ganesh temple (based on a name for Ganesh that emphasizes the belief that praying to him can remove all worries). Kalamb is only about 97km from our city Amravati, so that morning I headed for the village with my wife, Jayabhadra devi dasi, and my young son, Nimai. As we neared Kalamb, we were praying that if we could meet the ratha on the road we would join the padayatris and walk with them. And soon we saw the ratha, left our vehicle and ran towards it and paid obeisances to their Lordships.
Acarya was glad to see us. He welcomed us and immediately honoured us with maha garlands of their Lordships and caranamrta. Padayatra entering the village was a great spectacle. People were amazed to see the six majestic oxen with gigantic horns, especially our big ox Nanda kishore, walking on the road like a king.
WHEN THE CART ENTERS A VILLAGE
On the ratha Acarya was announcing padayatra’s arrival to the villagers and welcoming them to take darsana of Their Lordships, calling them on the left side of the ratha so they did not disturb the traffic and giving each one caranamrta. He was also asking them to do seva of ten rupees and in return giving them a small book about Lord Vitthala. Thus, rich and poor were coming and serving their Lordships.
A few padayatris were also walking with the ratha distributing Bhagavad-gitas and small books. It was surprising to see that just one announcement and darsana of Their Lordships were enough for the people to readily take a Bhagavad-gita. Soon we reached the Chintamani Ganesh temple. The head of the temple committee, Shambhau Kewate, welcomed the padayatris and gave accommodation to all. Acarya lifted the ratha from the necks of the oxen and told them to move aside in Marathi, and to my surprise the oxen bent their necks and moved away from the ratha, so well trained are they. Acarya then made an announcement that the padayatra would stay in the village for a day and invited everyone that evening for nagar sankirtan and Gaura-arati.
The padayatris then took bath and I was thinking they would follow that by resting, but to my surprise there was a lecture going on at 4pm describing the glories of the holy name. On Vraja Mandala Parikrama all the devotees sleep after walking and then directly go for prasadam and then the lecture, but here the padayatris had the lecture while the kitchen team were busy cooking, and by the end of the lecture at 5pm the prasadam was ready.
EVENING SANKIRTANA
After we had honoured prasadam the padayatris harnessed the oxen to the ratha and went into the village on nagar sankirtan. Srila Prabhupada’s books were displayed on the ratha so that people could easily see them, and as the ratha moved along people were coming forward and taking books and darsana. Acarya was calling out the names on the shops, like the Patil shop, “Oh Mr Patil, come and have darsana of the Lord.” Mr Patil, hearing his name, then ran towards the ratha. Another thing I liked was that Acarya would announce the name of a person who took a book so that others would be inspired.
After the sankirtan I again thought the padayatris would be resting, but I was shocked to see some of them chanting, reading or even talking about the next day’s lecture. They are always full of energy and do not ever seem tired. On Vraja Mandala Parikrama, I was climbing Kedarnath Hill slowly with my son in my arms and I was thinking, “Will I be able to climb these steps?” Suddenly one of our padayatris came running past us, had darsana of Lord Kedarnath and came running back down. I was surprised to see such enthusiasm, for by then I had barely managed to climb up the few steps.
After participating in the sankirtan and being impressed by the padayatra lifestyle, two village men praised the padayatris and admitted to feeling jealous about how padayatris enjoy their life every day, with a new destination full of adventure. One commented, “Oh friend, why did we get married? See these boys, what a wonderful life they are living, dancing, walking and going each day to a new place.” My wife also overheard one lady say to another, “Oh, this maharaja is so powerful. Lets go closer and have his darsana.” When they realized it was a deity of Srila Prabhupada they were surprised and said, “Maharaja gave us darsana, we are so fortunate.”
Throughout the day people were coming for darsana of Their Lordships and our oxen, surrounding them and commenting on their strength and their majestic horns. One boy said in fun, “Oh oxen, you are all so strong. Please give me your horns,” and everyone laughed. Radheshyam dasa and Raghuvira Prana dasa serve the oxen. They told me many stories, one of how one man was saying the horns of the oxen are artificial, put on for fame. Radheshyam said, “I tried to convince him that they are real, but he was not listening. I told him to go and check. As he moved near one ox, Nandu just moved his big horns and that man ran away realising the horns are real.” Many villagers were coming and giving fodder for the oxen with love, folding hands in front of them. Our oxen had become the talk of the village. One man was with the bulls for hours just looking at them and glorifying them.
EVERYONE WANTS TO TALK TO HIM
Sarathi Shyama dasa, from Russia as the name suggests, does the service of driving the cart of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundara. After the sankirtan and Gaura-puja, Acarya announced that the person driving the cart is a Russian who was so attracted to our culture and to devotional life that he left his country to come to India. He joined padayatra and is serving the Lord. He wears dhoti, kurta, applies tilak and keeps shikha. On the other hand, we Indians are forgetting our culture and taking up the western lifestyle. After Gaura-arati Acarya called Sarathi Shyama to sing Narasingh-arati. As he closed his eyes and started singing with love and devotion, everyone was amazed to hear him singing Sanskrit.
Hearing his voice, all those who were walking stopped and many of them came towards the cart. After arati a few boys came near Sarathi Shyama and started questioning him in English. He answered their questions and shared his realizations, how happy he is walking in padayatra and serving Their Lordships! He said, “Nothing gives you the inner peace as the name of Lord. That’s the best wealth you can have in your life.”
A man from the crowd came forward and wanted to say something. Acarya handed him the microphone. The man said, “It is wonderful to see this young Russian boy taking up Krishna consciousness, wearing dhoti and living a simple life, when our boys are wearing jeans and smoking. I pay my obeisances to this boy.”
SCHOOL PREACHING
Suryavanshi dasa and his team member daily go to schools in nearby villages, where they deliver lectures to the children and distribute Bhagavad-gita and small books. After Gaura-arati we were about to go to our accommodation when Suryavanshi came on his bike havi ng just finished school preaching. He said, “Let’s do some more announcements.” I said, “Why, what happened?” He replied,Prabhu, I took two boxes of Bhagavad-gita and only two are remaining. I want to distribute those. I was taken aback: after so much travelling, still he wanted to preach. He has made preaching his life and soul. He started showing Bhagavad-gita to people and saying, “Come forward. Become fortunate by taking this Gita. Fill your life with happiness.” And within two minutes two boys came forward, removed their shoes, came in front of Their Lordships and took the Bhagavad-gita. Acarya announced their names and prayed to the Lord for them.
The day’s book score was: Maha-big books 231; big books 16; small books 92; total 339.
LEAVING THE PADAYATRIS WITH HEAVY HEARTS
The next day most of the padayatris got up at 2am, took bath with cold water and started chanting. They had finished their sixteen rounds by mangala-arati, which was well attended by many local people. We chanted till 7am and then the padayatris quickly packed their luggage, and after thanking and gifting New Year calendars to the temple committee members and distributing caranamrta they headed for their next destination. The kitchen team stayed back to cook breakfast prasadam, to be taken by tractor to the farm of a villager who had invited the party and Their Lordships. The three of us then said goodbye to the padayatris and left Kalamb with heavy hearts, eager to meet them again in February when they come to Amravati.
