By Acarya dasa (Padayatra leader)
The All India Padayatra was inaugurated in 1984 at Dwaraka and has continued nonstop since then by the mercy of Guru and Gauranga: on Radhasatami this year padayatra will have completed forty years of its preaching journey.
On March 9, 2024, padayatra returned to Mayapur dham after ten years to be warmly received by the Mayapur devotees and our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja. So many devotees were assembled to have darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar: we were greeted at the entrance of Mayapur by the Nama-hatta devotees and each one of us was offered a garland, then after some time we were welcomed by our God-brothers and God-sisters and the Mayapur dham congregation devotees, all of whom performed arati of Their Lordships.
Walking ahead we were welcomed at the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium followed by the Sri Pancha-tattva temple devotees at the temple gate. The devotees were very happy to have the Lord of Mayapur in Mayapur dham. All the devotees then had darshan of our spiritual master after which Maharaja took the utsava deities on his head and everyone entered the temple and had darshan of Sri Pancha-tattva and Sri Sri Radha Madhav and Their Asta-sakhis.
Meanwhile Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar were having Their own darshan. I always had a desire that Their Lordships should be here during kirtan mela and that Gurudev should carry Them on his head, and on this day my dream came true after the kirtan mela started in the temple. It was like Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar inaugurated the kirtan mela. Haribol!
It was wonderful to be in Mayapur dham, the land of sankirtan, with the fathers of sankirtan our Nitai-Gaurasundar ki jai. All the devotees in and around Mayapur came to have darshan of the most-travelled Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar and the devotees’ children were overjoyed to see our majestic padayatra oxen.
This year is very special. Every year in Vraja-mandala Parikrama padayatra’s Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar are the presiding deities, but this year Their Lordships also led the Hindi group Navadvip-mandala Parikrama. It was a wonderful experience having yatra of the places where Their Lordships performed Their pastimes. We prayed to Lord Narsimha to bless us so that no obstacles come in our preaching mission. Let us always serve and please Guru and Gauranga.
Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar ki jai.
Srila Prabhupada ki jai.
