By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra leader
Padayatra reached Panipat in Haryana, almost 100km north of Delhi, on March 10, 2022, and remained there for four days. As the congregation devotees got the news that padayatra was coming to their town they arranged a big welcome for us and a grand sankirtan procession that displayed the glories of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar’s chariot as it moved through the streets. About 250 devotees joined us in nagar sankirtan and the occasion reminded us of ratha-yatra. The Panipat devotees also invited us to different areas of the city for house programmes, so our schedule was packed. Reports of the AIP’s visit were published in many local newspapers.
The devotees here have been organizing ratha-yatra for twelve years but they shared their realizations that taking part in Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar’s procession was wonderful and ecstatic. They also described the padayatris’ sankirtan as very powerful, their strength seeming to come directly from Their Lordships.
The local devotees would have liked us to celebrate Guara-purnima at Panipat but our schedule was decided: we would be celebrating the festival at Karnal. As we were leaving, the congregation devotees were crying. These past few days they were busy serving Their Lordships and now they could not bear the separation from Them.
A very special thing happened here in Haryana. A small calf has been following us since Panipat. Wherever we halt it stays back and wherever we honour our prasadam it sits there. The calf is not leaving the padayatra.
Our padayatri brother, Siddhanta dasa, who was in the AIP for twelve years completing one round of India with us, is from Haryana and his village is nearby. When he got the news that his former padayatra would be in his area he joined us again. As he is local, he did the advance party for us and supported us in many ways. All thanks to him for his generous help. He said, “I am remembering the old days when I was in padayatra and now I got the opportunity to serve Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar and the padayatris again.”
Srila Prabhupada, ki jai.
