By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra leader
The All-India Padayatra arrived at Yamunanagar in northeast Haryana on April 24, 2022. The city has an ISKCON centre where one of our padayatra brothers, Raghuvira Prana dasa who was with the AIP for some years, now serves. He was very pleased to have darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar and the padayatris after such a long time and he made all arrangements for our stay.
The next day Raghuvira Prana drove us 40km north for darshan of Adi Badri. Often related to the Sarasvati River and also known as Sri Sarasvati Udgam Tirath, Adi Badri is one of the most ancient Vedic religious places in Haryana, a tourist site of archaeological, religious and ecological significance in a forest area of the Sivalik Hills. A wonderful place with mountains all around, it is the ancient abode of Lord Badrinath and the source of the Sarasvati, which although having lost most of its water is revered in the Vedas as the giver of wealth, prosperity and fertility. It is believed the river dried up due to a curse from the sage Utathya. The Vedas also celebrate Sarasvati as a goddess, the Goddess of Speech, the power of expressing knowledge.
Adi Badri literally translates as Ancient Badri. According to legend, Lord Vishnu resided at this holy place during the Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga and Dwarpa-yuga before moving to Uttaranchal during Kali-yuga, and the Pandavas stayed at Adi Badri during the last year of their exile.
We all had darshan of Adi Badri and prayed to give us strength so that we could continue our journey to char dhama.
The next day we moved towards Haridwar.
