By Abhiram Thakur dasa, ISKCON Aravade president
The Aravade to Pandharpur Dindi Padayatra was started in 2002 by ISKCON Aravade under the guidance and inspiration of our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja. Every year this dindi walks from Aravade to Pandharpur in the month of Chaitra and has now completed twenty years. In the early days, only thirty to forty devotees would join, but in the past few years, the number of devotees has been steadily increasing.
Day 1: April 5, 2022
The padayatris assembled at Aravade’s Sri Sri Radha-Gopal temple in the early morning. We took Their Lordships’ blessings and at 6 am the dindi began with swasti vachan by the gurukul students followed by the Aravade devotees’ sankirtan to increase our enthusiasm as we departed on our journey to Pandharpur dhama.
For the first time in the history of dindi there were about 250 devotees walking. Our first stop was at Wafale village. Dindi stops here every year and as we arrived the sarpanch was on hand to greet us. We performed sankirtan in the village and Nayan Utsav dasa gave a talk on the pilgrimage of Vidura, who did this walk himself thus proving the importance of padayatra. After the class about 400 villagers joined us honouring prasadam.
We continued walking and by 6 pm reached Karanje village where we were to be accommodated. The villagers welcomed us with their beautiful abhangas of Saint Tukaram which was followed by our evening programme of Gaura arati and a class on Saint Namdev by Audarya Gaur dasa. The local people had cooked for us and about 350 devotees and villagers honoured prasadam.
Day 2: April 6, 2022
After the morning programme we moved ahead with another fifty devotees having joined us. Haribol! As we were leaving Karanje the villagers had tears in their eyes. One of them said, “You all reminded us of Lord Panduranga and dindi.” They accompanied us as far as the village outskirts and after walking for 12km our party then arrived at Ghumivadi village. Like on day one after the nagar sankirtan at Wafale a class was given, this time by Svayamrupa dasa on the importance of saints. Next was afternoon prasadam and then we all went out and distributed seventy of Srila Prabhupada’s books. Srila Prabhupada, ki jai.
At 4 pm 300 of us left Karanje to reach Karghani village by evening where we stayed at a Sri Ram temple. The devotees and villagers gathered at 6:30 pm for Gaur arati and sankirtan after which came a class by Radha Gopal dasa about Saint Sakhubai. It was also Sri Ramanujacharya’s appearance day so a drama was performed by our devotees on the life of Lord Ram. Maha prasadam was distributed to 600 people.
Day 3: April 7, 2022
Dindi began at 6 am as twenty-five more devotees joined us. Today would be a special day because our most-beloved Gurudev, Lokanath Maharaja, was going to visit dindi. Sankirtan and book distribution were going on powerfully and before we stopped for guru puja and breakfast prasadam we had distributed about 100 books. With Srila Gurudev’s arrival imminent, I gave a small talk on the importance of guru in our life and also spoke about Maharaja’s spiritual journey and his love and faith for his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. Words fall short and time flies as we glorify Srila Gurudev.
We were now dying to have darshan of Maharaja and simply rushed to the next village, Tadwale, chanting and dancing happily. Gurudev arrived at 10am and as we had darshan we were filled with great energy and spiritual bliss. With everyone chanting and dancing Maharaja was pleased to see the devotees’ enthusiasm as he walked and sang with us. We then came to a large hall where Maharaja performed arati of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. The villagers were mesmerized as Maharaja sang a melodious kirtan and about 450 devotees danced ecstatically while glorifying the Lord. After the kirtan, Gurudev guided the devotees on how they should follow Vaishnava etiquette and the four regulative principles. He explained that dindi was started by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and we have all participated in this movement. We should keep in mind that Mahaprabhu Himself is taking us along the same path He travelled towards Pandharpur dhama, passing through Aravade and many other villages. As he talked it seemed as Mahaprabhu was speaking through Gurudev’s lotus mouth. Tears of joy were flowing from the eyes of some devotees as Gurudev blessed the congregation. Delighted by Maharaja’s vision and guidance, some devotees shared their experiences of dindi. About 550 people honoured maha prasadam.
We left Tadwale at 4 pm, walking the 12km to Atpadi village where we would spend the night by about 7 pm (although such is the mercy of our spiritual master that we seemed to cover the distance in fifteen minutes). That evening many locals participated in our nagar sankirtan as the padayatris distributed about ninety books. I gave a talk on Saint Namdev as well as the life stories of some other saints, and Nitaipada dasa and other devotees performed a drama about the miscreants Jagai and Madhai that conveyed the message that Mahaprabhu is so gracious He bestows grace on the wicked. The play entertained the devotees and enlivened their Krishna consciousness. The programme ended with about 700 people honouring maha prasadam. Our blissful day in Maharaja’s company was thus one to remember.
Day 4: April 8, 2022
Dindi left Atpadi at 5:30 am to walk to Deghanchi village where a kirtan mela had been organized by devotees. Gaur Nitai dasa participated in the mela which went on for two hours and the devotees distributed more than 150 books. We stayed at Atpadi till noon then continued walking for about 5km to Umbergaon village where we would stay overnight. The villagers warmly welcomed dindi and about forty books were distributed. In the evening Gaur Nitai gave class on Krishna consciousness followed by another kirtan at the villagers’ request. After this Limaye mataji, who was walking with us, and her group performed a play on the pastime of Saints Sakhubai and Janabai. The villagers also organized maha prasadam for all of us: paneer, puri, chapati, rice, two types of vegetables, and kheer were prepared among other delicacies.
Day 5: April 9, 2022
After mangal arati we left Umbargaon heading for Chikmuhud village. We were a little tired as it was a hot summer day, but due to Atma Nivedana dasa’s ecstatic kirtan we all felt energized and soon reached Muhud having distributed 150 books along the way. The villagers extended a warm and gracious welcome to us. The next day would be Ramnavami and they had decorated the roads and houses with beautiful rangolis and colourful puspa-toran and had put up banners and huge boards welcoming dindi. At Mukund Murari dasa’s house we did Gaur arati and about 700 devotees heard Ram Darbar dasa’s class on Lord Ram and honoured prasadam.
Day 6: April 10, 2022 – Appearance Day of Sri Ramchandra
After mangal arati all of us attended a Srila Gurudev Zoom japa session and at 8:30am went on nagar sankirtan. The Muhud villagers had decorated Sita-Ram’s palanquin (Palkhi) and small Vaishnavis dressed in traditional Maharashtrian lugada carried a decorated pot on their heads as about 1000 of us sang and danced our way to the Muhud satsanga centre. A large pandal was put up and decorated at the centre by Ram Darbar and his team. Abhisheka was performed of Sri Sri Sita-Ram-Laxman-Hanuman and fifty-six bhogas were offered. During abhisheka devotees provided a continuous kirtan and afterwards prasadam was served to everyone. Devotees distributed 101 books and one of the villagers purchased a full set of the Ramayan.
We left Muhud at 2 pm and by evening had reached Sonke village where we were to spend the night at a school. Shortly after our arrival we performed Gaur arati and Radha Gopal dasa’s lecture described how Mahaprabhu travelled from Aravade to Pandharpur. Fifty books were distributed and prasadam was served to the devotees.
Day 7: April 11, 2022
On the final day of dindi padayatra we left Sonke at 5:30 am after mangal arati eager to walk the 18km to Pandharpur. After a short distance we stopped for guru puja performed by Chaitanya Chandra dasa then continued to walk to our destination which we came to at 11:30am. ISKCON Pandharpur president Prahlad dasa along with Paramatma dasa and many other senior devotees welcomed us at the temple gate. Arati of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar followed and then we all ran for darshan of Sri Sri Radha-Pandharinath.
A thoughtful arrangement was a kalyana mandapa (public pavilion) made available for us by the Pandharpur temple devotees. At 2 pm the padayatris were called for maha prasadam and at 5 pm our senior God-brother, Dharmaraja dasa, gave a lecture in the kalyana mandapa describing the benefits of coming to the dhama. All the dindi devotees went to the programme at the temple that evening where they danced and sang to Gaur Nitai’s melodious kirtan for two-and-a-half hours. About 650 devotees honoured prasadam
Day 8: April 12, 2022
Following mangal arati the next morning our padayatra party of almost 700 went for darshan of Lord Panduranga, joining the queue at 5am. After almost eight hours we had blissful darshan of the Lord and then regrouped for ekadasi maha prasadam. In the evening we all gathered and for one and a half hours shared our experiences and realizations of dindi. One devotee said, “It was wonderful being in dindi,” another said, “Now it’s very difficult to depart from dindi.” Everyone was morose. A few new devotees took an oath to chant four rounds, to be gradually increased to sixteen rounds and for some to twenty-five rounds, and to attend a nearby satsanga. Some devotees also vowed to read Srila Prabhupada’s books daily for one hour. Our resolution programme thus ended successfully. To rekindle a devotional mood, we had an ecstatic kirtan. By the mercy of our dear-most Srila Gurudev and Sri Sri Radha-Gopal, Dindi Padayatra 2022 came to a conclusion.
Book score: 801
Full-plate prasadam distribution: 4530
Distance covered by padayatra: 125km
Villages padayatra stayed: 7
Villages crossed: 15
Village sankirtans: 12
I thank all the padayatris. Without them the padayatra would not be a success. I thank all the satsanga leaders who helped us doing advance party, announcements, accommodation, dramas and prasadam and all the speakers who gave wonderful and inspiring classes in padayatra.
Hare Krishna.
Gaura-premanande, hari hari bol!
Srila Prabhupada, ki jai!
Srila Gurudeva, ki jai!
