By Jayabhadra devi dasi, IGF preacher ISKCON Amravati
On April 24, 2022, Amravati’s Bhakta Prahlad School teachers and ISKCON Girls’ Forum team held a Bala (little Vaishnava) padayatra. Every year we organize a three-day summer camp for children at ISKCON Amravati and on the last day we have our padayatra.
In the craft session on the final day of camp the children made frames for photos of Lord Krishna and Srila Prabhupada and posters with messages such as Save Water, Save Girls, Save the Earth, Save Trees, and Make India Tuberculosis Free. At 5pm everyone assembled in front of the temple with Sri Sri Vitthal-Rukmini on a beautiful asana. We then invited Padmanabh dasa, our senior pujari, to do arati of our Lordships and show the flag to inaugurate padayatra.
We started with sankirtan, the little Vaishnavas walking in two lines holding their posters. They also had caps like those worn by warkaris (devotees of Lord Vitthal who walk to Pandharpur for darshan of Their Lordships), with Hare Krishna written on both the sides so that as people became attracted to the little padayatris they also would read Hare Krishna. The children wore traditional dhotis, sarees, gopi dresses and tilak and had kartals in their hands.
With Their Lordships leading the way and a child carrying a poster of Srila Prabhupada followed by the padayatra banner, we moved ahead. Several parents had joined us and we also invited other children for padayatra, bringing our party to more than fifty padayatris. Together we headed towards the main road singing and dancing along the streets. Residents would come out in amazement to see the beautiful children with the posters and banners. People asked, “What celebration is going on?” and many took photos and videos. Parents also experienced happiness in padayatra as they saw their children walking and singing with confidence, each parent wanting their child to be at the front of the procession.
Our Bala padayatra depicted a dindi, like a small wari to Pandharpur, thus inspiring elders and giving them an example to take part in the holy walk. All the temple devotees were happy to see the little padayatris, little warkaris singing with kartals in hand. Their caps were fascinating, reminding us of the simple villagers praying to the Lord and humbly walking for His pleasure.
One realization a mataji shared: to make an arati plate she brought flowers from the temple and as Padmanabh picked a flower to offer, a small garland fell into his hand. “We were all shocked because we had not made the garland but it was exactly the size of our Lordships. Another mataji must have made it, but we all took it as the Lord’s mercy that the garland in the arati plate matched the size of our small Vitthal-Rukmini and could understand that He must be pleased with our efforts.”
I thank our temple president, Advaitacarya dasa, for giving us permission for padayatra and increasing our enthusiasm, and I thank the children and parents who joined the padayatra and made the event successful. I also thank my team: Mrs Sadhana Shende, our school director; Anuradha Lila devi dasi, our school guide; and Bhakin Ritu, Bhaktin Pratibha, Bhaktin Radha, Bhaktin Krishna, Bhaktin Mukta and Bhaktin Vaishnavi.
It’s all the mercy of our beloved spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, who is our source of inspiration. Because of his unlimited mercy and guidance, we are doing some tiny service for the pleasure of Srila Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada, ki jai.
Srila Gurudev, ki jai.
Little padayatris, ki jai.
