By Acarya Dasa
It is said that the Lord always fulfills the desires of His devotees –the devotees of ISKCON Anantapur are no exception.
We had just arrived in Udumulapadu, a village located in the Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. The news that padayatra had reached this small village had spread far and wide to the interested ears of the devotees of ISKCON Anantapur, a town located some hundred kilometers away. The devotees from that temple, eager to have our padayatra join them for their Janmastami celebrations, travelled to Udumulapadu to make their sweet request. However we had already made other plans for Janmastami, but seeing how sincere and enthusiastic the Anantapur devotees were to have Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar part of their celebrations we changed our minds. It looks like it was the Lord’s plan to shower His mercy on the devotees of Anantapur. The Anantapur devotees were so dedicated to have padayatra join them that they made all the necessary arrangements for our party to travel to their city. They kindly organized trucks for the six bulls, kitchen, book trolley and all the padayatris.
Located at Somuladodd, the ISKCON temple is a sight to behold, with its striking and vibrant pink exterior. It is constructed in the shape of a chariot sporting chariot wheels and all, with its main resident deities being Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi. The temple was inaugurated in 2008 by the then governor of Andhra Pradesh, Shri N.D. Tiwari. This spiritual centre is the second biggest ISKCON Temple in India, after the one in Bengaluru, in Karnataka.
So Padayatra India celebrated the most auspicious day of Janmastami with great pomp in Anantapur. The temple program started at 5pm with thousands upon thousands of people in attendance. The celebrations included abhisheka of the deities, melodious kirtana, distribution of maha prasadam and Krsna katha, specifically about Krsna’s natkhata lila[1]. All the devotees broke their fast at midnight, but being very engrossed in their services, they had almost forgotten to do so! What devotion they displayed, caring not for their bodily needs and focusing only on serving Krsna, the perfect mood for such a glorious day. During the day we went on nagar sankirtana on the city streets, distributing books along the way. The inhabitants of Anantapur were elated to see Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila Prabhupada, they happily took darsana and some even shared the realizations they had. They felt very fortunate that the Lord had come to their city on this auspicious day. Many even joined us in the nagar sankirtana, dancing and chanting blissfully. Lord Krsna appeared in this world to please His devotees and annihilate the demons; the devotees here were a case in point, their joy when seeing Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar could not be surpassed.
[1] Natkhat refers to the word ‘mischievous’. Therefore Krsna Natkhat lila refers to Krsna’s mischievous childhood pastimes.
