Gdd : Could you tell us about your previous padayatra experiences ?
Dd : I walked on several sections of the Padayatra Europe from Belfast to Moscow. In 1991 I walked from Lille to New Mayapur. The next year I joined the Padayatra Europe team in Spain in Alicante, and walked to Avignon in France. In 1987 I participated for five weeks on Padayatra India with Lokanath Maharaja and Jayadvaita Swami while the party was in Rajasthan. After that I did small individual padayatras. In 1994, in order to cover the distance from Avignon -where Padayatra Europe had stopped in 1992- to the Italian border, I walked 250 kms, first with another devotee, then I continued on my own.
Gdd : What was your latest walk ?
Dd : Two years ago I did a 100 km walk with my son Narada, who was fourteen at the time. We did the same style of padayatra as this time; we carried our things in a caddie, ate very simply, slept under the stars, bathed in rivers and walked about 12 kms a day.
Gdd : How did Narada like it ?
Dd : Narada likes to walk. Even though he does not chant himself, I saw that it did not disturb him to hear me chant Hare Krishna ; in fact he liked it a lot. It was very pleasant. Padayatra is good for everyone of course, but I found it’s especially good for teen-agers : they can walk, chant and even meditate, which is a good change from video games. They can also meditate on nature and little by little, with a little guidance, learn how to see the energy of Krishna. Padayatra is a very positive approach to Krishna consciousness.
Gdd : What about this solo padayatra you just finished ?
Dd : I walked nine days 190 kms from the city of Angers to New Mayapur
Gdd : What motivated you to do this padayatra on your own ?
Dd : The 50th anniversary of Srila Prabhupada’s arrival in the USA and ISKCON’s 50th anniversary. I was thinking I should do something for padayatra before I get too old.
Gdd :How old are you now ?
Dd : Almost 61. What also motivated me was to walk to the holy place of New Mayapur, accompanied with a few devotees the last two days.
Gdd : Tell me a little how it went on the road.
Dd : The toughest part was to start. I started from Angers, the city I live in, dressed in white dhoti, wearing tilaka and chanting japa. I was also motivated to walk in the countryside, which is very beautiful in France. It is very pleasant. I saw that Krishna gave me the energy to walk more than I had planned. Initially I was thinking of walking around 15 kms per day, but it turned out to be 25 kms. During this padayatra I really felt that I was helped from above. After a few days, when I was further away from the place I came from, it was easier for me to enter into the mood of padayatra, being a pilgrim and trying to please Srila Prabhupada and Lokanath Maharaja. When I entered that mood to want to please them, it really became very nice and pleasant.
Gdd : What did you eat ? Where did you sleep and bathe ?
Dd : It was very simple : nothing was planned ! I had a tent and a sleeping bag, which I carried in a little caddie. It had good wheels and was easy to pull, I did not encounter any mechanical problems. I pitched my tent wherever I could. In the evening I was looking for a place near a river, in a field, any place a little out of the way of people and houses. I bathed in small rivers. I did not cook at all. Before starting I had bought one kilo of dates and one kilo of musli –it lasted the whole trip. I ate that when I did not find any grocery stores on the way.
Gdd : What did you buy in the stores ?
Dd : Pretty much the same things : dried fruits, fresh fruits, yogurts and creamy white cheese (very good ! I highly recommend it). It’s very good for the body , for staying slim and for the mind also. This diet is also very helpful to chant Hare Krishna well.
Gdd : Did you make special encounters ? What were the impressions of the people who met you ?
Dd : There were different styles of encounters. I started from the region where I was born and raised. I met some people I already knew. I told them I was doing a pilgrimage toward the East. I did not say I was going to the Hare Krishna temple in New Mayapur, because they knew I was a devotee of Krishna. It seemed normal to them that I was doing this pilgrimage, because I already have done many walks before I joined ISKCON, outside of padayatra. After about 30 kms I got out of my familiar zone.
Gdd : It seems that you like to walk a lot ?
Dd : Yes, I do, since I was very young. I come from a small village where people walk a lot, that was the main way to get around.
Gdd : How did the people react when they saw you dressed in this unusual fashion ?
Dd : Even though I was dressed in dhoti most of the time, people never refused anything to me, water, directions or indication of a quiet place to sleep. People always reacted in a very favorable way. It touched me and inspired me a lot to see that people were reciprocating with a pilgrim, even a Hare Krishna pilgrim. Sometimes people came forward to shake hands, they asked me where I was heading to or if I needed something.
Gdd : Did you have books with you ?
Dd : I did not have books because they are too heavy, I only had little brochures about New Mayapur, which I gave to people who seemed favorable or asked questions. My mood during the most part of this padayatra was also of doing some personal introspection, so I concentrated on that. I made the best contact in Ile Bouchard, a small town on the way. I had decided to stop there to wash and dry my clothes. While my dhotis were drying on the grass –it did not dry fast as it was not very sunny that day– I saw a woman in her sixties. I asked her if there was a shortcut to my next destination, and we started to talk. This lady was in a pilgrim’s mood, in the sense that she wanted to find good spiritual association. She had already met the devotees of Krishna in harinama in the city of Blois,and also several times in Paris. She was a vegetarian, had been involved for some time in some spiritual group from India, but had been disapointed with it, and she wanted to go more deeply to her original Christian roots to start with, and maybe to explore Krishna consciousness. Our discussion was very interesting as we could talk as pilgrims. I was a pilgrim for only 200 kms, but she’s been searching for several months. She’d been to Lourdes and other sanctified places, such as l’Ile Bouchard, where the Virgin Mary had appeared fourty years ago. As she had met the devotees before, she was interested to know more about the philosophy. So we talked about our respective pilgrimages and different spiritual approaches. It was very interesting, and she was very satisfied. After talking for about one hour, we took prasada together. Then my clothes were dry, and I continued walking.
Gdd : During your padayatra, it was very hot, around 38°C (=100 °F ). How did you manage that ?
Dd : I do like the heat, it’s like India. I live there most of the year, so I’m already used to the heat. Usually I would walk during the coolest hours, from around 7 am to 10 am, I stopped till about 5pm or 7 pm, and then walked till about 10 pm. I wore a light cotton cadar on my head with a hat on top of it to protect my neck and face. I realized that it’s very pleasant and practical to wear a dhoti and kurta in the heat, the long sleeves protect the arms from sunburns. During the walk I became more aware of the importance of water, water to drink, and water to wash ourselves of course. I was thinking a lot about the verse in the Gita where Krishna says He is the taste of water. In this heat, water had never tasted so good. Physically, this walk went on very well : I slept well, digested well and of course walked very well.
Gdd : Other realisations during this padayatra ?
Dd : I had two kinds of realisations. The first one was related to my personal introspection. Padayatra is like a journey towards Krishna. While walking I see nature, which is Krishna’s energy. On the road I was busy chanting the maha-mantra , prayers to Srila Prabhupada, the Sikastakam, other songs and prayers. I always chanted my rounds during the breaks, in order to be more focused. After a few days I realized it was better for me to drop a few material attachments in order to be experiencing more freedom in my life. Then there were other realisations linked to the company of the few devotees who accompanied me at the end after Loches. I appreciated the efforts they made, the courage they mustered to walk many kilometers in the heat, especially as they were less trained than me. I saw that padayatra is not only meant to celebrate the 500th appearance day of Lord Caitanya or ISKCON’s 5Oth birthday, it can be done in a regular way anytime.
Gd : Right ! What about the preaching impact of your walk?
Dd : I realized that padayatra is one of the best means of preaching in France because when we are walking in devotional clothes, people take us and the maha-mantra much more seriously. The simple fact of walking on pilgrimage means a lot for most people because Christian pilgrimages are still part of the French religious tradition. Those who stopped me to ask questions were interested to hear about the maha-mantra, reincarnation and the philosophy of the Bhagavad-gita. It was a source of inspiration for them. Maybe it’s a little bold to say that I inspired myself, but I really felt that this padayatra was very pleasing to the parampara, Srila Prabhupada and the devotees of the Hare Krishna movement, because on padayatra everything is positive. There is nothing negative at all in this padayatra, and I only met favorable people. I can remember at least three persons who have been very much touched by this endeavor. And I want to do a padayatra again.
Gdd : When will your do that ?
Dd : First I would like to do a padayatra with my sixteen year old son in the Himalayas in India, from Haridwar to Rishikesh and Badrinath. I already walked by myself in this area about fifteen years ago. I like my son a lot and he likes to walk a lot. I’m also thinking a lot about doing a walk between the temple of Sarcelles, in the northern suburbs of Paris, and New Mayapur. It will be for next year, maybe. It would be nice if a few devotees from each temple could accompany me for part of the way. If I’m still in good health, that’s what I’d like to do.
Gdd : So, I wish you and Narada to be both in very good health, so you can do more padayatras in France and inspire other devotees to join you sometimes, and maybe organise their own. My idea is to organise a small one next year around the Sarcelles temple. I hope you will join us. Hare Krishna !
