By Padmanabha Dasa
On August 9th at 11am devotees gathered at the Lenasia Civic Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa. Srila Prabhupada had met the people of Lenasia 41 years ago at this very center. This marked the first padayatra held in the province, and commemorated ISKON’s 50th anniversary as well as ‘National Women’s Day’.
Spreading the word
Once the date was set devotees rallied together to advertise the event –from Facebook to Twitter, to ISKCON newsletters and Sunday Love Feast announcements, everyone was hearing about the padayatra. We also partnered with a local radio station ‘East Wave Radio’ where Isvara Puri Dasa did a live telephonic interview the day before. He featured on the radio station’s ‘Drive Show’ which has a listenership of approximately 500 000 people. On the day of the padayatra I gave a talk on the same radio station during the ‘Breakfast Show.’ Our media partner was local newspaper ‘Southern Globe’ whose papers reach 30 000 people. We had an article and photograph of padayatra featured. In addition to this, devotees distributed pamphlets to houses on the route, surrounding areas and to various temples in Lenasia. We were honored also to have esteemed guests Rama Govinda Swami, Subhag Maharaja and a host of other senior members of ISKCON joining us as well as having the support of the entire community.
Srila Prabhupada’s grand entrance
Cars honked, conches were blown and devotees sang and danced. A murti of His Divine Grace, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada was transported in a luxury Mercedes-Benz from the temple to the Civic Centre. He was welcomed by over 200 enthusiastic people who had all gathered to celebrate the momentous occasion. Srila Prabhupada was seated a top a vyasasana made especially for him which, fit snugly into the back of a pick- up truck. He was escorted throughout the entire padayatra by five police vehicles.
Speeches, kirtana, sweets and arati
We had arranged for two guest speakers to give inaugural speeches: Nandarani Dasi spoke on behalf of ISKCON and Mrs. LucySigaban, a female community leader in the Gauteng Province, also spoke. The speeches commemorated ‘National Women’s Day’ and ISKCON’s 50th-anniversary celebrations. The formalities also included an invocation by Vishnu Dasa and an arati conducted by both Rama Govinda Swami and Subhag Maharaja. After the ceremonials padayatra made its way down Rose Avenue escorted by street marshals and the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) officials. The local devotee ‘youth group’ performed kirtana throughout the walk. During the padayatra, we distributed sweetmeats, fruits and books to the public. We made our first stop at the ‘Shree Rameshwar Mahadev Mandir’ where Pundit Girish Bhai conducted arati. The procession then made its way to Rose Park where a team of devotees had already set up distributing sumptuous prasadam to the public.
Who is that?
During the padayatra, people would often ask us about Srila Prabhupada. They wanted to know why he was sitting and not saying anything, and others wanted to know if they could touch his feet. We took this as a good opportunity to explain to people about Srila Prabhupada. The sun was blazing but with a cool breeze accompanying it, the procession kept moving. It was a joyous walk with many African people joining us; they sang, danced and jumped in ecstasy as they all tried to get some mercy. We ended the padayatra at the park with Nrishmadev prayers. Devotees then settled down on the grass and took the prasadam that was being served. We thank the devotees and public for their participation in making this a successful event.
