By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra leader
During the recent second coronavirus lockdown the padayatris stayed at the temple of a five-headed Lord Shiva deity about 5km from the remote Gujarati village of Bharkawada.
It is stated in the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter 7: Lord Śri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went on His tour filled with ecstatic love and performing sankirtan, chanting Krishna’s names. As soon as He saw someone, He would request him to chant “Hari! Hari!” Whoever heard Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chant “Hari! Hari!” also chanted the holy name of Lord Hari and Krishna. In this way they all followed the Lord, very eager to see Him. After some time, the Lord would embrace these people and bid them return home, having invested each of them with spiritual potency. Each of these empowered persons would return to his own village, always chanting the holy name of Krishna and sometimes laughing, crying and dancing. Such an empowered person would request everyone and anyone – whomever he saw – to chant the holy name of Krishna. In this way all the villagers would also become devotees of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. People from different villages who came to see such an empowered individual would become like him simply by seeing him and receiving the mercy of his glance. When each of these newly empowered individuals returned to his own village, he also converted the villagers into devotees. And when others came from different villages to see him, they were also converted.
Thus, many hundreds of people became Vaishnavas when they passed the Lord on the way and were embraced by Him. In whatever village Śri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed to accept alms, many people came to see Him.
Who says Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is not present now? He is still travelling village to village, distributing His causeless mercy to all the fallen souls who come across Him. This has been experienced by the All-India Padayatra. During the second lockdown the padayatris were forced to stop in Bharkawada, staying at the Panchmukhi mahadev temple for almost forty-five days. The Lord showered His mercy upon the residents of Bharkawada as they became devotees, personally entering each house and distributing His causeless mercy. More than 200 villagers started chanting regularly and gave up the habit of drinking tea and coffee, while many families stopped eating onion and garlic. They also started following the four regulative principles and promised to worship Lord Sri Krishna daily in their home, offer bhoga to the Lord and take only prasad, as well as observe ekadashi day. Although the villagers are very simple, they engaged whatever they had in the Lord’s service.
Although the situation in the area was critical due to the pandemic, the Lord personally protected this village. No-one there became infected with the virus and, therefore, there was no question of death. Meanwhile, people in nearby villages, including village leaders, were suffering greatly, but nothing untoward happened in Bharkawada. This was all due to the causeless mercy of Sri Sri Nita-Gaurasundar.
The police inspector who warned padayatris not to gather so many people for the evening programmes also became a devotee of Lord Sri Gaurahari and promised he would read the Bhagavad-gita and chant regularly. The people became addicted to attending arati, chanting the holy name of the Lord, sankirtan and prasadam. As soon as they heard the sound of mridanga and kartal they immediately would gather near the Lord’s chariot.
Shortly before padayatra’s scheduled departure of June 8, the villagers arranged to hold a festival with a pandal, a decorated stage, lighting, abhishek of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar, drama, lectures and sumptuous prasadam. The programme was attended by about 4000 people, including devotees from Katawada, Ahmedabad and many nearby preaching centres, who gathered to witness the event.
On behalf of padayatra, almost fifty laminated photographs of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar were gifted to village leaders and those who had served Their Lordships during the lockdown. Several hundred Tulasi plants were also distributed and a small banyan tree was planted in memory of the AIP’s visit. After everyone had honoured prasadam, the padayatris thanked all the villagers for their love and then departed for their next destination. With heavy hearts villagers gathered to take a last darshan of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar and chant loudly, “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare,” several of them crying as they experienced feelings of separation from the Lord. Padayatra takes ten years to complete one round of India and many villagers were in anxiety as to whether they would see the Lord again.
Book score: Five sets of Srimad-Bhagavatam, 150 small books and 130 Bhagavad-gita.
In this way the Lord showered His causeless mercy upon these fortunate village people by enacting His wonderful pastimes in Bharkawada.
All glories to Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
