By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra leader
Kaliya, our four-legged padayatri, has a swelling at the base of his right horn. We took him to a veterinary clinic where it was diagnosed as cancer. Kaliya urgently requires an operation to remove the horn or the cancer will spread to his brain.
When we were in Jasdan we also noticed there was some bleeding from his nose, so we will be keeping him in the Jasdan goshala. Ganshyam dasa, who runs his Go-products business in Jasdan and is well-versed in the service of cows and bulls, will take great care of him.
Given his name by our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, Kaliya started his padayatra journey from the Kumbha-mela in 2012 and has completed the char dhama yatra, walking all over India from Allahabad to Gangasagar, Tirupati, Kanyakumari, Jagannath Puri and Dwarka. The vets said, “If one horn is removed it will be fine and he can continue walking in padayatra.” An ox with only one horn may look bad, but that’s okay. He has done great service in padayatra, has saintly qualities and has never harmed anyone. He has been happy pulling Their Lordships’ chariot, and when padayatra was confined to one place during the lockdown we noticed tears in his eyes because his service had stopped.
Please pray for our Kaliya, serving in padayatra for almost ten years, that the operation is successful and he can resume service at the lotus feet of Sri Sri-Nitai Gaurasundar.
