By Shyam Gopal Dasa
The devotees of ISKCON NOIDA[1] performed a 15 day padayatra from October 2nd to October 15th. The route began in NOIDA (Indraprastha) and ended in Sri Vrindavan Dham. NOIDA is approximately 150 kilometres away from Vrindavan. The padayatra, which was organized as of part of the ISKCON golden jubilee celebrations was the first of its kind in the history of Delhi or the National Capital Region[2] (NCR). The inspiration behind the walk was none-other than the Padayatra Minister, Lokanath Swami Maharaja; –it was also made possible by the efforts of Vanshidhar Dasa, Co-President of ISKCON NOIDA and many other devotees from the congregation.
We had a team of 50 devotees who were engaged in various services such as sankirtana, prasadam distribution, book distribution and walking. The main attraction was a bullock cart carrying the deities of Sri Sri Gaur Nitai and Srila Prabhupada. We also had one sankirtana van which transported Srila Prabhupada’s books, prasadam and other paraphernalia for distribution.
Day 1, Sunday October 2nd
Chalo Vrindavan ki ore!
Festivities began at 2pm at ISKCON NOIDA with Kratu Maharaj inaugurating the padayatra and performing the first arati to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila Prabhupada. It was also Maharaja’s vyasa puja, which was celebrated at ISKCON NOIDA, and a national holiday. The inauguration was attended by two temple donors, Mr. Vallabh Prasad Aggrawal and Mr. Harvilas. A very festive atmosphere was created with the jubilant kirtanas and the participation of 1000 congregation devotees. Padayatra was then launched with tumultuous cries of ‘Chalo Vrindavan ki ore!’(‘Let’s go to Vrindavan!’ This was our padayatra slogan) from the crowd. At that time the sky was decorated with clouds and a soothing wind was blowing –it felt as if the demigods had assembled to welcome Gaura Nitai’s padayatra procession.
We covered 15 kilometres that day, travelling through Noida’s sectors 50 and 41, where we were respectively received with grand welcomes from Jagannatha Dasa and Ananda Prada Dasi. We held sankirtana and distributed prasadam and books as we marched towards the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF[3]) camp in the Greater NOIDA area. We made our first stop there, staying at the A.C Guest House, where we were welcomed by the ex-Minister of the Uttar Pradesh government, Nawab Singh Nagar and Mr. Pradeep Tyle. Mr. Nawab Singa Nagar garlanded Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and the devotees; in turn Vansidhar Dasa garlanded him and gave him a gift to thank him for his support. Afterwards, we all ate prasadam and rested, very pleased that the walk had gone pleasantly the first day.
Day 2, Monday October 3rd
We held our first mangal arati program on Monday morning at 5am, after which the bullocks and devotees started walking again at 6am. When we began the walk all the devotees sang along to the maha mantra in Srila Prabhupada’s melody and distributed prasadam along the way. Our padayatra party then reached a factory called ‘Priya Gold’ owned by Mr. Ballabh Prasad Aggrawal. He kindly received us all by garlanding Gaura Nitai and the devotees. We sang kirtana for his factory employees, and many of them purchased books and had prasadam afterwards. Vansidhar Dasa then gave a class to everyone about the instruction given by Srila Prabhupada to Lokanath Swami in 1976 to organise ISKCON’s first padayatra. After class Mr. Aggrawal served us all a sumptuous prasadam feast. He also donated more than 5000 packets of biscuits for us to distribute. We then left to continue the rest of our journey –our next stop being the ISKCON Centre in the Greater NOIDA extension area. Our party eventually reached there at 1pm that day. The manager of the centre, Vedanta Caitanya Dasa, gave us a cordial welcome upon our arrival. Later that evening, we all went to a house program which was followed by harinam and book distribution. We covered a total of 15 kilometres that day.
Day 3, Tuesday October 4th
After mangal arati at the centre we set off walking on the large, wide roads of the Greater NOIDA area, chanting and distributing prasadam along the way. We made a stop at Mahamuni Dasa’s home , where he welcomed us, performed arati to Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and then served us breakfast at around 8 am. Our party then set off again but stopped when we saw an Epack Factory where we did harinam and distributed books to the factory workers and the factory owner –who kindly served us all light prasadam after that. Vansidhar Dasa thanked the owner and staff by giving them photo frames with pictures of the Lord and garlanding them.
School children delight in the holy names
Padayatra then moved on, this time covering a greater distance of 18 kilometres to the village of Ajampur Garhi. We stopped at the AYS School there –the principal of which was recently introduced to the ISKCON Centre in the Greater NOIDA area by Arvind Dasa. We sang kirtana and held a lecture for the children at 1pm. They really enjoyed the program and danced during the kirtana. We also distributed Bhagavad-Gita and other books at the school. That evening, Daksha Dasa, an ISKCON NOIDA congregation devotee and resident of Ajampur Garji, invited us to his home for prasadam. We were staying outside the village at the time but took the bullock cart along when we went to his home. It had begun to drizzle when we were performing gaura arati in the village. We distributed 300 plates of halwa to the villagers and afterwards all the padayatris went to the school to rest comfortably until the next day.
Day 4, Wednesday October 5th
Danakaur
After mangal arati in the AYS School we continued walking to the village of Danakaur. This village has a significant history, as it is the place where Ekalavya gave his thumb as guru-daksina to Drona Acarya. During our walk the weather was pleasant, the sun was covered by clouds and there was a little drizzle. In the next village we were welcomed by the sarpanch or head of the village. After seeing all the padayatris enter the village, he told us how impressed he was with the padayatra and how he wanted to be more like us. He then welcomed us into his home for breakfast When we left he promised to chant one round of the maha mantra daily and to read the Bhagavad-Gita.
When we reached Danakaur we received a nice welcome from the local residents and stayed at the Durga Mandir in Unchi Dankaur. In the evening a group of the local residents prepared a feast for us. Afterwards, we preformed harinam sankirtana, distributed books and prasadam, held gaura arati, which the local residents also attended. Dharmaraj Dasa gave a short lecture and showed a video called “Hare Krishna World”. We walked 13 kilometres that day.
Day 5, Thursday October 6th
After the morning program we headed towards Jewar, a far distance of 30 kilometres away. We decided the best way to cover the distance was to walk on the Yamuna Expressway – we even had breakfast there on the roadside. Thankfully it wasn’t very hot and there was a cool wind blowing. We reached ‘Tehni Wale Baba’s Ashram’ in Jewar at 2pm. All the padayatris were exhausted from the long walk and rested at the ashram. In the evening, after having prasadam, we did harinama on the streets of Jewar. It was a fervent reception from the locals who happily took pamphlets, books and prasadam.
Day 6, Friday October 7th
The morning program took place at the Tehni Wale Baba Ashrama, after which Vanshidhar Dasa thanked the Ashram Babji for allowing us to stay there. Our next destination was Tupple. While walking we distributed lots of prasadam to the school children we saw. Upon arriving in Tupple we went to the ‘Jeevan Singh Degree College’ where we would be staying. The principal of the college was actually a follower of Srila Prabhupada. He happily purchased a set of Bhagavatam books and even sponsored our evening prasadam. He also invited us to do harinama in his village,and we obliged, of course, with our regular distribution of pamphlets, books and prasadam. We held our gaura arati program in the college; the principal of the college and some village men also attended the arati. Two new devotees joined the padayatra that night, Hari Kirtan Dasa and another devotee, and they stayed with us for the last three days. We had walked 15 kilometres from Jewar to Tupple that day.
Day 7, Saturday, October 8th
We held our morning program at the Degree College in Tupple. A few devotees from NOIDA and the Greater NOIDA area joined us for the week-end. Padayatra’s next destination was the town of Jattari where the chief of the ‘Shyam Goshala’ was eagerly awaiting our arrival. As we entered the town we chanted the holy names and so on, which was very warmly welcomed by the local people. We then headed towards a hall usually used for marriage ceremonies next to the goshala, and rested there until the evening program. The chief of the goshala greatly encouraged our harinam sankirtan program. We walked 10 kilometres that day.
Day 8, Sunday, October 9th
We held our morning program at the marriage hall in Jattari and were happy to see that more devotees had come to join us on account of it being a Sunday. Our next destination was Bajna, the first village we would visit that was on the border of Vraja. Once we reached there we stayed for two days. Our party had accommodation in a private school run by Simhachalam Dasa, an ISKCON NOIDA congregational devotee. His many family members living in Bajna, including his mother and father, welcomed us warmly. They also kindly took care of the prasadam and program arrangements while we were there. When evening came we went out with the bullock cart with the local residents joining us, so we decided to invite them to sit for a lecture and to watch the ‘ISKCON World’ video. After the program we distributed prasadam to everyone. Padayatra walked 20 kilometres that day.
Day 9, Monday, October 10th
This was our second day in Bajna. We had a full morning program with a Srimad Bhagavatam lecture given by Hari Kirtan Das. After breakfast all the padayatris went out on harinam sankirtana around the town, as usual joined by some locals. The people were so kind that they heartily welcomed us by serving us drinks and fruits in three different places in town. During that evening program Vansidhar Dasa gave a lecture and we showed the video of “Little Krishna”. Thereafter Vanshidhar Dasa presented gifts to Simhachalam Dasa’s father and uncle, thanking them for their support to the padayatra. We rested for the remainder of the day.
Day 10, Tuesday, October 11th
On the morning of Oct 11th we set off towards Naujheel, right after mangala arati. In Naujheel we stayed at a college. We were lucky that the river Yamuna was not very far from us and many devotees took the opportunity to take a dip in the holy waters. Later that evening, our padayatra team was blessed with the association of Sundarlal Dasa from Mauritius who gave us a beautiful class. This was made possible through the efforts of Krishna Bhakta Dasa who had made arrangements for Sundarlal Dasa to come from Vrindavan. Afterwards we went to the main market in Naujheel to do harinam. We were fortunate that it was Vijayadashmi[4] day so there were lots of people who eagerly participated in the harinama and took prasadam.
Day 11, Wednesday, October 12th
We held our mangal arati program in Naujheel before setting off to the village of Tainti. This village is connected to a famous pastime of Krishna –it is one of the places where the Lord used to whistle to call the cows and cowherd boys. Our padayatra party stayed at a local temple. A charitable man named Mr. Goverdhan Seth had made some nice arrangements for us during our stay there. Vanshidhar Dasa thanked him for his support by presenting with a Bhagavad-Gita and a photo frame of Sri Sri Radha Govinda Dev, ISKCON NOIDA’s presiding Deities. Later that evening we went to the market for nagar sankirtana.
Day 12, Thursday, October 13th
The next morning we headed towards the village of Maat. Actually, the soil of Maat was used to make clay pots to store butter used in Krishna’s pastimes. Our padayatris chanted and danced with renewed enthusiasm as we reached Bhadra Van, made famous because it used to be a pasture grounds for Krishna’s cows –today it is a very beautiful forest. We had breakfast at the house of a Vrajvasi in Bhadra Van; the prasadam – rotis and buttermilk –had a unique vraj flavour. After breakfast we all took darsana of the Bhadir Vihari deities and Venu Koop, a well made by Lord Krishna with His flute for His thirsty cowherd boys.
Day 13, Friday, October 14th
After our usual morning program we began walking to a village called Paani Goa, located near Vrindavan. On our way there we stopped at Manasarovar around 9am. This place has a very special significance –it is the location where Srimati Radharani came in the mood of anger towards Krishna. The word ‘maan’ signifies anger and is used when Radharani acts angry and feels hurt because of Krishna’s neglect. There is a temple on the bank of this lake dedicated to Srimati Radharani[5]. The gopis also sang the Gopi Geet there in the mood of maha-ras. We all took darsana of Srimati Radharani and then some of the padayatris took a holy dip in the lake. This was followed by a class on the pastimes of Manasarovar, given by Vanshidhar Dasa, and then it was time for prasadam. When we arrived in Paani Gaon all the padayatris were elated to have finally reached Vrindavan.
Making headlines
A few reporters came to meet us where we were staying and interviewed Vanshidhar Dasa about the padayatra. Later that evening, Ista Deva Dasa gave a class on the places where Lord Krishna performed His pastimes in Vraj. We were also fortunate to receive a Skype video call from Lokanath Swami who thanked and congratulated us on for having a successful padayatra, and he also gave us his blessings. After having prasadam we rested for the rest of the night.
Day 14, Saturday October 15th
That morning we headed towards Vrindavan, first crossing the Yamuna river and reaching the Parikrama Marg. All the padayatris chanted and danced in ecstasy. We stopped at at Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s baithak to take darsana of the deities of Lord Caitanya and Lord Jagannath. After that we went on harinam sankirtana again with 50 devotees from NOIDA who had just arrived to join us. During the harinam we stopped at two places where people came up to us to welcome us, offer garlands and give gifts to the deities of Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Srila Prabhupada. People also served us prasadam. Before long we reached the Krishna Balaram Mandir where the padayatra was welcomed by the ISKCON Vrindavan devotees. Pancha Gauda Dasa, the temple president of ISKCON Vrindavan, congratulated us all for doing this padayatra. Sanaka Sanatan Dasa then performed arati for Sri Sri Gaura Nitai with many devotees attending. After taking darsana of the Krishna Balaram Mandir’s deities all the padayatris headed for Kalia Dah where we stayed at a guest house. We parked the padayatra cart just in front of the ashrama and for the rest of the day everything went on as usual, bhoga offerings, sandhya and shayan aratis. Vanshidhar Dasa later spoke about the Kaliya Damana pastimes, and then it was time for prasadam. That afternoon, we held a ‘padayatri realisations session’ where all the padayatris were encouraged to share their wonderful experiences on padayatra.
Day 15, Sunday October 16th
Vrindavan Parikrama
Padayatra arrived at Vrindavan, the last leg of our journey, on October 15th.E Even though we had completed our mission we decided to stay on till October 16th because that day was sharad purnima, the beginning of the holy month of Kartikka–and also the first day of the ISKCON Vraja Mandal Parikrama. There were thousands of devotees in Vrindavan who had come from all over the world to participate in the parikrama. The Krishna Balaram temple was filled with vaisnavas and vaisnavis. It was around 5am when we saw many devotees assembling for the Vrindavan Parikrama –it was their day one out of what would be 30 days on parikrama.
Our bullock cart also arrived from Kaliya Daha at the Krishna Balaram temple around the same time –we waited at the entrance under a tree with Srila Prabhupada’s kirtana playing and a few lights on. The thousands of people who were going on the Vrindavan Parikrama were thus able to take darsana of Gaura Nitai and view the map of our padayatra route posted on the cart. We also distributed pamphlets to everyone. Then, at around 5:30am, the Vraja Mandal team headed in our direction, lead by Narsimha Maharaja, Istadeva Dasa and many others. They carried with them deities of Srila Prabhupada and Gaura Nitai. When they arrived in front of our padayatra cart we welcomed them with garlands and also offered our obeisances to all the assembled vaisnavas, Srila Prabhupada and Gaura Nitai. The parikrama devotees also took darsana of our Gaura Nitai and offered their obeisances. Afterwards the parikrama party continued on their way with our padayatra cart following close behind. We followed them all the way to Imli Tala. We stopped there for two hours to give the parikrama devotees a chance to take darsana of deities cart again. Then, at 10 am, we finally ended our padayatra. All the padayatris returned to ISKCON Vrindavan where we had prasadam. It was the end of our successful Indraprastha (NOIDA) to Vrindavan Padayatra for the year. In total we distributed more than 2,000 books and more than 20,000 plates of prasadam.
Acknowledgements
We wish to thank all the devotees who made this padayatra possible, in particular: Krishna Bhakta Dasa, who arranged all the classes; Ghanashyam Dasa, who headed the kitchen department; Bajrangi Dasa, who organized the sankirtana; Jagatbandhu Dasa, who headed the advance party team; Radha Kund Dasa who organized the morning programs; Vraj Jan Ranjan Dasa ,who was in charge of book distribution and media services; Kavi Karnapur Dasa, who organized the pujari services and Harvilas Dasa, the main sponsor of the padayatra. On behalf of all the padayatris we humbly thank Lokanath Swami Maharaja and Srila Prabhupad for having blessed this padayatra. We are happy to have made this padayatra as an offering at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada, in honour of ISKCON’s golden jubilee.
[1] Noida, short for the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a systematically planned[2] Indian city under the management of the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (also called NOIDA). It is part of National Capital Region of India.
[2] The National Capital Region (NCR) is the designation for a conurbation or metropolitan area in India. It encompasses the entire National Capital Territory of Delhi, including New Delhi and urban areas surrounding it in neighboring states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
[3] The Central Reserve Police Force is the largest of India’s Central Armed Police Forces
[4] Vijayadasami (Sanskrit: विजयदशमी) also known as Dussehra (Sanskrit: दशहरा) is an important Hindu festival celebrated in a variety of ways in India and Nepal. Dasa-hara is a form of Dasanan ravan (“Ravana’s defeat”). The day marks the victory of Shri Rama over Ravana in Treta Yuga.
[5] http://www.iskcondesiretree.com/profiles/blogs/vrindavan-darshan-mansarovar-and-bhandirvan-on-30-april-2013
