By Ritudvipa Gaurachandra dasa, Uttar Pradesh Padayatra leader
April 20, 2022, was a great day in the history of the Uttar Pradesh Padayatra for we were blessed by the darshan of our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja. Since padayatra’s inception, the padayatris have been waiting for Maharaja’s visit, for he is the inspiration behind all padayatras. He always keeps guiding us and encouraging us to go on and on. We have faced many difficulties on padayatra but after his darshan, we all felt relieved, our hearts filled with ecstasy.
It has been three years since padayatra began but Maharaja could not visit us. Then finally he came to Kanpur’s Sri Sri Radha-Madhav temple when padayatra was in the city and such a beautiful programme was organized that I could not have imagined. The Kanpur devotees and UP padayatris welcomed him at the station and the various temple programmes were well-attended by devotees and congregation members. Maharaja gave a detailed lecture on padayatra which was appreciated by everyone.
We padayatris had a blissful meeting with Maharaja and at one point he drove the padayatra bullock cart, which everyone was amazed to see and made the padayatris very happy. On that day I got the conviction that I have to serve Maharaja and I have to make Srila Prabhupada happy. I am a small man. I don’t even know how to speak Hindi, even though I am trying so that Prabhupada’s mission of preaching in every town and village can be fulfilled. This is also Maharaja’s desire. I formed this belief only because of him. I pray unto his lotus feet to bless me to rise in padayatra and bhakti.
