By Acarya Dasa
On June 17th our party traveled from Salem to Dharmapuri to preach in the nearby villages there. We then returned to Salem and camped on the outskirts of the city. Our padayatra party beamed with delight when we heard that Lokanath Swami would be coming to visit us. Maharaj arrived later that day at 2:30 pm and was welcomed with melodious kirtana as he stepped on a pathway decorated with rangoli[1] . Maharaj even joined us in dancing to the ecstatic kirtana. We then offered him a garland and conducted pada puja [2]as part of receiving this great personality. Afterwards Lokanath Swami took darsana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. As I watched him taking darsana I felt as though Maharaj was talking with the Lord, and as he spoke, their Lordships smiled at him. Maharaj was absorbed for a long time in the darsana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. The Lord was happy to receive Their beloved bhakta. After taking darsana we all had prasadam together which was then followed by an istagoshti with Lokanath Swami. When Maharaj asked each one of us about our health and our sadhana it reminded me of the relationship between a mother and child –a mother still takes care of a child no matter how grown up they are. Maharaj told us to take good care of our health so that we can serve Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar properly. He also got the chance to meet his god-brother, Akhildara Dasa and it was evident that they were both very happy to see each other again.
Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar are very merciful and are known as maha vadanyaya, the most magnanimous incarnation of the Supreme Lord. Their Lordships have left the opulence of the temple to travel on a bullock cart from city to city, town to town and village to village in cold and heat and have stayed in open jungles at times as well. They bear all of these inconveniences for the welfare of everyone they meet. Lokanath Swami said to us all, “Padayatra is my heart. I feel like I am back home. Srila Prabhupada instructed me to start padayatra and you are all helping me to serve Srila Prabhupada by [doing padayatra] nonstop all over India. You are all associates of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar –you are with Their Lordships 24 hours a day, serving them. You are all doing a great seva. You are all very fortunate souls, in fact I would say, blessed souls. Our Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar are the most travelled deities [in the world], no other deities have travelled so much. They have completed 5 parikramas around India and the 6th is going on now. Acarya Dasa has completed 6 years as leader of padayatra; he is short in stature and of thin built but he has done a great seva on padayatra. There is a famous Marathi phrase, murti lahan kirti mahan, which means ‘he looks small but his activities are great.’ So serving the Lord is the perfection of our life.” After hearing Maharaj speak I addressed him on behalf of all the padayatris, “We are all insignificant, it’s all by your mercy that we are able to serve Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. It is you who have made us eligible to do this seva, you are our constant source of inspiration- actually you are making it possible for us to walk with Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. We are just following your orders. Please Gurudev, always give your blessings to us fallen souls.”
Later that evening Maharaj went to the Salem ISKCON temple. The next day he joined us for mangal arati and invited us to attend a Srimad Bhagvatam class he was giving at the temple on the “chida dahi[3] festival. So we all attended the class and thereafter Maharaj accompanied us on padayatra. In spite of his ill health, he still wanted to walk with Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. Maharaj stayed with us for almost 4 kilometers until we reached a namahatta centre in Mirchi. He drove the bullock cart and distributed books to people along the way. Lokanath Swami’s humble service to Srila Prabhupada inspires us to serve more and more. Maharaj met with the devotees of the Mirchi namahatta and said, “In kali yuga there are miseries all over. I am not telling you something negative but it’s the reality. Padayatra has come all the way to you –take darsana of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar, worship Them and may your life be perfect.”
Maharaj invited us all to join in on his Vysa Puja celebrations in Pandapur. A few of us will definitely be present. The rest of us on padayatra will stop on the banks of the Kaveri river to celebrate the auspicious day with 56 bhoga offerings and glorification of Lokanath Swami. We were all blessed to have our dear Gurudev and spiritual father’s darsana and our hearts are filled with love for him. When he was about to leave we were all teary-eyed. We beseeched him to please join us again on padayatra, and just before taking leave of us he smiled and blessed us all.
Lokanath Swami Maharaj ki! Jai!
JUNE 2016 BOOKSCORES
NB: All books distributed in the Tamil language as padayatra is currently in the state of Tamil Nadu.
Small books (soft cover): 8748
Medium books (soft cover): 79
Big books (soft cover): 178
Maha-big books (hard cover): 4109
Full sets of Srimad Bhagavatam/ CC: 12
TOTAL 13 144
[1] A type of Indian art form where colored rice, dry flour or sand is used to make intricate patterns that decorate floors, pathways or courtyards during a celebration.
[2] The worship of the feet of great personalities and Gurus.
[3] Chipped Rice Festival
