Once, we took a Padayatra in Karnataka. We visited a new village daily. At night we stayed, and in the morning we set out for a new village, chanting the holy names of the Lord. We hold programs in villages that include chanting the holy names. When people learn about us, they invite us to arrange such congregational programs in common places in their villages. We make people dance, tell them about the holy names of the Lord, feed them prasadam, and teach them about the Bhagavad Gita. Very few of them take advantage of this.
Once, we were staying at an old-age home in one village. We looked for nearby places, but there was nothing around the old-age home except jungle. There was no nearby village where we could hold our program. Our Acarya Prabhu went to the terrace and told me we would look for places where we could go and chant the holy names. From the terrace, he saw some people far in the jungle, taking cows towards a village. It seemed like there was a way leading to a village. So, Acarya Prabhu took a two-wheeler and roamed around the village to analyze the way.
As he went, he found out that these people were going to slaughter the cow. When they saw the saint (Acarya Prabhu), they tried to hide it and asked him why he came. He explained that we have a Padayatra and we travel all over India, chanting holy names congregationally. We preach the Bhagavad Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam and were looking to preach in their village. They invited him warmly, saying, “Please come, please come.”
Acarya Prabhu said, “You are inviting me, yet you are eating the flesh of cows. What is this?”
They replied, “O great saint, please don’t mind it. We have to do this to quench our hunger. We roam in the jungles and whatever animal we get, we kill, cook, and eat it. This is how we live. Don’t worry about that. We will clean everything when you come. Please come to our village.”
As they promised, they cleaned everything. They then took part in the congregational program. Some people performed arati, and the program went very well. They danced, sang, and chanted the holy names. Only Acarya Prabhu and a few devotees knew about everything.
Then Acarya Prabhu told them about the four basic principles: no intoxication, no gambling, no meat eating, and no illicit sex. After listening, they said, “We didn’t know these were sins. It’s good that you told us about the sins and the reason we have been given this body. We will not eat meat from now on.”
We told them that we were staying nearby and that they could come at 4 or 5 am for mangala arati. We also had chanting beads for them to use. Some people came for mangala arati, bought beads, and chanted the holy names. Some even bought books from us.
