By Jagannath Puri dasa, Brahmacari
I am from Mahipur village, about 30km south of Balangir city in western Odisha. I joined ISKCON Bhubaneswar in 2006 and got initiated in 2012 by Lokanath Maharaja.
I had been spiritually inclined since childhood when I would read the Odiya language Srimad-Bhagavatam, but when I went to Bhubaneswar, I got into asat-sang and started eating non-vegetarian food. One of my old friends visited me one day and when he saw what I was eating he was shocked and asked, “What you are eating?”
His words hit my heart. I started thinking he was right. I had read in the Bhagavatam that one should have a spiritual guide, so I started searching in different matha and asramas. I did not like ISKCON because my thinking was that sadhu means austerity and ISKCON temples are filled with opulence. However, when I went to an ISKCON temple I liked the kirtan despite still having doubts.
One evening when I was at the temple a Bhagavad-gita class was happening. As I heard the class, I became ninety per cent convinced. Then I went to the speaker and asked, “Why is there so much opulence in ISKCON? Temples should be simple.” He replied, “Vaibhava is to attract people so that they come to the temple, take darshan of the deities and sit and chant.”
If you want to see ISKCON austerity, just go to the brahmacari asrama where I saw how brahmacaris are simple and hardworking – and they get up at 3am or earlier. I was convinced and immediately decided to dedicate my life to ISKCON.
Srila Prabhupada, ki jai.
Now I’m serving at ISKCON Amravati in Maharashtra as kitchen in-charge. When I was in Bhubaneswar, I heard that the Bengal-Odisha Padayatra had started and I had a desire to go because it’s our padayatra, especially for Bengal and Odisha and inspired by Gurudev. I was longing to be a padayatri.
In 2022 padayatra came to Bhubaneswar from Jagannath Puri dhama. In and around Bhubaneswar there are a lot of congregation devotees and I thought we could engage them in the service of padayatris. I stayed with the padayatris for ten days and came to see padayatra as a mobile temple. The austerities in padayatra are too much. I thought that just as our goswamis stayed under one tree and the next day moved ahead, the padayatris are also moving from one place to another. I saw each padayatri to be like a sannyasi.
Padayatra leader Dhirnayak dasa then told me to serve while the padayatris went on Gaura-mandal Parikrama in Mayapur, so I served Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. I felt I was serving Their Lordships personally, daily dressing Them and offering bhoga to Them. There were other services too. It was a great austerity and all the sevas were heavy. Once while dressing Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar, it seemed They were taking support and leaning on my shoulder like a child. I loved serving Them.
When I talk about padayatra my hair stands on end. On one occasion we were in a city for a festival and thus were set for book distribution. The ratha was moving along when suddenly it turned and fell down with a mighty crash. The noise was so loud that people were gathering to see what had happened and asking if anyone had died. By the Lord’s mercy everything was fine and no-one was injured, although there was slight damage to Srila Prabhupada’s finger. It was as if Prabhupada had taken all the pain on himself and protected the padayatris. I thought the padayatris would rest after this but to my astonishment, they just brushed the dust from their bodies and carried on with book distribution. Their reaction was like nothing untoward had taken place. It was a big shock for me how they could do such extraordinary things.
The Lord is surely pleased with the padayatris’ austerities. They are at so much risk while travelling and preaching but the Lord takes care. And hats off to their austerities. At 6°C they would take water from a handpump or well and take bath in the open, and no-one would miss mangal arati which is always followed by powerful kirtan and dance.
The love the padayatris have amongst themselves is extremely touching. It’s like they are children of the same mother – no fighting, no klesha (fear or ignorance leading to unhealthy action), no misunderstanding and so much love, all due to good sadhana. Dhirnayak is very caring and looks out for each padayatri. Once a devotee had a health issue so Dhirnayak came to him and said, “Don’t worry, we will go to the doctor.” As I saw this reciprocation, my heart melted. Dhirnayak said, “I was in the All India Padayatra as a pujari but by Gurudev’s mercy, I am managing padayatra and all credit goes to our spiritual master.”
Prasad is wonderful in padayatra and every day is a feast. Padayatra is all about chanting, dancing, and feasting. Every day opening the luggage, cooking, preaching and prasadam, then again packing and moving ahead. Padayatris have no idea where they will go the next day, where they will eat or where they will sleep. Sometimes they don’t even get a place to sleep.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
All glories to Srila Gurudev.
All glories to padayatris.
