By Kaunteya Sakha dasa
My material name is Krishna Govind Vaidyu. I was born 1990 in the town of Jaysingpur, about 35km from the historic city of Kolhapur in southern Maharashtra. I came to devotional life in 2008 through ISKCON Belgaum, eventually getting in touch with ISKCON Aravade and then with Pandharpur. I was in Pune as a fulltime devotee for six years, enrolling in the Personality Development Course in 2012. I was initiated in Pune in 2014 and with the permission of my spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, joined the All-India Padayatra in the state of Kerala in 2017.
I spent four years in the All India Padayatra engaged in driving, cooking and book distribution as well as pujari seva. I also served as a pujari for Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar in the Vraja-mandala Parikrama and distributed 20 litre cans of water, a service that is always given to padayatris as they are strong. I had wonderful support from Dhirnayak dasa, Bradrabalram dasa, Acharya dasa, Madangopal dasa, Tamal dasa, Ram dasa, Sundur Govind dasa and Shantiparayan dasa on book distribution, which was excellent in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region where I recall distributing four or five Bhagavad-gitas at a wedding. On a book marathon in Chandrapur in eastern Maharashtra we were staying at a wealthy man’s house. One day for donation purposes the family did tula-dan of their daughter, that is weighing her and distributing that weight in sweets throughout the area. Later I asked the girl, “In your house tula-dan is done with sweets, but why don’t you do it of your father with Bhagavad-gitas?” They immediately agreed, weighing our host and distributing 122 Bhagavad-gitas. Everyone was happy with the result, the family saying they had never done such a tula-dan and thanking us for giving them the opportunity.
Austerity is happiness in padayatra. Before, I didn’t know about the All-India Padayatra so I used to go walking from Aravade to Pandharpur. Then when I joined in Pune, I would walk in the Dindi-yatra from Pune to Pandharpur. I like walking but I like to distribute books more. People take a Bhagavad-gita if you hand one to them. Inspiration comes automatically from their hearts. You only have to show them a Bhagavad-gita and they take it. If you put a Bhagavad-gita in their hands, as soon as they touch it, they become pure.
I have three brothers and one sister and our material parents have left this world. Now my eternal parent is our spiritual master, Loknath Swami Maharaja, and by his mercy I have got the service of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar. Currently I’m in the Maharashtra Padayatra serving as a pujari.
All glories to padayatra, our mobile temple.
