On March 19th, Padayatra India left Mayapur, heading towards the villages of Bengal where many preaching programs would take place. ISKCON Nama-Hatta devotees collaborated with us from the beginning, and this would be the case for the next two months while the party was in West Bengal. The first twelve days we travelled around 130 kms and covered 12 villages of the Nadia District. We visited several places of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya and His prominent devotees,: Advaita Acarya’s home in Shantipur , Haridasa Thakura’s bhajan sthali in Phulia, Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s home in Birnagar, Mahesh Pandit and Jagdish Pandit’s home in Chagda , and Sodpur, the location of the famous Panihatti rice festival.
Devotees did ecstatic kirtanas in these places for the pleasure of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundara and Srila Prabhupada. The local people and the pujaris were happy to see the Padayatra devotees and they offered us a warm welcome along with maha-prasada. Most of these temples are run by the Gaudiya Maths.
ISKCONis well-known to the people of Bengal, and by default, every person there knows about Mahaprabhu and harinama, so the Bengalis welcomed the padayatris very enthusiastically. The people were very friendly, the tropical climate pleasant and the landscape soothing with its green fields, but at the same time we could just deplore that these Bengalis do not seriously follow the rules and regulations given by the sastras, as they eat fish and chew pan, while wearing sacred tulasi malas. We were very disturbed to see so many shops selling beef openly on the road. The entire population of Bengal is non-vegetarian, except for the followers of the Gaudiya Math and ISKCON. It’s a heart-rending experience for the devotees to see people with vaisnava tilaka on their forehead and tulasi neck beads purchasing fish and chicken from the slaughter shops. There is no mercy in their hearts. They all think that this is their culture . When we show them the book called The Laws of Nature, they think that we are simply being a hindrance to their sense enjoyment. Most refuse to take the book, despite its very attractive cover, only those who have some pious karma accept it. The Laws of Nature is compiled from the teachings and writings of Srila Prabhupada. It explains about the laws of material nature are very strict, how they force the living entities to go through the six stages of life- birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, diminution, and destruction. Among other topics it also shows how to break the bonds of karma, God and His energies, and the position of Krishna.
Along with prasadam distribution from the Deity cart, devotees distribute books with great determination. In twelve days they distributed 145 big books, 3800 Back to Godhead magazines and 500 small books. As soon as people hear the sound of the maha-mantra coming from Nitai-Gaurasundara’s cart they run out from their homes to get the Lord’s darsana and to receive some prasadam. The only ones not accepting prasadam are the Muslims. Devotees are a little afraid of them as they look at our oxen with no sympathy at all. In fact, when the procession moves in their area, they unashamedly ask us the price at which we will sell them our oxen. We know very well what they’ll do after they buy them, sell them to a slaughterhouse, where they’ll be cut to pieces, and then be eaten. Despite these kinds of thoughts, they still manage to show some appreciation for the animals and look at their huge horns with amazement.
Vasudev Nandan Dasa from the Nama-Hatta head office in Mayapur is our main preacher and he helps us organize the evening programs in each village of Nadia. A few other devotees from the Nama-hatta walk along, assisting him. The program consists of the whole devotional package : nagar sankirtan, Gaura arati, book distribution, Bhagavad-gita lecture, japa session and devotional videos shows meant to improve the preaching work. Mostly women and children come to the program, where they dance ecstatically. Srila Prabhupada had indeed told us that women, having a simple heart, are more inclined to accept the path of devotional service and participate in devotional functions. The Nama-Hatta Bengali devotees who receive us have very big hearts, which is shown by their wonderful service attitude. They smear the padayatris’ feet dust on their heads and sometimes they offer dandavat pranam to them.
On April 20, Padayatra arrived in Duttpukur, a small town with mostly Muslims, located in the Northern part of the 24 Pargana District. After Vasudev Nandan left the party, every devotee on Padayatra felt some separation from him. They’re all are missing his friendly nature, his preaching style, and his caring attitude, and they keep calling him to come back on Padayatra for more preaching programs. Happily, another devotee, Sudama Sakha Dasa, a Nama-Hatta devotee from Mayapur preaching in the North 24 Pargana District joined us to arrange programs in that area. In the past fifteen days, the book scores have increased : 3 Bhagavatam sets, 2 Caitanya-Caritamrita sets, 400 big books, 4400 Back to
Godhead magazines, and 8000 small books.
Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam !
