Mydukur kids’d never been so happy
On August 3rd Padayatra India reached the town of Mydukur in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. As we were doing nagar sankirtana and book distribution in the town, the principal of a local school became very much impressed. He asked us many questions about padayatra, how it started, who was our inspiration and so on. That was a great opportunity for us to glorify Srila Prabhupada, ISKCON and Lokanath Maharaja, our beloved Gurudeva. We told the principal details of his life, and how he inspired us in our spiritual life. The principal then invited us to do a small program for the school children. We took it as Sri Sri Gaur Nitai’s mercy and happily headed for the school.
In the school we performed harinama sankirtana for the children. All of them sang and danced with us with full vigor, greatly enjoying themselves, jumping high with loud shouts of “Haribol! Haribol!”, their bright faces reflecting the happiness they felt. Then we had a short and simple lecture for the children, trying to inspire them to take up spiritual life at an early age by following devotees’exemple. All the school teachers were very happy to see all their students dancing and singing. One of the teacher said he had never seen them so happy before. Our country certainly needs such principals in all its schools, persons who are themselves interested in spirituality and also want their students to take up spiritual life. Then only can there be a happy and prosperous future for all!
Surprise Ratha-yatra in Tributaram
On August 6th we arrived in Tributaram, where we stayed for two days. When Maturesh Dasa, a disciple of Bhakti Caru Maharaja who had been on Padayatra India for four years, came to know that Padayatra and Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar were coming to town, he made all the necessary arrangements for the padayatris. He informed everyone about our arrival, which produced amazing results. The first day we did nagar sankirtana in the city, and all the nama-hatta devotees joined the chanting and book distribution. The next day they arranged for a Ratha-yatra and to our surprise about 500 people joined the procession. In the evening we held Gaura-arati in one of the squares, and many people came to chant and dance with us. The local devotees had about 100 kg of pongal rice Prasad, enough for about 3000 people. The news of the program spread all over town and all the local newspapers broadcasted the event.
Vijay, the Padayatra ox, goes back to Godhead
We have a sad news to report. On June 12th Vijay, one of our padayatra oxen, was seriously injured while one of our devotees was fixing the hoof plate on his hoof. His blood vessel got cut during that procedure and he could not walk any longer. We did all the necessary treatments and had two devotees take care of him. After eight days we shifted him to the goshala of ISKCON Narasaraopet, entrusting him to the care of the devotees there. On July 23rd we heard the sad news that Vijay had left his body. This ox was not an ordinary animal, he had pulled the cart carrying Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar and Srila Prabhupada for many years. We are sure he must have definitely gone back to Godhead to enjoy the eternal service of Gaur Nitai. Srila Prabhupada had told Lokanath Maharaja that this was the bright future of the padayatra oxen.
