PRABHUPADA GHAT TO ACCOMODATE MILLIONS OF PILGRIMS IN PANDHARPUR DHAMA

by Brajprem Dasa

Up to 8 million pilgrims on Ashadi Ekadasi

During His padayatra to South India Lord Caitanya spent fourteen days in the holy city of Pandharpur in Maharashtra. Lord Nityananda and Lord Visvarupa, the elder brother of Gauranga Mahaprabhu also stayed there. It is in Pandharpur, the Vrindavana of Maharashtra, that Lord Nityanand took initiation from his guru Laxmitirtha Swami. Lord Visvarupa chose Pandharpur as His sannyasa kshetra and ended His pastimes there. Like all other pilgrims, They bathed in the waters of the sacred Candrabhaga River and took darsana of Lord Vitthal, the presiding deity of the city of Pandharpur.

It is said that Visvakarma, the architect of the demigods, created this river. The mere darsana of Candrabhaga, which is non different from Ganga or Yamuna, destroys all sins and blesses one with ultimate liberation. The Dindi yatra is a 700 year old tradition in Maharashtra during which millions of pilgrims ( also called Varkaris) walk from various cities in Maharashtra and neighboring states to take a purifying bath in the Candrabhaga and touch their head to Lord Vitthal’s lotus feet for a few seconds. Depending on the place the padayatris start from, they can walk up to 200 kms to reach Pandharpur, and then more during parikramas around the city. There are always pilgrims coming to Pandharpur, but many more on every ekadasi, when they usually stay 3 to 4 days (dasami, ekadasi, dvadasi and trayodasi). On the auspicious day of Ashadi Ekadasi Candrabhaga’s bosom is filled with 8 to 10 lack (800 000 to 10 million) pilgrims, but due to a lack of proper facilities, they experience much inconvenience. There are insufficient toilets, which results in very dirty – to say the least-river banks and water pollution, and not enough arrangements for food and drinking water.

An offering to Srila Prabhupada for ISKCON Jubilee

ISKCON Pandharpur, under the leadership of Lokanath Swami, took the initiative of constructing a ghat on the eastern bank of the Chandrabhaga, right down the temple property. On July 11, 2011, the day of Ashadi Ekadasi, the Bhumi puja of the Prabhupada ghat was performed in the presence of the Chief Minister and Gardian Minister. Lokanath Maharaj wants us to finish this project and inaugurate it by the main Ekadasi of Kartik 2016.

The government of the state of Maharashtra, being very culturally and religiously inclined, is very cooperative and is helping the project in a very significant way. Maharashtrian in general are very favorable towards spiritual activities. So far the government has given 1 crore ( 10 million) Rupees through the Sri Siddhivinayak temple, one of the famous temples in Maharashtra ; this temple located in Mumbai is under the direct supervision of the Maharashtra’s government. Both the government and ISKCON devotees are very concerned about the development of the banks of the sacred Candrabhaga river in the holy Pandharpur tirtha.

The Prabhupada Ghat project will be beneficial in many ways :

– It will protect the sanctity and cleanliness of the holy river by installing many utility rooms and toilets in the ghat project

– It will provide clean facilities for huge crowds to take bath

– It will avoid water pollution as direct access of vehicles and animals will be prohibited by the presence of the ghat.

ISKCON’s massive prasadam and book distribution on Ekadasi

Besides bathing and taking darsana, pilgrims perform kirtana, dance and chant various songs to Lord Vitthal and the great saint Tukarama; they also go on parikrama to visit other places near Pandharpur, give donations to temples, goshalas and other charitable organisations. ISKCON devotees feed thousands of pilgrims with Krishna prasadam, especially during the 4 main ekadasis : Kartik, Ashadi, Chaitra and Magh. On other ekadasis we just do a small Food for Life at our temple. Ashadi Ekadasi is the biggest one in terms of number of pilgrims : around 8 lacks (8 million). Pilgrims also visit our ISKCON temple in Pandharpur, and some get accomodated there. To house such big numbers of people in the city there are different mathas, temples, institutions, and dormitories arranged by the government.

During the four main ekadasis we distribute water and prasadam under the banner of Food for Life and we accomodate as many varkaris as possible on our own premises. In two days, ekadasi and dvadasi, we distribute up to 2 lacks (200 000) plates of prasadam at different spots along the itinerary of the pilgrims : near the Vitthal- Rukmini temple, at Tukaram Bhavan, Naath chowk Junction, Shivaji Chowk, the Pandharpur bus stand, and of course at our ISKCON temple. It takes 15 devotees to cook and around 30 devotees to serve the prasadam which is being transported in 4 vans.

On Ashadi ekadasi, the most crowded day of all, our Bhaktivedanta hospital in Mumbai arranges for more than 100 teams of doctors and staff to set up medical camps in order to give free medical aid to all pilgrims. We also arrange pandal programs at ISKCON Pandharpur with kirtana, pravachan, drama and other cultural activities.

We have a team of 15 to 20 young boys and members of the congregation distributing lots of books : Bhagavad-gitas, small Prabhupada’s books, the marathi Back to Godhead and Bhuvaikuntha, Lokanath Maharaja’s book on Pandharpur. This book exists in Marathi, English, Hindi and also in Telugu and Kannada. Herein Maharaja describes the various holy places in Pandharpur and the pastimes that took place there. He also explains how special is Pandharpur Dhama : it is the only place where anyone from any caste, sect or country can come and touch the lotus feet of Lord Krishna in His black form of Lord Vitthal. There is only one more place in the universe where anyone can touch a self-manifested deity of the Lord, Jagannatha Puri in Odisha. But only in Pandharpur can anyone touch the lotus feet of the Lord . Since Lord Jagannatha does not have feet, you can embrace Him and touch other parts of His body.

Still 50% of the funds to be collected

Since this ghat project is both a spiritual and a social service rendered for the welfare of people and an initiative helping the development of Pandharpur Dhama, we are contacting all kinds of people to collect funds. Happily the general mass of people are devotees of Vitthal/Krishna, and we also approach non devotees, and people belonging to any caste or sect. Already 50 % of the funds have been collected and we still need 5 crores and 85 lacks of Rupees (58, 500 million) to complete the construction. The total cost of the project is 10 crores (1 000 million). All donations are tax exempt under 80 G.

We invite all ISKCON devotees to visit Pandharpur, the Vrindavana of Maharashtra, behold the wonderful sight of Radha Pandarinath at our ISKCON Pandharpur temple, reside at our comfortable guesthouse and touch your head to the lotus feet of Lord Vitthal. He is waiting for your visit, His hands on His hips. Why not come during one of the main ekadasis, experience the amazing dindi yatra, chant and dance with the pilgrims and participate in one of our programs ? In any case, your generous donations to the Prabhupada ghat are welcome ! Helping the construction of this ghat is direct service to Lord Vitthal and the holy Candrabhaga river. Please contribute as much as you can and get Their blessings.

PRABHUPADA GHAT PROJECT

Chairman : Lokanath Swami

Board of directors :

Devakinandana Dasa, ISKCON Mumbai zonal secretary

Braja Hari Dasa, ISKCON Mumbai temple president

Sura Dasa, ISKCON Khargar temple president

Revati Raman Dasa, ISKCON Tirupati temple president

Krishna Nama Dasa, ISKCON Junnar temple president

Radheshyam Dasa, ISKCON Pune temple president

Gauranga Dasa, ISKCON Chowpatty Mumbai temple president

Prahlad Dasa, ISKCON Pandharpurtemple president

Chakradhar Dasa, Project head