By Narada Dasa
In one month we’re going to start a 3 month Padayatra in Russia. Even though we now have a serious economical crisis in the country, we are ready to do whatever is takes to make this Russian Padayatra a very good offering for Lokanatha Maharaja and Srila Prabhupada’s pleasure.
We now have more than 27 padayatris from all over Russia, and one great kirtaniya, Mukti Datta Prabhu, will also join us. We’re planning to travel around 50 cities and villages doing harinama sankirtana, and to also have a bullock cart for some time, but for all that we do need some laksmi. In order to take care of all these padayatris, to organize transportation, pay for petrol, and so on, we need a total $ 5177. It’s an average of less than $ 60 a day, which is not much at all considering the number of devotees and the duration of the padayatra.
During the padayatra we are planning to raise donations by book distribution, and thus hope to cover around $ 2000. So far I raised $ 200 in Russia, which means we still need to raise $ 2977, more than half of the total amount needed.
We are humbly appealing to all of you to please make a generous donation for this project meant to glorify ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada.
In a recent interview about Padayatra Russia, Lokanath Swami quoted a Newsweek cover stating that Hare Krishna is the fastest growing religion in the former Soviet Union, with around 100 000 devotees. He commented that we have to let the Russian people know that the Hare Krishna devotees are very good people, friendly people working very hard for everyone’s welfare.
Padayatra budget
Petrol for 4 cars (total of 4000 kms) $ 2270
Prasadam for 30 – 50 devotees for 90 days $ 1600
Distribution of prasadam sweet balls $ 610
Sound system, microphones $ 360
Bullock cart, decorations $ 220
Phone calls, visa invitation, official documents $ 117
Total $ 5177
How to send the laksmi :
- PayPal : at my account naradadasa@mail.ru (that’s all you need)
- For any other convenient means of money transfer, please contact me at the same email address.
Schedule :
May 12 : KIRTAN 50 Festival in Samara
May 15 to June 15 : Ural Region : from Samara to Chelabinsk, Ekaterinburg, Perm and Kazan
June 15 to July 25 : Central region of Russia : From Kazan to Moscow.
After Moscow there will be bullock cart padayatra through some villages.
July 25 to August 15 : South Russia : Rostov-on-don and Black Sea aria.
Link to the video of Lokanath Swami talking about padayatra Russia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsYJXxkxzhE&feature=youtu.be
Link to photos of the 2016 Padayatra party
Attached :
- Padayatra poster
- Photo of last year’s padayatra party
