By Kalanath Krishna dasa, Utkala-Banga padayatri
On January 11, the Utkala-Banga Padayatra stayed at a Saraswati Shishu Vidya Mandir, one India’s largest private networks of schools, in Utkela village in south-central Orissa. The padayatris were introduced to the schoolchildren and their teachers and organized a programme especially for them.
In addition to a prescribed curriculum the schools teach moral education from a Vedic perspective including learning Sanskrit, therefore the teachers and pupils were extremely cultured. When we entered the classroom, we were offered dandavats and as we started sankirtan they joined us and danced in front of Their Lordships Gaura-Nitai.
I was very happy to see the children’s reaction. Nowadays in the name of material advancement people are forgetting their culture and in general children are simply copying their elders. Mobile phones have taken over their brains. Neither their parents nor their teachers inform them of India’s Vedic culture, but these young people were well-mannered. Our padayatra leader, Dhirnayak dasa, gave a class for them about being Krishna conscious, which will ensure they remain cultured while also being spiritually enlightened.
Thus, padayatris are reviving the culture and values of students through a short Bhagavad-gita class. We also encouraged them to sing and dance to the holy name and requested their teachers to have them recite slokas and read the Gita. The teachers readily agreed to enact the proposal.
Srila Prabhupada, ki jai.
