By Damodarleela dasa, Maharashtra Padayatra leader
On the way to Sangli we reached Bhairavwadi, a very special village as it has given us Acarya dasa, a great devotee and ISKCON’s All-India Padayatra leader. When we were in Aravade we arranged to pass through Bhairavwadi to meet Acarya’s parents, having first informed them when padayatra would be arriving.
At Bhairavwadi we were graciously received by the residents. The roads were sprinkled with water and the village ladies washed our oxen’s hooves. We went directly to Acarya’s house and parked our chariot. His father is elderly and has difficulty walking, so we carried him outside and brought him in front of the chariot so that he could take darshan of Their Lordships. After Acarya’s mother had washed our oxen’s hooves we honoured his parents with Their Lordships’ maha-prasad garlands and performed sankirtan at their house.
That evening the villagers joined us in nagar sankirtan, after which we had Gaura-arati and a small class at a Shiva temple followed by prasadam distribution. The villagers are proud that their village boy is a Hare Krishna devotee serving in the All-India Padayatra and that he is the sole reason the Maharashtra Padayatra came to their village. Acarya’s parents were very happy and felt that their son had come home. And the padayatris were very happy to be in Bhairavwadi, the village of Acarya dasa.
