By Radha Raman Dasa
After Janananda Maharaj’s wonderful kirtana at the end of the 3rd day of padayatra I returned to my home in Eastbourne due to my poor health. I was unable to join the padayatra for the next few days and was only able to return on the fifth and final day. The fourth day of padayatra, I later found out, was the most trying as devotees made the journey to Seaford. Ram Charana Dasa obliged and gave us a detailed account of what had occurred on that day.
Rama Charana Dasa:
“The fourth day was most challenging. We had to travel up huge hills and negotiate meandering roads. The padayatris struggled with pushing the cart to speed things up or pulling the cart to slow it down when it was going too fast. On our journey to Seaford we had to travel down a steep hill which we thought was impossible. As we made our way down the hill, we kept chanting and praying and depending on Krishna. What we witnessed next was a miracle –as the bulls made their way down the hill they suddenly started to meander from side to side, like skiers doing a slalom[1] down a ski slope. If the bulls had not used this technique to go down the hill and instead went straight the cart would have toppled over. It was a faith building exercise. Krishna had intervened giving the bulls the intelligence they needed to negotiate the steep slope. The fact that they managed to do this was especially poignant because the road we were travelling on was on top of a cliff. On the other side of the road were a few farmers watching on, fascinated by the situation we were in. If you looked from the top of the cliff it seemed impossible what we were trying to do –but by Krishna’s grace we traversed our obstacles. The farmers who witnessed this wonderful phenomenon thought it was luck but the devotees knew it was a miracle.”
Then came the final day of padayatra. My friends Priyakunda Dasa and Shyma Gauri Dasi also rejoined the walk that day. So, the three of us went in search of the padayatra party. We went to Seaford and Newhaven where the padayatra should have been passing by then but the padayatris were nowhere to be seen. We then went to Brighton and waited there. Bhakta Samy who was in the padayatra called me a while later saying that they had left late because they had savoured an amazing prasadam feast. It was the final morning of the padayatra so they had to use up all the bhoga. The feast consisted of three kinds of kichadi, abundant fruit and delicious halava. When the padayatra eventually reached Peacehaven the devotees were effulgent –they had been through five days of austerity for Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga and they were glowing. Sandipani Dasa was giving out leaflets and books and Parasaurama Dasa was still expertly guiding the bulls with his wife Moksha Laxmi Dasi at his side. Dayal Mora Dasa continued to guide the entire procession as he had been doing from the very beginning of the padayatra. It was a heroic effort. Dayal Mora Dasa and Raghunatha Bhatta Dasa (a veteran 90’s European padayatri) had actually started to charter the route many weeks ago. They faced terrible winter conditions establishing the route in the South East and finding resting places for the devotees and the bulls.
The bulls continued to attract attention. Rama Charan Dasa gives an example:
“I met a Muslim gentleman named Mohammed who was attracted to the bulls. He said that he had once owned a lion but, somehow he had become so attracted to these bulls.”
Shyama Gauri Dasi also commented:
“One thing I noticed was how many people were becoming attracted to the padayatra in the first instance because of the bulls. In this country many people love animals and this tendency was being directed towards Balarama and Padma, the transcendental padayatra bulls.”
Although bulls are not 100% required to hold a padayatra they did make a tremendous difference to our padayatra in the UK. We are very grateful to Dayal Mora Dasa for securing the bulls from Bhaktivedanta Manor. He had to go through a rigorous process to abide to all the health and safety requirements that is now a standard procedure in the 21st century. It is hard to put into words how much of dedication and devotion Dayal Mora Dasa put into this padayatra. We also appreciate the efforts of Taruna Dasa, the bulls’ custodian who was so attentive to their needs.
When we rejoined the padayatra, Mahavishnu Maharaja was leading a sweet kirtana and the devotees led by Rishi Raya Gauranga Dasa and Bhakta Samy were dancing gracefully. Rishi Raya Gauranga Dasa was another padayatra hero – he was there all day, every day either performing harinama, distributing books or heading the cooking team in the morning and evening. During the padayatra , Vayu Dasa, a specialist book distributor from London, distributed over 200 books, many prasadam lollipops and at least 500 padayatra leaflets a day. Throughout padayatra we also experienced heavy traffic and though other commuters and even the police were understanding, which is in itself a miracle, several challenges did arise. On these instances we travelled to an alternate route through Seafront and started our journey early. This assisted in avoiding traffic congestion, a problem in an already very congested city like Brighton. In spite of doing this we encountered a road block –fortunately it coincided with lunch time, so we stopped and took prasadam. Afterwards we discussed a way in which to get out of the road block.
We needed to get through an impenetrable barrier to escape the road block; luckily there was a gap but it was uneven and on the edge of a hill and the cart would need to go through on its side. We needed a miracle. All the devotees had complete faith that Krishna would make this work. This reminded me of the Aghasura demon pastime where the cowherd boys entered the mouth of the snake demon, Aghasura, having full faith that Krishna would protect them. Sure enough after detaching the bulls and removing the deities from the cart, we managed to take the cart through the gap. After rearranging the cart we travelled to Brighton Marina where the deities casted Their merciful glance in this materially opulent but spiritually degraded place.
After some time Mahavishnu Maharaja invited me to lead what turned out to be the last harinama of the padayatra. Once again whilst the devotees were physically tired, they were enlivened in spirit and the kirtana became increasingly ecstatic. When we passed through Ocean Village with its luxury apartment blocks people waved to us from their balconies and we happily waved back. As we continued to travel the cart was constantly getting stuck under bridges and encountering obstacles of a similar nature to what had occurred during lunch time. Somehow Parasaurama Dasa was fully empowered by Krsna to find a solution every time. The devotees continued to chant and dance with even greater enthusiasm until the padayatra set up camp for the last time, just outside Ocean Village in Brighton. Later that day a local devotee and musician, Mikey Jay visited us and led a kirtana on the beach that was even more ecstatic than before. The Lord reciprocated with the padayatris by giving them a wonderful taste of kirtana. We were also treated to an amazing feast of subhji, dhal, rice and halava cooked by the Brighton devotees. There is something magical about padayatra. It almost instantaneously brings the long forgotten Krsna Consciousness to the surface of the hearts of the conditioned souls. It had been so wonderful to see how people actually like Krishna Consciousness and the devotees. There are so many spiritual merits for those who go on padayatra, given their will to preserve and their complete dependence on Krishna!
[1] Slalom is a skiing discipline that involves skiing between poles or gates.
