All India Padayatra by ISKCON Receives Grand Welcome in Mangaluru
Mangaluru: On September 26, the All India Padayatra by ISKCON received a grand welcome at ISKCON Nanthur. President of ISKCON Mangaluru Nama Nischita Dasa welcomed the members of the Padayatra team and made all the arrangements for the accommodation for 30 members of the team.
Speaking to mangalorean.com Nama Nischita Dasa said, “The Padayatra team consisting of 30 members arrived to Mangaluru. They stayed overnight in Ullal, from Ullal they visited the Mangaladevi Temple, Ramakrishna Math, Jalaram Mandir in Bunder road, Kudroli Temple and now they are here with us. Tomorrow, September 27 early morning they will continue their journey. This All India Padayatra started in 1984 and this is the sixth round of the Padayatra. During the padayatra, all the five bulls accompany them. The Lord has blessed and accepted the bulls in his service”.
In-charge of All India Padayatra Acarya Dasa hailing from Maharastra speaking to mangalorean.com said, “I joined ISKCON 18 years ago. I started this Padayatra 9 years ago. We get up early in the morning, holds prayers and later continue our padayatra. We walk for about 20 to 25 Kilometers a day. We take all our food, books, and other requirements in our mobile temple. We have five bulls accompanying us of which four of them pull the mobile Temple and the cart. If any bull gets tired or sick the fifth one will take its place.”
Acarya Dasa further said, “Our bull Narasimha is pulling the chariot for the second time of the All India Padayatra . Narasimha is with us from the past 10 years. This Padayatra continues by the grace of God. While we came from Kanyakumari, the roads were very narrow. Sometimes when the traffic gets blocked, people get angry but after seeing the Bulls they change their mind, stop and receive blessings”.
Acarya Dasa also said, “In Jharkhand, the Naxalites had attacked us. We were all tied up and assaulted, there were more than 25 Naxalites checking our belongings. We were continuously praying to God to save us from them. In spite of pleading with them to leave us, they showed no mercy. In fact, I was hit with a wooden club on my head. When one of the devotees saw me being injured he got angry but he too was assaulted. for about an hour we were held hostage. Finally, when they did not find anything valuable with us, they got upset and blasted two bombs. The sound of the blast was so loud, within an hour the police reached the spot and the Naxalites fled leaving us. It is Lord’s blessings that we were saved from the Naxalites by the police.”
Last month when we reached Kerala more than 500 people were waiting to welcome us despite the heavy rains. The people in Kerala pulled the Padayatra cart allowing the bulls to rest. It was a nice moment for us that all the devotees joined us for Sankirtana. The padayatra takes us to every place in the country preaching and distributing the Holy Names. During the padayatra, we sell holy books. Seeing the bulls people buy Holy books. Our Bulls also co-operate with us and enjoy walking.
On September 27, the team continued their padayatra from Nanthur – Bikkarnakatta – Kulshekar towards Moodbidri.