By Aseem Krsna Das
Life is sublime when we are in the association of the pure devotees of the Lord. These pure devotees carry the Supreme Lord within their hearts and so they are endowed with all the six opulences as are possessed by the Supreme Lord himself*. Moved by their compassion, these pure devotees travel to deliver the common people from the whirlpool of this material world. They feel pained on seeing the sufferings of the common men but are overjoyed on seeing them progress in their devotional lives. These exalted devotees are expert in making arrangements to engage people in rendering loving service to the Lord. Such devotional events are ecstatic and transcendental. They give us some fine moments which we can cherish throughout our lives.
One such event was the wonderful Krishna Balaram Shobha Yatra organized in Dharamshala town in Himachal Pradesh on 1st October 2023. It was an event where devotees from different parts of India converged to glorify the Supreme Lord by chanting his holy names. His Divine Grace A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the founder acharya of ISKCON, propagated this sankirtan movement of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu throughout the world. ‘Sankirtan’ means congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada delivered hundreds of thousands of people out of their morose life towards a life full with joy and happiness by making them chant the holy names of the Lord. His Holiness Subhaga Swami, one of the senior most disciple of Srila Prabhupada most mercifully gave his audience and delivered the inaugural address for the yatra. He encouraged everyone present there to practice devotional life sincerely and also simultaneously preach the divine message of Lord Chaitanya to others and help them become Krishna Conscious. After Maharaja’s address, the Lordships were seated on a beautiful chariot which was especially designed for the mountains. Devotees decorated it with fresh flowers, ribbons and balloons. The procession started from the Laxmi Narayana temple, kotwali bazar, Dharamshala amid thunderous Kirtan. The kirtan party marvelously played all the instruments and devotees and common men alike danced to their tunes. Profuse amount of prasadam was distributed all along the Shobha Yatra route. His Holiness Subhaga Swami Maharaja most mercifully distributed prasadam from his hands on the chariot. Bananas, apples, fruit juices and other sweets were distributed. Everyone enjoyed the yatra. Local people thronged to pull the chariot and joined us all along towards our destination which was the Sri Sri Jagannath temple, Dari, Dharamshala. A sumptuous feast was arranged and around 2000 people honored Lord’s divine prasadam. It was an event where young and old, boys and girls, men and woman, the passersby and people from all sections of the society joined. A large group of devotees sincerely engaged in distributing Srila Prabhupada books all along the shobha yatra. A total of 500 books including 100 Maha Big books were distributed. We all hope that Srila Prabhupada would have been pleased by our tiny collective effort.
Srila Prabhupada has said, “We want to distribute our literature and books within as well as our prasadam, and injecting our Hare Krishna medicine within the ear. So, reading of the literature and hearing of the chanting is the medicine, and prasadam is the diet.” (Srila Prabhupada letter to Satsvarupa, Montreal, 1968) In the last I would like to thank His Holiness Srila Subhag Swami Guru Maharaja for his continuous guidance, support and encouragement to us. It is the catalyst which enables us to organize such wonderful events. All glories to Krsna Balaram!!!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!!!
Source: http://www.dandavats.com/?p=112068
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