Padayatra reached Zaregaon on July 17, 2023. It’s a small village in Karmala Taluka and Solapur district. The villagers welcomed us with beautiful garlands. The roads were decorated with rangoli. One of our devotees named Panduranga Jadhav belongs to this village. He invited us for prasadam and prepared Maharashtrian puran poli, a very famous Marathi dish. In all festivals, Maharashtrians make Puran poli. It was offered to our Lordships and we all honored prasadam.
The next day we went for naga
Padayatra in Nepal had started on January 19, 2021. Brahmacari Sahastranam dasa from Ukraine, who had been serving in Nepal for twelve years engaged in community and farm services lead the padayatra.
Another devotee,Premharinamdasa from Pune, Maharashtra, who had participated in the Dindi-yatra and served in Padayatra India, joined Brahmacari Sahastranam. Then Sahastranam Dasa had to go back to Ukraine. Then I by mercy of my spiritual master took up padayatra services. Some devotees joined in be
By Sri Baladeva Dasa (One day padayatra organizer)
On Sunday, July 30th, 2023, a grand and successful one day padayatra with bullock cart was organized in manusmudia village (80km from Jamshedpur). The event was a testament to the community’s unity and enthusiasm, bringing together residents from all walks of life to celebrate a memorable day.
The padayatra commenced at Kadam tala chowk where devotees gathered with all their offerings and bhogas to welcome their Lordships Sri Sri Nitai Gaurach
By Dayal Gopal dasa, Nepal Padayatra leader
The Nepal Padayatra restarted in the Jhapa district in southeast Nepal on November 17, 2022, following a gap of two months while the padayatris went on Vraja-mandala Parikrama.
Our first stop was at Kerkha village near the Kamala River. A family in the village welcomed us and arranged for our accommodation and prasadam at a Shiva temple. We performed nagar sankirtan in Kerkha and had a house programme at the family’s residence. The next day as we were
By Dayal Gopal dasa, Nepal Padayatra leader
Padayatra is continuing in Nepal and we are walking on the Mahendra Highway running the length of the country from east to west, the only major highway in Nepal.
At the eastern tip of Nepal, we came to the Mechi River, a trans-boundary waterway flowing through Nepal and India. A tributary of the Mahananda River, the Mechi originates in the Mahabharat Range in Nepal, flows through Nepal, forms Nepal’s eastern border with India and then flows through th
By Dhirnayak dasa, Utkal-Banga Padayatra leader
The Utkal-Banga Padayatra reached Sheragada village, a former market town in the Ganjam district of Odisha, a few days before Janmashtami, parking our chariot in front of the Jagannath temple.
The padayatris fasted on Janmashtami and during the day were busy with preparations of fifty-six bhoga and decorating the chariot with fruits and flowers. The previous day we had sankirtan in Sheragada and invited the residents for the two-day celebration o
By Dhirnayak dasa, Utkal-Banga Padayatra leader
The Utkal-Banga Padayatra recently spent time in the picturesque Mahendragiri region of Odisha. Mahendragiri is a mountain in the Rayagada block of the Gajapati district. The hill is situated amongst the Eastern Ghats at an elevation of 1500m and spreads across the neighbouring Ganjam district. The area is a wonderful creation of the Lord and as we were walking, we felt we were heading towards the Himalayas.
Mahendragiri, referred to in the Ramay
By Acarya dasa, All India Padayatra leader
The All India padayatris started their char dhama yatra from Haridwar on May 10, 2022, heading for Badrinath dhama via Joshimath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri, and lastly arriving at Gangotri on June 18. From Gangotri, we negotiated the steep downhill walk back to Haridwar and on June 20 returned to our preaching journey.
Padayatra headed south from Haridwar stopping at Bijnor where we celebrated the disappearance day of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur. There are so
By Acarya dasa, All India Padayatra leader
Having been joined at Rishikesh on May 11, 2022, by padayatris from the Maharashtra, Utkala-Banga and Uttar Pradesh padayatras along with several congregation devotees, the All India Padayatra began its char dhama yatra and after a journey of twenty days reached Badrikashram dhama on May 30, the AIP’s seventh round to Badrinath.
From Rishikesh we crossed the Panch Prayags, five confluences of the Alaknanda River: Dev Prayag, Rudra Prayag, Karna Prayag
Nepal is a 75% hilly country, so our chariot can’t go everywhere and we often need to walk from one village to another. We carry only our luggage and books and do book distribution and sankirtan. In Nepal, due to poverty and casteism many residents are converting to Christianity, having their books translated into the Nepali language.
There is less preaching of Sanatan dharma, but I was amazed to see the response of people to padayatra. As they hear harinama, they come out to join us and are v
By Acarya dasa (All India Padayatra leader)
The All India padayatris started the char dhama yatra from Haridwar on May 10, 2022. We had darshan of Hari ki paudi at Haridwar and Sapta rishi ghat and, of course, a holy dip in mother Ganges. The next day we moved ahead from Rishikesh and after a journey of twenty days we reached Badrikashram dhama on May 30. Some congregation devotees and padayatris from the Maharashtra, Utkala-Banga and Uttar Pradesh padayatras also joined this adventurous spirit
By Yashoda Dulal Dasa
For a number of years, ISKCON Christchurch in Te Waipounamu (New Zealand’s South Island) has held a combined padayatra (a walking journey) and boat festival. There are two small rivers running through the city, the Avon and Heathcote, that pass by beautiful forested gardens as well as the prominent urban centre, which is always an ideal setting for our colourful festivals.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/easter-festival-graces-new-zealands-garden-city/
By Jayabhadra devi dasi, IGF preacher ISKCON Amravati
On April 24, 2022, Amravati’s Bhakta Prahlad School teachers and ISKCON Girls’ Forum team held a Bala (little Vaishnava) padayatra. Every year we organize a three-day summer camp for children at ISKCON Amravati and on the last day we have our padayatra.
In the craft session on the final day of camp the children made frames for photos of Lord Krishna and Srila Prabhupada and posters with messages such as Save Water, Save Girls, Save the Earth
By Radha Vallabha dasa, Andhra Pradesh Padayatra leader
On April 26, 2022, our padayatra ox Govinda left his body. He had been serving since the start of the Andhra Pradesh Padayatra three and a half years ago. He was sadhu in his behaviour – he never hit anybody and was very silent. Even when children touched him or climbed on him when he was seated and pulled his tail and horns, Govinda was always quiet. He served our Lordships very nicely. We stopped in a village for some time during the pan
By Damodarlila dasa, Maharashtra Padayatra leader
We brought two oxen from Gujarat for our padayatra on the auspicious day of Gita Jayanti in 2021. Our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, mercifully named them Krishna and Arjuna. Happily, they both were serving. We never tied Arjuna to the chariot because the oxen require training and then they are yoked to the chariot, so Arjuna always walked behind the chariot. Three months back he fell causing a fracture of his right leg. We took him to a v
By Damodarlila dasa, Maharashtra Padayatra leader
On April 14 padayatra reached the town of Majalgaon 70 km northeast of Beed, the district headquarters, where the residents were happy to receive us. We carried the chariot to the house of a devotee family and had a wonderful programme. After some rest, we went on nagar sankirtan and people eagerly joined in and danced with us. That evening many villagers assembled for Gaura arati and I gave class on the importance of the holy name and the Bhaga
By Muralimohan dasa
On April 3, 2022, my team and I from ISKCON’s Ahmedabad temple, also known as Sri Radha Govinda Dhama, held a one-day padayatra at Nani Devti gram, about 30km southwest of Ahmedabad in Gujarat.
We arrived at the village to hear that a samuha chandi yajna was being conducted and many people had assembled at one place. Moving ahead we started sankirtan and as we reached the yajna everyone there was pleased to see a group of devotees performing sankirtan and asked us to say som
By Jayabhadra devi dasi
A one-day padayatra is a nice way of sensitizing villagers to ISKCON and the most-powerful holy name. As a Tuberculosis Officer in Maharashtra, I am continually sensitizing people to the disease, how to avoid it and control it, but we are all suffering from the disease of bhava-roga, repeatedly taking birth, and we need to bring this to people’s attention.
On February 19, 2022, the day of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaja jayanti, I accompanied several devotees to a one-day pa
By Dhirnayak dasa, Utkala-Banga Padayatra leader
The Bengal-Orissa Padayatra reached the town of Kantilo, about 100km west of Bhubaneswar, on February 8, 2022. There is a Sri Nilamadhava temple in Kantilo situated on the banks of the Mahanadi River atop twin hills with surrounding green forests. The temple is a miniature form of the Sri Jagannath temple at Puri and observes similar rites and rituals.
Tribal king Visva Vasu was secretly worshipping Nilamadhava. Later the Lord vanished and subseq
By Madhavi Kumari devi dasi, Bhubaneswar
My husband Sundar Govind dasa and I recently joined the Utkala-Banga Padayatra for four days. Our spiritual master, Lokanath Maharaja, always says, “Each one should join padayatra or if can’t at least do one-day padayatra,” and when padayatra reached Jatani, our hometown and suburb of Bhubaneswar in Odisha, we welcomed the padayatris and made arrangements for their accommodation.
The best part was I did book distribution with my daughter and son, Radha
