3rd – 5th day of Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra
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Vrndavanlila Dd (Dr. Vrinda Baxi)
Srila Prabhupada: Just see how quickly there will be response. Therefore I was insisting, “Go village to village, town to town.” Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prediction: prthivite ache yata nagaradi…
Mahamsa: Grama, yes.
Srila Prabhupada: So it will never be foiled. Let us now begin village to village.
(Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk – Bombay, 21Nov’75)
In the spirit of serving their beloved guru and his guru His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada, the small team of devotees comprising Gour Gopal prabhu, Jananivasprabhu, Ram Lakshman prabhu, Rupanuga prabhu, Sripati prabhu, Siddha Balram prabhu, Toshan Krishna prabhu, (names in alphabetical order) moved on to the next village named Mallareddygudem (October 27). This had unique problem. There was no water facility, even drinking water was sparse and one had to make all kinds of ingenuous ways to face this problem, beginning from the basic requirements of cleanliness to cooking bhoga for the Lordships. It had become even more pronounced in the humid climate of the village. The devotees wondered how the people were able to live under these difficult circumstances. Soon they understood as they experienced it first-hand. This aridity was more than compensated by the shower of love.
However, undeterred the group continued its Yatra. Covering one village in a day, the group had already been to two villages by then. Every location was at a distance of about 10-15 kms from each other. Their third target village was Mallareddy Gudem (October 27), the fourth one Raghhunath Palem (October 28) and fifth one Madhavaram (October 29). Everywhere the basic program structure remained more or less the same–Sri Jagannath Rathyatra, kirtan, dancing, lecture, offering lamps to Lord Damodar, screening of documentary movie on gomata, pledge-taking for cow protection followed by prasadam and book distribution.
The lectures were usually given by HG Sripati prabhu, HG RamLakshman prabhu in Telugu language, kirtan seva was rendered by HG Gour Gopal prabhu, arati by HG Toshan Krishna prabhu, and other miscellaneous support services by HG SiddhaBalaram prabhu.
Yet every village remained unique in its experiential value. The book distribution figures kept increasing encouragingly. It had begun with 17 maha-books and similar figure for small books, it increased to 40 maha-books and 50 small books; and the next day it touched 75 maha-books and similar number of small books. Every villager wanted to buy Bhagavad-gita and Srila Prabhupada’s books. The revolutionary wave of spiritual awakening had begun (including us), not sparing the villages located in total remote and obscure areas with no facility for transportation. The Holy Name was reaching and inundating the simple minded villagers in its rasa and unknowingly countless seeds ofbhakti were being planted in so many hearts.
I was wondering that the whole world talks about widespread illiteracy in India, how come these villagers living in remote villages are buying books in such a great number. This was certainly a big figure for villages which are not so densely populated as cities. Also surprising was the general perception of seeing villagers as poor people. When I enquired with the involved devotees, Gour Gopal prabhu gave a wonderful reply which will put any city dweller to shame.
I asked, “The general perception is that the villagers are illiterate but the reality seems to be very different. It seems there is widespread literacy in the villages that is why Rupanuga prabhu is able to sell the books in such great number.”
Gour Gopal prabhu said, “To your surprise, 70 out of 75 buyers are illiterate.” Making me more surprised than ever he continued, “After the lecture and movie screening when the villagers came to know that this Bhagavad-gita was spoken by the Supreme Lord Himself, and that the book was like a manual for living their lives meaningfully as humans, they simply wanted to buy it. Initially even we were wondering, but then we realized they were taking Bhagavad-gita to worship with incense and lamp on their home altars! They may not be able to read it, but they could worship it.” This simple statement was enlightening. Whom we generally ignore as illiterates, proved to be more educated than sophisticated looking city dwellers. What took me years to realize (that too not completely) they had understood in a few seconds:
Nama cintamani Krsnas, caitanya rasa vigrahah
Purna suddho nitya mukta, ‘bhinnatman nama naminah (Padma Purana)
Then again,
Krsnanama Krsnasvarupa dui to saman
Nama vigrahasvarup tin ekarupa
Tine bhedgenahi tin chid-anandarupa
Deha dehi nama name krsna nahibhed
Jiver dharma nama dehaswarup vibhed (Chaitanya Charitamrta)
They had understood this non-difference spontaneously and easily without any effort. No wonder simplicity of heart is considered as one of the main attributes for progress in bhakti--simplicity of heart like Hanuman or like the gopis of Vrindavan. The gopis never went to any school or university but they acquired the highest education and bhakti. They control the supreme controller!
The generally considered “poor” villagers are actually also one of the richest people. They have a large heart. Despite their limitations, they could afford to buy so many books, but in cities though people earn hefty amount they do not have the heart and money to buy one Bhagavad-gita. The city people are so rich, so… rich, so…..rich that they have ONLY money. Here in the villages, the people were rich in material terms also and also because of the fact that they could keep and serve the master of Laxmi or wealth – Laxmipati or Lord Krsna in their houses in the form of His words and His name-Bhagavad-gita and chanting of His Holy Name– Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
The devotees’ day would wind up late at night and begin early, it was austere but it gave them very less time to let maya attack. They would rise early to cleanse themselves, complete their rounds, perform mangal arati to the presiding deities–Sri Jagannath Baldev and Subhadra, cook bhog and then move with their belongings to the next new village, choose a suitable spot, unpack and ready for the next show-–again cooking for distribution and self-consumption, readying for the rathyatra, arati etc, carry heavy 12kgs speaker on the shoulder throughout the yatra and after the program gets over, again pack up by 2330 hrs, rest in any village temple. Despite all these hardships, all the involved devotees considered it worth the effort. They found it adventurous, exciting and spiritually fulfilling. They were more than ready to move on. It may be very difficult to comprehend for someone who is not a part of that. However, anybody who has been there even for a day can understand the subtle joy that it offers – the joy of giving Harinam to the villagers, being an instrument in reviving our old Vedic culture and fulfilling our acarya’s dream. At the same time, the devotees could also learn the lessons of simplicity and real wealth from the villagers. When one travels, one can easily see how cities are steeped in mode of passion and ignorance; while villages (better so with interior villages) are more in mode of goodness.
Villages are citadels of Vedic culture and civilization. Though relatively better, yet not completely untouched by Kali. It is unfortunate to see that villagers are also getting infected by the city syndrome – consumerism and sense aggrandizement (both injurious for spiritual progress) because of the so-called economic development and intrusion of internet, television and mobiles. These village outreach programs not only help spread the Holy Name, but also ensure that our foundations are sound.
The village life which had slowly eroded to remove Gau and Govind from their original positions and revolved only around agriculture and that also in its distorted form for commercial reasons, was now about to change. Because of the initiative of the ISKCON Daiva Varnasrama Ministry- India, an endeavour was made to restore the villages with their old glory, complete with cows and Krishna at the center of their activities. It was encouraging to see that all the villagers were accepting it open heartedly. They would listen intently to the lectures as they had no botheration of time, no office to go , they showed curiosity to know more about the panchgavya products, about cows, organic farming and dance ecstatically to the Harinam. What a life!
Would you not like to meet such simple people every day? Isn’t the whole exercise so exciting? Everyone is welcome to be a part of this Discovery Yatra – Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra. For further details, please visit: iskconvarnasrama.com. One can also view the pictures by following the below links:
3rd day – https://flic.kr/s/aHskov5CSA
4th day – https://www.flickr.com/gp/128411393@N03/1o2h55
5th day – https://flic.kr/s/aHsko1G811
Hare Krsna!
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!!
Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra ki Jai!!!
Source...http://www.dandavats.com/?p=21130
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