The third phase of the Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra had covered the villages falling in the Telangana region and located quite near to the proposed Farm Community project of the Govardhan congregation and other like-minded devotees. After winding up the third phase on December 30, 2015, the bus moved on towards Chirala to continue the next phase.
Akkayapalem is a small village located just 4 kms away from the Bay of Bengal, consisting of about four hundred houses. It has been know for large scale cattle rearing, since population is dominated by “Yadava” caste, who are known for tending animals. Earlier there were hundreds of cows and a few buffalos & goats but now it is vice versa. Never the less there are still around 60 cows in the village. One very good feature of this village is that almost all the animals go grazing because of the facility of having huge acres of government forest land which is used as pasturing ground or gochar bhumi . Few village people are assigned the job to take the animals for grazing for some salary. Paddy, corn, groundnuts and pulses are the main crops cultivated here. There are thousands of tal trees and a few hundreds of coconut trees.
A devotee from ISKCON Chirala congregation has some land of around 30 cents (100 cents-1 acre) close to this village and has also offered that land for use. The ashram devotees performed a herculean task of clearing the land by removing 150 tal trees manually and the land is presently treated with cow dung and urine. A small house is built and a family is ready to move in to start some cultivation after Sankranthi festival this year. Very soon, once the family settles there, we are planning to bring in cows in the land as there is huge grazing land available.
While the work of felling trees was going on, villagers discouraged that manually it was an impossible task to accomplish. However, there was one villager, named Krishna who not just encouraged us but also assisted us in the task. Thus associating with devotees he started chanting Hare Krishna on beads and has gradually even taken to following all the four regulated principles now. Last year he joined us to Sridham Mayapur yatra; ever since he wears the Gaudiya vaishanava Tilak and chants every day. He has also offered to devotees to use his one and half acre land for cultivation or for growing fodder for cows.
On January 2, 2016, Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra bus arrived to the village around 5 in the evening. Akkayapalem was the forty fourth village bead of the Yatra. As was the experience in other villages, here too scores of children gathered around and actively participated in the Harinam. The roads were all dusty as the cattle returned from grazing. Their hooves filled the air with dust, proving true the name of this hour- godhuli bela. Though there were repeated announcements, the elder villagers started trickling in after 7.30 pm. Later we came to know that almost everyone was busy milking their cattle. All the people who were around, listened attentively and after the program devotee volunteers interacted with many villagers who gave positive feedback about the program. Many farmers appreciated the idea of cow-based agriculture. Interestingly many young men and women purchasedBhagavad-gitas and japa malas. After the mahaarati, people very reverentially honored Jagannath’s prasadam.
As we were going back to ISKCON Chirala temple we heard the children chanting Jai Jagannath! Jai Prabhupada! When enquired, we realized that in the evening little before the beginning of the program it had so happened that several children had come near the altar and pointing towards Srila Prabhupada whispered amongst themselves saying, “Look sai baba”, so devotees near the altar corrected them telling that it is Srila Prabhupada and made them chant Jai Jagannath and Jai Prabhupada for number of times like japa. The children had thus caught this jingle and were now chanting it again much to the satisfaction and pleasure of devotees.
Srila Prabhupada ki Jai!
Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar ki Jai!!
Source: http://www.iskconvarnasrama.com/home/yatra-reaches-the-coastal-villages/
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