By Acarya Dasa
Since the end of February this year our padayatra party enlisted a new member, Sahadev Dasa, a Russian devotee. We met him during our stay in Navadvipa where we spoke to him about the ‘All India Padayatra’. He was very interested and wanted to serve Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar and ever since then he has become one of us –a padayatri. This is his first time travelling around India and he is a perfect example of the mercy of Lord Caitanya. First, the Lord gave Sahadev Dasa His divine darsana in Mayapur and then slowly but surely He began pulling Him closer towards this mission. He has been with us now for three months and although he does speak a little English,he does not speak Hindi or Tamil. I am often asked how we communicate with this devotee and my response is, “Well, he does a lot of book distribution, how is that possible?”
We have realized that the people of Chennai do not respond when we address them in Hindi. So we have now begun to ask aTamil devotee to do all the announcements. This Tamil devotee actually taught Sahadev Dasa a few words in Tamil which he uses when he distributes books. This proves that a difference in language does not bar one from preaching the message of the Lord. We have seen how inspired people are by hearing a foreigner speak about the message of God. They may not listen to us but they are attracted to him. Whenever we ask Sahadev Dasa about how he does it, he responds by saying, “I just meditate on the lotus feet of Gaura Nitai and say, Oh merciful Lord please bless these souls. It works and people take a Bhagavad-gita.”
Anyone who walks on padayatra just once gets the unlimited mercy of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar. They are also blessed with many realizations which assists in creating a good foundation for spiritual advancement. When asked how he felt about his experience on padayatra thus far Sahadev Dasa said, “I feel my first tour to India is successful and I feel I am walking back to Godhead.” Sahadev Dasa always does whatever is asked of him and he is also a very good photographer. We therefore enjoy having him on padayatra. Whenever I think about communicating with Sahadev Dasa, I remember what my Gurudev, Lokanath Swami always says, “Unity of purpose and unity of vision.” It is because we are on the same mission that we can understand what’s going on in each other’s minds. My Guru Maharaj also described it with a nice Marathi phrase “eka hrdaya”. We all have the same purpose in our heart so things become easy.
Everyone should join in on this walk (padayatra) as Sahadev Dasa said “back to Godhead.”
Nitai Gaurasundar ki! Jai!