Problems with the police.
On September 16th our Padayatra party traveled to Vadakara, a town in the Kozhikode district of Kerala. We were just about to enter the town when some policemen approached us. They said there was a lot of traffic and they could not let us pass, we turned around and after some time we tried to enter the town again but they wouldn’t allow us through. The policemen were quite upset, so I tried to explain to them that we were devotees of Lord Krishna spreading the Lord’s message everywhere but nobody listened. After a while the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) was called, we approached him and explained our objective. He allowed us to enter the town but said he would be present at whatever programs we had so that no problems are caused. I was happy they allowed us access to the town and I felt it was the Lord’s mercy that in some way or other they would all hear the Holy Names.
A change of heart
Wherever we went on saṅkīrtana in the town, the police accompanied us and actually surrounded us; indirectly they attended all the programs for the day. The next day we invited the officers for prasādam where we were staying, and they all came and honored prasādam with us. They were very friendly and said they would join us on saṅkīrtana the next day to provide us security in some of the more dangerous parts of the town. It was amazing how the very same police officers who had caused us such hindrance earlier, after honoring prasādam were now ready to help us. In fact after joining us for saṅkīrtana they invited us to the police station, where 60 out of the 100 policemen there purchased a Bhagavad-gītā from us! One of the policemen spoke to us and said when they first saw us, they thought we were conducting business in the name of the Lord; that we were selling books just to make money. This was why they didn’t want to allow us access to the town. He said, “But you are all the Lord’s men, and in fact you blessed our town by your saṅkīrtana. Thank you for giving us the Lord’s darśana and His Bhagavad-gītā.”
ALL INDIA PADAYATRA, VADAKARA, KERALA