A padayatri’s experiences walking Nepal’s roads - ISKCON PadayatraISKCON Padayatra.
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 the Indian state of Bihar to join the Mahananda in Kishanganj district.
Along with our cart and oxen we went for sankirtan in a market town in the border region then crossed the Mechi into Bihar before returning to Nepal to begin our padayatra journey towards the country’s western tip.
In Nepal the atmosphere recently has been completely political due to parliamentary elections, but our padayatra kept going with the Hare Krishna maha mantra playing through the cart speaker. People were surprised that padayatra operated even in times when all offices and shops were closed. They would ask, “Why are you walking?” I replied, “Our Prabhupada says that in devotional service there is no holiday.”
Once I was reading The Path of Perfection by Srila Prabhupada and in the last chapter, he presents an allegory akin to our realization in padayatra. It is said that if a man has fallen into the ocean his only hope for survival is that someone comes to pick him up, he only has to be lifted one inch above the water no doubt to feel immediate relief. Similarly, as soon as we take to Krishna consciousness we are lifted up, instantly free of anxiety. It is clearly seen in padayatra that the people in general are drowning in the ocean of distress and sorrow, but as they come in contact with padayatra and see Their Lordships Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar, param-dayalu Nitai-Chaitanya, and the pictures displayed on the chariot of Krishna and Balaram playing the flute as They go cow herding, their faces start blooming.
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