By Nrsimha Caitanya das
21st Czech Padayatra completed! Again it was such a blissful and unforgettable event!
We were walking for 16 days in the region of South Moravia in the Czech Republic. This year’s Padayatra was special in many ways – at the beginning, for three days we were joined by Euro Bus Tour – many enthusiastic young devotees from different countries, who were a great source of inspiration for us and who during two evening cultural programs performed nice drama, dancing and mridanga show.
Then, a historical moment occurred – after 10 years, our Czech Padayatra was visited by His Holiness Lokanath Swami, the minister for Padayatra! His holy presence was so transcendental and sweet, that we were immediately transferred directly to the spiritual world! He also participated in two evening programs for public, where he addressed people with a talk and he lead lively kirtan. Altogether, we held 121st Czech Padayatra completed! Again it was such a blissful and unforgettable event!
We were walking for 16 days in the region of South Moravia in the Czech Republic. This year’s Padayatra was special in many ways – at the beginning, for three days we were joined by Euro Bus Tour – many enthusiastic young devotees from different countries, who were a great source of inspiration for us and who during two evening cultural programs performed nice drama, dancing and mridanga show. Then, a historical moment occurred – after 10 years, our Czech Padayatra was visited by His Holiness Lokanath Swami, the minister for Padayatra! His holy presence was so transcendental and sweet, that we were immediately transferred directly to the spiritual world! He also participated in two evening programs for public, where he addressed people with a talk and he lead lively kirtan.
Altogether, we held 13 evening programs, with approximately 1200 guests participating, we distributed around 2500 coconut sweets during these programs and 800 maha bananas thrown from the chart. Also three times different TV stations came to shoot us. During this Padayatra 2014, record number of books was distributed – 2855! Which is almost double compared to the result from the last year when we distributed 1473 books. Also 570 packs of prasadam were distributed to the conditioned souls in the region. Another memorable fact is that our beloved ox Nanda, who is 15 years old now, walked with us for the 10th time – and for him, this was his last Padayatra. He really did a great job throughout the years and we will miss him.
Now he deserves some rest. In the biggest town of this year’s route – Hodonin – there was a yearly folk festival being celebrated when we arrived there with our Padayatra, and our great bharat natyam dancer Lila Mohini had the opportunity to dance on the main stage for 20 minutes, while some 1100 visitors were eagerly looking at her skills. So really if we look at our Czech Padayatra 2014 as a whole, it was simply wonderful and we want to expand it even more for the next years! Padayatra bhakta vrinda ki jay!3 evening programs, with approximately 1200 guests participating, we distributed around 2500 coconut sweets during these programs and 800 maha bananas thrown from the chart. Also three times different TV stations came to shoot us. During this Padayatra 2014, record number of books was distributed – 2855! Which is almost double compared to the result from the last year when we distributed 1473 books.
Also 570 packs of prasadam were distributed to the conditioned souls in the region. Another memorable fact is that our beloved ox Nanda, who is 15 years old now, walked with us for the 10th time – and for him, this was his last Padayatra. He really did a great job throughout the years and we will miss him. Now he deserves some rest. In the biggest town of this year’s route – Hodonin – there was a yearly folk festival being celebrated when we arrived there with our Padayatra, and our great bharat natyam dancer Lila Mohini had the opportunity to dance on the main stage for 20 minutes, while some 1100 visitors were eagerly looking at her skills. So really if we look at our Czech Padayatra 2014 as a whole, it was simply wonderful and we want to expand it even more for the next years!
Padayatra bhakta vrinda ki jay!