By Narottama Dasa
This journey started with an intense eagerness to bring back enthusiasm, life and energy to our brahmacari ashram. So, my friend Mukharavinda Dasa and I decided to walk 654kilometers from the city of Johannesburg to the city of Durban in South Africa. We had never done anything like this before and we were not athletes, but the idea to raise funds to buy a sankirtana bus became the driving force behind our bravery.
As part of our preparation to walk the 654kilometers, we practiced walking 47kilometers from Johannesburg to the city of Pretoria on weekends. We quickly realised during our practice walks that it would be unrealistic to walk 47 kilometres each day. So, we decreased the number of kilometres we would walk to 30 to 35 kilometres a day which brought the number of days we would be on the road to 18 days. We knew that the walk would be very challenging, but once we started, turning back would not be an option. Also, the prospects of being assisted to purchase a mini bus for our preaching and travelling sankirtana party was so encouraging and enlivening that little attention was paid to the fatigue and tiredness of the body and mind.
Walking to raise funds
The brahmacari ashram is a very important ashram in our movement and is essentially a group of individuals who have decided to make themselves available 7 days a week, 365 days a year, to not only develop their own spiritual lives but also to help spread Krishna consciousness. So if the brahmacaris are not happily engaged, they will go and find engagement somewhere else. Brahmacaris are also a minority group and since we personally do not have beautiful track records as cutting edge preachers, who would listen to our plea for a sankirtana bus? We realized that every temple is raising funds for different temple projects and are fully absorbed in temple matters. So, walking 654 kilometres was our way of loudly crying out and begging to whoever would listen –to help us acquire a mini-bus that we could use to take our movement to every town and village.
Book distribution along the way
During the first few days of our journey, we distributed a few books and pamphlets, but we soon ran out of stock. And so, for the rest of the way when people would inquire as to where we were heading, dressed up in unusual attire, preaching would ensue, followed by an exchange of contacts details and so on.
We only carried a few books and pamphlets because it was difficult to carry more while walking. Altogether we carried our tent which weighed around 5 kilograms and fastened it to a trolley (another 3 kilograms) that we pulled behind us as we walked. The trolley was also attached to our bag pack which weighed an extra 15 kilograms. We took turns pulling the trolley after every15 kilometres. Initially, we were going to have a car assist us by carrying our belongings and snacks, driven by our helper, but there was a mechanical issue with the car and it had to go in for repairs. We had postponed the walk two times before and this time around with the car breaking down and not wanting to delay the walk again, we decided to camp as we travelled.
Camping out
We searched the internet for a second-hand tent and found one which we quickly purchased since there was scant hope of fixing the car in time for the walk. So we decided that instead of walking for 30 to 35km a day, then travelling by car to our lodging for the night, and returning the next day to start where we left off–we would rather find a spot where we could rest as we walked. This would be either a garage (petrol station) or we would ask people to let us use their patch of land for the night, with an agreement to vacate at around 7 am the next day.
Challenges along the way
We faced many challenges during our journey. In some towns, we would arrive late at night and would have to go house to house asking home owners for permission to camp in their yards. There was usually only one out of every five land owners who would agree to our proposal. Then we would set up our tent. At the end of an entire day of walking all we wanted was a warm welcome home, but for us, this meant arriving home and building our own house. This was the most challenging and exhausting part of our journey. On the fourth or fifth day of the walk, I could not sleep at night because both my knees hurt so much to the point where I couldn’t even feel my legs. I had to use knee-cap guards and ankle-cap guards to support my joints after that. When I recall what we had to go through, tears start to gather in my eyes.
Another challenge was that though we needed to drink a lot of water while walking, we could not carry too much, for carrying more water meant increasing the already heavy weight on our shoulders. At one point we even ran out of water and had to walk for 8 to 10 kilometres dehydrated.
Great encounters
We met wonderful people along the way many of whom tried to assist us in some small way or other. There were many motorists and truck drivers who would stop to give us a lift, only to become struck with wonder when we explained that we were walking to Durban, a distance that takes them 3 to 6 hours, would take us 18 days to cover. They were always interested to hear about where we came from, and why we were walking.
On one occasion, on a very sunny day, alongside the N3 road (the highway from Johannesburg to Durban) the police stopped us to check if everything was okay. The security officers patrolling the highways would also occasionally stop us to inquire if we were okay. The officers would comment by saying that they had never seen anyone doing what we were doing.
The only exciting part of the walk was when we would sit down and talk about all the preaching programs and all the wonderful harinams we were going to perform if we could somehow get the mini bus we needed. Otherwise, there was really no excitement or fun standing and walking on both your legs for 30 plus kilometres day in and day out for 18 days.
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When I received a letter from Srila Prabhupada and was sent to South Africa in 1973 to take up the preaching work to establish Krishna consciousness in South Africa, I had an image in my mind that I would encounter white men in short khaki uniforms carrying machine guns. While that was not too far from the truth, I also encountered many beautiful souls from all backgrounds to spearhead out preaching programs there. This led to Srila Prabhupada’s visit in 1975, in what was described by the photographer Bhargava das as the best preaching programs he had ever seen for Srila Prabhupada in his experience.
Now, just see how you are sacrificing your lives for Krishna’s service, pushing Srila Prabhupada’s mission along. I remember the first times that we went out on Sankirtan on the streets of Capetown, and we boldly spoke in the Apartheid controlled state that , “we are not the body. We are all spirit souls, servants of God.” None are black, white, brown. That is merely the temporary body. We are all equal to God”. Such a great relief could be seen on the faces of the African people! One could see the potential.
I will find out how to send my contribution to you through my bank to your account to help with the purchase of your preaching van, just as we had a yellow VW van to preach throughout South Africa during my time there. Hare Krishna. All Glories to Srila Prabhupada!!
Pusta Krishna das