By Acarya Dasa

The Lord of Guruvayur

We arrived in Guruvayur (also written as Guruvayoor or Gurupavanapuri) on June 24^th. This municipal town located in the Thrissur district of Kerala is home to the ‘Guruvayur Sree Krishna’ temple. The temple has the fourth largest number of devotees, visiting per day, in all of India. It is also referred to as the Dwarka of South India and as “Bhooloka Vaikuntam” meaning ‘the holy abode of Vishnu on Earth’. Guruvayurappan comes from the words ‘Guru’ referring to Brihaspati, the Guru of the Devas (demigods); ‘Vayur’ which refers to ‘Vayu’ the God of the wind  and; ‘Appan’ meaning father or Lord in the Malayalam language. Since the deity is said to have been installed by Guru and Vayu the deity was named ‘Guruvayurappan’ – ‘the Lord of Guruvayur’.

It is believed that the deity of Guruvayurappan was once worshipped by Vasudeva and Devaki, Lord Krishna’s parents, and represents the Maha Vishnu form as revealed to them when Krishna appeared. The deity was also later worshipped by Krishna Himself. Carved from ‘Patala Anjanam’ stone or black bismuth and in a standing pose the deity is a four-armed form of Vishnu carrying the conch Panchajanya, the discus Sudarshana Chakra, the mace Kaumodaki, the lotus and adorned with a divine Tulsi garland. The deity faces east and is four feet tall. Despite the size of the deity devotees consider Him to be little Krishna. He is worshipped according to pooja regulations stipulated by Adi Sankaracharya and later formally recorded in the Tantras by Chennas Narayanan Namboodiri (born in 1427).

The Chennas Namboodiris are the hereditary Tantris of the Guruvayur temple. The temple/pooja routines are strictly followed without any compromise. The Tantri is available full-time at the Temple to ensure everything is followed correctly. The Melsanti or Chief Priest enters the Sri Kovil (sanctum sanctorum) of the temple at 2:30 AM and does not drink even a glass of water up to the completion of noon poojas at 12:30 PM.

 

Rainy days and Gurukul friends

We stayed in Guruvayur for four days, a day longer than we initially planned due to the heavy rains. There is also a Gurukul in the town where students learn Sanskrit and study saṅgīta (music). We were fortunate to have all arrangements for prasādam and accommodation for Vedavyas Priya Maharaj, who has been joining us on pāda-yātrā, taken care of by Mohajwala Mataji, a disciple of Jayapataka Maharaj. The ISKCON Temple president in this area kindly gave the rest of our party a nice place to stay too. He also invited us to the temple and asked all the congregation devotees to join us on saṅkīrtana and to help us arrange programs. We performed saṅkīrtana and distributed books in the city every day with many of the congregation devotees coming along. When we were in the Gurukul area the students joined us, dancing and singing and afterwards Vedavyas Priya Maharaj, would give a nice class.

The rainy season has started and it makes life a little difficult on pāda-yātrā. There are a few devotees who have developed foot infections because of constantly walking in water. The bulls are also uncomfortable because they have nowhere dry to rest and sometimes they have to stand all night long, wet. We continue to walk on our holy journey despite all the difficulties, taking pleasure in pleasing Guru and Gauranga. Besides, the Lord always sends us help in some way or other.

Jai Nitai Gaurasundar ki! Jai!

 

Book distribution Score of All India Padayatra for June 2017

 

Name of Padayatri	Mahabig books	Big Books	Medium Books	Small books	S. B    Sets
H.G.Damodarlila.  Prabhu	841	71	1	33	1
H.G.Matsyavtar Prabhu	797	85	–	89	2
HG . Uttam narahari prabhu	625	35	–	19	1
HG Shanti Parayan Prabhu	394	2		–	–
HG Madangopal Prabhu	361	12	–	21
HG Rasraj Prabhu	299	88	–	9	2
HG Alok Prabhu	536	38	–	26
HG Sitacharan Prabhu	297	2	1	55
HG Kalanidhi Prabhu	336	46	2	39
HG Rudradvip Gaurchandra  prabhu	317	33	1	35
Hg Yashvardhan Prabhu	286	50	–	2
HG  Sahadev Prabhu	35	–	–	–
HG Acharya Prabhu	55	–	1	–
HG Krsnananda Prabhu	204	9	17	0
HG Daneil Prabhu	32	12	57	–
Total	5821	550	6	1331	6

 

Grand total: 7708 books

ALL INDIA PADAYATRA CELEBRATES CHIDA-DAHI MAHOTSAVA IN CHEMMANUR, KERALA

By Acarya Dasa

On June 7^th we reached Chemmanur in Kerala. We celebrated the Chida-Dahi festival there at the Narayan Swami Kalyan Mandapa where the namahatta devotees made all the necessary arrangements for the festival. We had grand kīrtana and Vedavyas Priya Maharaj gave a class describing the pastimes of the ‘chida-dahi’ festival.

Chida-Dahi festival

The festival came about in Panihati where Raghunatha Dasa was going to meet Nityananda Prabhu, who was sitting under a banyan tree surrounded by many devotees. Raghunatha Dasa was hesitant to approach the Lord, and so paid his obeisances from afar. Some of the devotees saw him and told Lord Nityananda, who called Raghunatha Dasa and said “Raghunatha Dasa! You are hiding like a thief. Now I have caught hold of you. Come here. Today I shall punish you.” Nityananda Prabhu then put His lotus feet on Raghunatha’s head and ordered him to hold a big festival and to serve all the devotees yogurt and chipped rice. The Chida-dahi festival is celebrated in honor of this pastime. The festival is also known as the ‘Danda Mahotsava’ (Festival of Punishment) and is celebrated in the month of Jyeshta (May to June). Many pilgrims visit Panihati to this day to celebrate this festival.

The Lord’s mercy

One of the ladies from the congregation donated 7000/ Rs for the hall where we had the program. Before the program I heard that the owner of the hall is involved in preaching about Hindu dharma. I also heard he really likes people who are preaching about dharma and who worship Lord Krsna. So, when we arrived at the venue I spoke to him and explained that we are also serving the same cause as he. He was very happy to hear this and immediately returned the 7000/ Rs and he gave us a donation of 1000/ Rs too. Haribol!

Mercy of Sannyāsīs

This year has been very special because we have been blessed with the association of so many sannyāsīs. Vedavyas Priya Maharaj had joined our pāda-yātrā party for four days. We were so happy to receive Maharaj and welcomed him with all our hearts. We showed him the pāda-yātrā newsletter which he was really happy to read. Maharaj said that the glories of pāda-yātrā should spread throughout the world. He encouraged us to keep publishing the newsletter and to continue to inform people about Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar, how They are walking and spreading the glories of the Holy names. Maharaj also said every devotee should go on pāda-yātrā for at least twenty-days and ended by saying it is a wonderful experience.

Rupa Ragunath Maharaj who had been travelling with us for one month left on June 14^th for Argentina. He said next time he will stay with us for two months. Bhakti Vinod Maharaj who is currently with us on pāda-yātrā, helped us a lot during our journey in Kerala. Whenever our book stock was finished we would inform Maharaj and he would immediately send for more books. Wherever we travelled he would always inform the leaders of each namahatta group and ask them to make the necessary arrangements for us. He told them that the pāda-yātris should feel at home and should not face any inconveniences while in that particular place.

Krishna’s mercy on Sahadev Dasa

Sahadev Dasa originally from Russia, joined us on pāda-yātrā at Trivandrum. When he arrived at the Chennai train station he was robbed of all his belongs: his wallet, camera, everything was gone. He was left empty handed. He remembered this verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam at the time:

yasyaham anugrhnami  harisye tad-dhanam sanaih

tato ’dhanam tyajanty asya  svajana duhkha-duhkhitam

(SB 10.88.8)

“The Personality of Godhead said: If I especially favor someone, I gradually deprive him of his wealth. Then the relatives and friends of such a poverty-stricken man abandon him. In this way he suffers one distress after another.”

With determination he thought, ‘I have come to join pāda-yātrā and I will join.’ Somehow or other he managed to reach our pāda-yātrā party. He said, “My heart was pulled towards Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar and I am happy being on pāda-yātrā.”

Sri Sri Nitai Gauarsundar ki! Jai!