All-India Padayatra enters Maharashtra’s Vidarbha Region.
By Acarya dasa, All-India Padayatra Leader.
HOW DID THE LORD STEAL THE HEART OF AVINASH?
The last time we were in the village of Bori in the Yavatmal district of Maharashtra’s Vidarbha, or eastern, region was in 2009. On that occasion when the villagers came for darsana of Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundara, as I was honoring prasadam I called to a young boy who was just leaving to join me. As he accepted one morsel, he said, “Wow! I have never tasted such wonderful prasadam in my life. In our village prasadam means some sugar granules and a small piece of coconut.” As soon I heard this I exclaimed, “Zali krupa Nitai-Gaurasundaran chi,” meaning the Lord has showered His mercy upon you. Now this boy was the special guest of Their Lordships. As I sat with Avinash discussing the glories of the holy names, I told him about our daily programme and invited him to mangala arati. To my surprise, he attended the next day. After the arati, I gave him some beads and he began chanting, spending all day with us and even buying some books. He was soon chanting sixteen rounds daily. The Lord must have made me an instrument to reach his heart, inspiring me to call him for prasadam because from then on, he was constantly on the phone asking the whereabouts of padayatra. He served ISKCON in Yavatmal, staying alone there in the days when the area was isolated, and dealing with threating behavior from the local goons. He tolerated everything by his strong faith in Krishna.
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