The Yatra picks up momentum to reach the 108 mark!

//The Yatra picks up momentum to reach the 108 mark!

The Yatra picks up momentum to reach the 108 mark!

The Sri Govind Gau Gram Prachar Yatra commemorating ISKCON’s Golden Jubilee year of 2016 reached the 105th village on 28th December 2016.

The three-days Yatra fulfils the ardent desire of HG Satya Madhav Prabhu and Manimanjari mataji to take the Holyname to their native and adjacent village.

The first village, Chandana Pally in Nalgonda district of Telangana State, is located on the outskirts of the Nalgonda district near to Panagal Uadaya Samudram (reservoir). This village was shifted to construct the reservoir. This reservoir supplies drinking water to the nearby villages as the villages in Nalgonda district are mostly affected with high fluoride content.

The farmers in this village cultivate paddy and has orchards of mango and orange trees.

Satya Madhava Prabhu’s uncle (Sri Kompaly Chendraiah) coordinated and helped in organizing the Yatra in this village.

The program started with a nagar sankirtan with about 130 – 150 villagers participating.  A video show on the need for cow protection was screened. Most of the viewers become emotionally surcharged when they saw the present situation in the agriculture sector especially when viewed in the context of diminishing cows in the villages.

Six maha books and few small books were distributed.  The highlight of this Yatra was that HG Paramhansa prabhu with his group of devotees, who are running the Bhakti Vedanta Institute, also participated.

HG Jananivas prabhu attracted the attention of the localities when he spoke on the importance of chanting the holyname and the significance of cows in their daily life. Many devotees from Hyderabad who included Sripati Prabhu and Chaitanyachandra Prabhu participated enthusiastically in the whole program. All the participants were treated to a tasty prasadam on the conclusion of the program.

106th Village – Vattimurthi – 29th December 2016

This village situated in the Nalgoda district of Telanga state is famous for Communism (Marxist Group).  This is also the birth place of a local popular communist leader late Narra Raghava Reddy. He served as a MLA for about 30 years representing Nakerakal constituency. It is apt to recall what Srila Prabhupada spoke about present day communism.

“In the name of philanthropy, altruism and communism, people are feeling compassion for suffering humanity throughout the world. Philanthropists and altruists do not realize that it is impossible to improve people’s material conditions. Material conditions are already established by the superior administration according to one’s karma. They cannot be changed. The only benefit we can render to suffering beings is to try to raise them to spiritual consciousness.” [Srila Prabhupada SB 5.8.10 purport]

Like on the previous day HG Satya Madhava prabhu’s uncle (Sri Kompally Chendraiah) haling from this village kindly made all the arrangements for the program.

Devotees from Hyderabad drove to the village in the afternoon to participate in the Yatra. The team consisting of H.G. Sripati prabhu, HG Rasamandal prabhu, HG Ramasharan prabhu, HG Jana Nivas Pprabhu,  HG Chaitanyachandra prabhu accompanied with mataji and Satya Madhava prabhu participated.

The team of devotees from Hyderabad visited Lord Sri Varijala Venu Gopala Swamy temple situated on a hillock to seek blessings in propagating the holyname and to seek protection of the Holy Cow. When we entered the village and were scouting for a place we entered the compound of a nearby Bank and in the backyard we saw a lady sitting on the ground and was dehulling the tuvar (pigeonpea) seeds on a traditional stone chakki. The whole activity reflected an asana in the ashtanga yoga system. How the traditional lifestyle and technology was meant to keep the body fit, achieve a balanced mind so essential for spiritual elevation.

Chakki = Grinder, Chalana = to drive, Asana = Posture or Pose

  • This yoga posture mimics the movements of a hand-moved wheat grinder, common in the villages of India. It turns out to be a fun and excellent workout for the body!
  • Three very important organs get massaged with this exercise. These are liver, kidneys and pancreas.
  • A good preventive for sciatica
  • Tones the back, abs and arm muscles
  • Opens up the chest and groin
  • Tones the uterine muscles in females, so it is very useful in preventing painful cycles if practiced regularly
  • Consistent practice helps reduce abdominal fat

The program started with a nagar sankirtan and en-route devotees paid obeisances at the village Venu Gopala Swamy temple during the sankirtan. Sri Narra Mohan Reddy, the main person involved in renovating the temple, later narrated to us the glories of this ancient temple and how a local pharma company owner, unconnected with the village, helped in renovating this temple, as an offering to the Lord after a major labor dispute in his factory was resolved peacefully.

The local Sarpanch Sri Vijay Goud and Ex-Sarpanch Mohan Reddy also enthusiastically participated in the nagar sankirtan.

After the nagar sankitan the program started in the precincts of the Gram Panchayat office. HG Sripati prabhu gave details of the Sri Govinda Gau Grama yatra. This was followed by an eloquent presentation on Harinaam and cow protection by HG Jananivas prabhu.

Nine maha books, and few small books were distributed. This was accomplished in spite of a high rate of illiteracy and backwardness in the village. Around 140- 160 villagers participated in the program. A screening of a video on the importance of cows and the efforts being made to revive our traditional crops in the Zaheerabad district of Telanga state. Appropriate analogies from Mahabharata helped the villagers to connect to the predictions contained therein and how the Holyname is the only means to take guard against the onslaught. The program ended with the distribution of prasadam.

 

107th Village – Nerada – 30th December 2016

This is the village where HG Satya Madhava prabhu studied up to the secondary school. Earlier in the day Satya Madhava prabhu took the visiting devotees and explained various aspects of weaving. The village is known for its traditional weaving craft. But unfortunately due to influence of time the younger generations are proceeding to the cities to pursue modern education which means to take up unnatural jobs which are not suited to their “gunas”. This means a wasted human life doing things where acquired knowledge and the activities which he professes are completely different. It is almost like a “square peg in a round hole”.

Most of the villagers follow the Sri Vaishna Sampradayam and are followers of Chinna Jeeyar Swamy. The Village has nice Sri Ramananjaneya temple. The nagar sankirtan started from this place.

Around 50- 60 villagers were present for the nagar sankirtan which travelled for about 4 kms winding through the village. The kirtan was lead by HG Gourgopal prabhu and other devotees. After the nagar sankirtan a go-puja was performed in the premises of the temple. The other devotees who joined from Hyderabad included HG Jananivas prabhu, HG Sravana Mangala prabhu, Satyahita prabhu and Satyamadhava prabhu also participated.

HG Satya Madhav prabhu presented the background and significance of Sri Govinda Gau Gram Prachar Yatra (SGGGPY) and Harinam. This was followed by a presentation by HG Jananivas prabhu on the need for cow protection.

The response in this village was very good with around 190- 200 villagers participating n the program.

Three Maha books, a few small books along with cow products were distributed. The program ended with the distributing of prasadam.

The chairman of the Sri Sita Ramanajaneya temple, Sri Papani Janardhan Garu, was very much impressed by the kirtan  and requested us to be part of the temple activities in the future.

“Otherwise, if the world is devoted to the modes of passion and ignorance, there can be no peace or prosperity. In the mode of passion, people become greedy, and their hankering for sense enjoyment has no limit. One can see that even if one has enough money and adequate arrangements for sense gratification, there is neither happiness nor peace of mind. That is not possible, because one is situated in the mode of passion. If one wants happiness at all, his money will not help him; he has to elevate himself to the mode of goodness by practicing Kåñëa consciousness. When one is engaged in the mode of passion, not only is he mentally unhappy, but his profession and occupation are also very troublesome. He has to devise so many plans and schemes to acquire enough money to maintain his status quo. This is all miserable. In the mode of ignorance, people become mad. Being distressed by their circumstances, they take shelter of intoxication, and thus they sink further into ignorance. Their future in life is very dark. [Srila Prabhupada – BG 14.17 purport]

Reported by Rasa Mandal das

By | 2017-01-06T17:53:48-05:00 January 6th, 2017|Categories: Yatra|Tags: , , |Comments Off on The Yatra picks up momentum to reach the 108 mark!
Translate »