October 28, 2003 (from The Diary of a Padayatri)

It rained all day... We were coming close to Georgia. License plates were changing, trees, people, etc. To move even an inch was a great task. In other words every stop of our journey south has been just a gigantic miracle. It is the mercy of our Lordships. Materially speaking, if you were to try to calculate this program it would be impossible.

We have crossed Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It is unbelievable because there is danger at every step in this world and we have been protected by the Lord. Otherwise how is it possible?

The only way we can continue is if Nitai Gaurasundar and Lord Nrsimhadeva so desire. They always look fresh, clean, and unperturbed. Padayatra has been in all kinds of situations except snow and desert. There has been rain, hail, swamps, timber stretches, towns, big cities, villages, from 35 to 110 degrees of changing weather, trucks, cars, buses, trains, schools, churches, beaches, hurricanes, flat lands and hills, the beautiful mountains of Pennsylvania, sometimes unlimited numbers of flies, mosquitoes, gnats, poison snakes, long stretches of farms and then congested areas of towns and cities, but still in any case They remain undisturbed, always blissful. They know their position as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, distributing mercy wildly under the so-called care of us insignificant servants.

Hare Krsna.

November 1, 2003 (From The Diary of a Padayatri)

The temperature was 45 degrees at night.

We entered (another adventure), 20 miles of Fort Stewart, the biggest military base in the United States. We will cross 119 through to get to Route 84/301 towards Florida. On the way we saw a lot of military people but not much contact with them. I asked Candrabhaga when they do their weapons training and firing that we keep seeing signs about. "I don't know," she said, "but certainly they won't do it at night."

Hare Krsna.

We stopped for the night in a nice spot, forest on both sides, just across from one of the artillery ranges, and Boom! Boom! Taca- taca-taca! all night. The horses were just fine, not really disturbed, and we were tired, so sleep was no problem.

Candrabhaga writes:

"I really felt the relevance of the atmosphere. For two days, 20 miles, we traveled amid tanks, camouflage-clad individuals with machine guns, army caravans, and practically non-stop gunfire explosions. This was it. We are really on the battlefield every day on Padayatra as we face the illusion that compels people to live demoniac lifestyles and engage in abominable activities. Every day we face the big trucks hauling all kinds of whatever you want to buy to the market places of big cities. Every day we step out onto the road with a view of giving people a clue to the real satisfaction in life: a life centered on a pure loving relationship with the Original Person, a life full of illumination, eternality, and happiness far beyond the realms of this desertlike world, a life of pristine devotion unlike the exploitative world of business.

" 'That realm is known as Goloka only to a very few self-realized souls in this world.' [Sri Brahma Samhita 5.56] Srila Prabhupada used the term "revolution" several times in describing his mission and even went so far as to say that the preaching mission means fighting against godless society."

As usual, when we slept at night on the side of the highway, the police came to see. "What is this?" After we explain our mission, they always help.

The next day, at the gate into the base, we were stopped by the young military police, cautious about such a rare situation. They called their commanders, and soon we were surrounded by many youthful officers (recent graduates) who were curious to see what was going on. We received a pass to cross the premises and were escorted personally, a soft kirtan beautifully sounding the whole time, thousands hearing and seeing the transcendental blissful ride. It was glorious.

We were on Route 84 into a big city, a four-lane highway. Again the local police stopped us. "Honestly," said the chief, "I don't know. We have never seen anything like this crossing the streets."

It was 4:45 pm (not much light left), and still we were in the middle of a metropolitan area (Hinesville - Walthourville). Right at the proper moment, Krsna sent another policeman (different town) who found us a place to stay within the city limits. Immediately the neighbors came to see the Padayatra. They took pictures, brought whatever donations they could. All night, whoever walked by or stopped at the nearby grocery or those repairing the road— no one left empty handed: books, prasadam, or just a positive message.

Anywhere we happen to be— an empty lot on the road, a forest— the Padayatra attracts the jiva and the message is distributed. The mystical moments of Sri Sri Nitai Gaurasundar's Padayatra are becoming rooted in the roads of the eastern United States. Hare Krsna.

© dipika.org December 24, 2003