What is Pada Yatra?

03-DEC-2010

What is Pada Yatra?


Most of us can easily guess that "pada yatra" is a "journey on foot". But it is not simply preferring to walk instead of taking a car or bike. This journey may also be called "Anugraha Yatra".

In ancient days and even today, saints, seers and monks used to travel place to place on foot. They used to meet thousands of people on the way, stay with them, share wisdom, give blessings and move on. Instead of people having to go long distances to meet saints for knowledge (gyan), saints used to come to them out of compassion. It was a blessing if a saint enters a village or a home.

Even today, we have it in our culture. If some elderly person comes into town (like parents of friends or some noble person), we request them to come visit our homes even for a few minutes. We feel that they bring good vibrations. We feel happy to offer a fruit or a flower (now-a-days coffee, tea, coke :) ) .... but you get the point.

Saints literally walk thousands of kilometers for the benefit of the people.

Our Pada Yatra is very similar. It is a journey to bring awareness to human values, to unite people of all castes, remind people of the value of their rich culture, importance of yoga, meditation, satsangs, festivals, respect for nature, vegetarianism, unity in diversity, cleanliness of the villages, health, hygiene, organic farming for better health and improved economic conditions, importance of cow for health and farming, grama devata aradhana, deepening our roots and broadening our vision, etc. We literally go to 100s of homes and meet people depending on the size of the village, the time of the day and other factors. We also go to schools and colleges and address students and staff.

We do a LOT more fun interactive things with the villagers. One can only experience it. We also sing nice bhajans with the villagers. We explain what "bhajan" really means and encourage them to really experience it. Bhajan is not just singing. It is sharing, sharing our voices, sharing something so intimate, from the core of our being. Under the open sky in the moon light, it is simply beyond words. When our intellect drops and we just float on the waves of these Sankrit words, it takes you to a place of peace, serenity, calmness, contentment, joy, ecstacy, stillness that you have never experienced before. There is so much love and we part with Namastes. Please check out "namaste" also as a Sankrit word. It is beautiful.

Coming to blessings. Most of us know blessings as "asheervaad" or "deevenalu" in Telugu. We seek blessings from our parents, from God, from elders. During exams, children seek blessings from LordGenesha. After marriage, the couple seeks blessings from grand parents, parents and other elders. We seek blessings from saints. Is this superstition or does it have some meaning? Blessings has 3 parts or effects. Blessings bestow "Svasthi (health)", "Shanti (peace)", "Samriddhi (abundance)". When we have these three, we don't need anything else. When we have contentment in life, these three qualities manifest automatically.

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