Leading up to the much-anticipated temple opening in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, ISKCON is organizing a series of events in Ayodhya and the rest of the country to take the teachings of Lord Rama to every household.

One notable example is ISKCON’s Sri Rama Padayatra which commenced its 41-day journey to Ayodhya from East of Kailash, Delhi with a grand inauguration in the presence of Smt Meenakshi Lekhi (Union Minister of State for Foreign Affairs & Culture), Shri Ashwini Kumar Chaubey (Union Minister of State for Environment, Food & Consumer Affairs) and Shri Ramesh Biduri (Member of Parliament – South Delhi), senior ISKCON leaders, media representatives, over 400 devotees, and the general public.

The December 10th event included speeches by devotees and guests. Ministers Lekhi and Chaubey both spoke of their positive experience with ISKCON and its efforts to take the teachings of Lord Rama and Krishna to everyone. Ashwini Kumar Chaubey shared his interactions with the devotees in Australia, and Meenakshi Lekhi spoke of her recent visit to Krishna Valley. They all expressed their gratitude for the Padayatra initiative and wished it a success.

Following several artis, the Padatara officially began its journey towards Faridabad joined by dozens of devotees chanting and dancing. At every stop, the Padayatra devotees will organize a Sri Rama Katha along with bhajans and prasad distribution for the village residents. Nine TV channels and four newspapers covered this event.

The Ayodhya festival committee expressed their gratitude to Mohan Rupa Prabhu and the East of Kailash devotees who helped organize this event and covered the costs. Organizers were also grateful to the significant number of ISKCON Noida devotees who joined the program.

“Lord Rama appeared to share with us the best way of living one’s life filled with Bhakti (devotion), seva (service), and daya (compassion). To take this message to every household, ISKCON is organizing several events. In Ayodha, from 20th January 2024 to 26th February, we will be serving free lunch for 5000 pilgrims daily, Sankirtan on the streets by our Indian and international devotees, setting up of free medical camp for the pilgrims,” said Yudhistir Govinda Das, India’s Director of Communications for ISKCON.

Adapted from multiple sources, with grateful thanks to Yudhistir Govinda Das, ISKCON India’s National Communications Office.