Explorers Feel Holy Name’s Magic on 7th Ganga River Adventure
A group of intrepid devotee explorers headed out on their 7th annual journey down the sacred Ganga river from April 10th to 24th this year, spreading the Hare Krishna mantra and having a rollicking adventure along the way.
Mahavishnu Swami from the UK, Sanak Sanatana Das from Germany, Parasurama Das, director of the UK’s Food For All charity, Arjun Das from Russia and his wife Krishna-Mayi Dasi all participated in the two-week journey.The idea for the Ganga River Adventure came to Parasurama in 2006 while he was following the annual Vraja Mandala pilgrimage in the sacred land of Vraja, Uttar Pradesh. He has now done the pilgrimage with his bullock cart for the past twenty-six years.
“At one point we had to get from one side of the Yamuna river to the other, and there were no bridges,” he says. “Fifteen of us were pushing the cart across the Yamuna. And I thought, ‘What if we were to actually float down the Yamuna? What would that be like?’”
Parasurama consulted a map, decided on a Ganga trip instead, and had a catamaran made. Consisting of two inflatable “bananas,” a raft-like platform and a sail, the boat could float in ten inches of water and was ideal for navigating the shallow parts of the river. It was a very stable and practical craft, and could be assembled and taken apart very quickly.