Every year devotees from Bangalore go to the banks of Mother Kaveri near SriRangapatnam to celebrate the transcendental festival of Panihatti. Yatras of this kind always reinforce the devotees with dedication to Krishna Consciousness and also attract many new devotees to the Krishna Conscious life of ever increasing joy. The yatra comprised of visit to two holy places: Melukote and SriRangapatnam.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Day1: Bangalore to Melukote
ISKCON Youth Forum - boys decided to go one day prior to the rest of the Bangalore Congregation devotees in order to have darshans of Yoga Narsimha and Cheluva Narayan at Melukote. After Mangala Arati at Surabhi Kunj we started from Vinayaka Circle at 7:30 AM. Few devotees from BTM joined on the way. HG Kripamoy Gauranga Prabhu accompanied us on this yatra.
We had a stopover at Ramnagaram for breakfast prasadam. Prasadam was prepared at Surabhi Kunj. After honoring prasadam, devotees nicely disposed the used plates and glasses and left the place clean as before. Prabhupada says that Devotees should always leave the place as clean if not cleaner than before. He used to stress “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”.
After most of the devotees had completed their chanting, we watched a video about the pastimes of Srila Haridas Thakur. It included the pastime of Deliverance of the prostitute sent by Ramacandra Khan and Beating of Haridas Thakur in 22 market places and his unconditional attachment to the chanting of holy names of Krishna. This pastime shows that despite such pain and suffering, how Haridas Thakur never left chanting. So we should also struggle in times of mental agony and physical pain to chant the holy name.
After 4 hours we reached the holy place of Melukote. It has a rustic beauty about it. The atmosphere was very refreshing. We started off towards the Yoga Narsimha temple atop the hill, with Sankirtan party leading in front. The way to the top is through a number of steps made up of huge stones. It is said that at this place Prahlada maharaja came to offer pinda dana of his father Hiranyakashipu. The deity of the Lord Narsimha is said to be appeared out of a Saligrama sila. Other visiting devotees also enjoyed the kirtan and Narsimha Arati that was being performed by ISKCON devotees.
At the foothill is the Kalyani Kunda. It provides a picturesque sight from the top of hill. Adjacent
to it, is a Narayan Temple. The deity is 4-handed form of Lord Vishnu made of white marble. After this we went to our accommodation – Ahobalam Mutt. After sometime, devotees performed kirtan and sung some Vaishnava Bhajans followed by Kripamoy Gauranga Prabhu’s lecture on Srimad Bhagvatam. Chapter entitled Indra offending Brihaspati. Prabhu gave enlightening insights into the spiritual master – disciple dealings. After the lecture, devotees cheerfully honored prasadam.
In the evening, we proceeded to Cheluva Narayan temple, a 5 minutes walk away. We performed lots of Kirtan. The devotees danced and chanted for nearly 40-45 minutes in front of the temple attracting passersby and temple residents.
There was still some time for
opening of altar so we sat in the courtyard and heard the origin and pastimes of Cheluva Narayan Deities and Sripada Ramanujacarya. Following the Sri Vaishnava tradition of paying obeisances prior to Garuda Stambha we entered the temple. The courtyard echoed the sounds of drums and trumpet. There are two deities of Lord Narayan - Sri Sampat Kumar being the presiding deity and Cheluva Narayan deity being the Festival deity. The temple houses many deities including Sri Devi and Bhu Devi, Hanumanji, the deity of Sripada 
Ramanujacarya, he himself manifested and Alvars. After this we retired back to the Ahobalam Mutt, had dinner prasadam and then devotees went to bed.
This brings us to the end of the 1st day of Panihatti yatra.
All Glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Day1: Bangalore to Melukote
ISKCON Youth Forum - boys decided to go one day prior to the rest of the Bangalore Congregation devotees in order to have darshans of Yoga Narsimha and Cheluva Narayan at Melukote. After Mangala Arati at Surabhi Kunj we started from Vinayaka Circle at 7:30 AM. Few devotees from BTM joined on the way. HG Kripamoy Gauranga Prabhu accompanied us on this yatra.
We had a stopover at Ramnagaram for breakfast prasadam. Prasadam was prepared at Surabhi Kunj. After honoring prasadam, devotees nicely disposed the used plates and glasses and left the place clean as before. Prabhupada says that Devotees should always leave the place as clean if not cleaner than before. He used to stress “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”.
After most of the devotees had completed their chanting, we watched a video about the pastimes of Srila Haridas Thakur. It included the pastime of Deliverance of the prostitute sent by Ramacandra Khan and Beating of Haridas Thakur in 22 market places and his unconditional attachment to the chanting of holy names of Krishna. This pastime shows that despite such pain and suffering, how Haridas Thakur never left chanting. So we should also struggle in times of mental agony and physical pain to chant the holy name.
After 4 hours we reached the holy place of Melukote. It has a rustic beauty about it. The atmosphere was very refreshing. We started off towards the Yoga Narsimha temple atop the hill, with Sankirtan party leading in front. The way to the top is through a number of steps made up of huge stones. It is said that at this place Prahlada maharaja came to offer pinda dana of his father Hiranyakashipu. The deity of the Lord Narsimha is said to be appeared out of a Saligrama sila. Other visiting devotees also enjoyed the kirtan and Narsimha Arati that was being performed by ISKCON devotees.At the foothill is the Kalyani Kunda. It provides a picturesque sight from the top of hill. Adjacent
to it, is a Narayan Temple. The deity is 4-handed form of Lord Vishnu made of white marble. After this we went to our accommodation – Ahobalam Mutt. After sometime, devotees performed kirtan and sung some Vaishnava Bhajans followed by Kripamoy Gauranga Prabhu’s lecture on Srimad Bhagvatam. Chapter entitled Indra offending Brihaspati. Prabhu gave enlightening insights into the spiritual master – disciple dealings. After the lecture, devotees cheerfully honored prasadam.
In the evening, we proceeded to Cheluva Narayan temple, a 5 minutes walk away. We performed lots of Kirtan. The devotees danced and chanted for nearly 40-45 minutes in front of the temple attracting passersby and temple residents.There was still some time for
opening of altar so we sat in the courtyard and heard the origin and pastimes of Cheluva Narayan Deities and Sripada Ramanujacarya. Following the Sri Vaishnava tradition of paying obeisances prior to Garuda Stambha we entered the temple. The courtyard echoed the sounds of drums and trumpet. There are two deities of Lord Narayan - Sri Sampat Kumar being the presiding deity and Cheluva Narayan deity being the Festival deity. The temple houses many deities including Sri Devi and Bhu Devi, Hanumanji, the deity of Sripada 
Ramanujacarya, he himself manifested and Alvars. After this we retired back to the Ahobalam Mutt, had dinner prasadam and then devotees went to bed.This brings us to the end of the 1st day of Panihatti yatra.
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