Day 5 - Shree Ghanshyam Maharaj Shashtipurti Mahotsav

Morning

The day that everyone has been anxiously waiting for was finally here! Exactly 60 years ago, Gurudev Jeevanpran Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa installed the divine murti's of Shree Ghansham Maharaj, Jeevenpran Bapashree and Muktajeevan Swamibapa at the temple on Grogan Road.

The fifth and the final day of the mahotsav commenced with Acharya Swamishree performing Mangla Aarti at 6.00am. At approximately 7.30am, HDH Acharya Swamishree commenced the ceremonies by performing the auspicious ‘shodshopchaar’ poojan of Lord Swaminarayanbapa Swamibapa.

The Lord was then offered an array of lavish food items in the form of an annkut. Thereafter, the much awaited pinnacle of the mahotsav had arrived – the ‘tula’ of Shree Ghanshyam Maharaj during which our Lord was ceremonially weighed against flowers, coconuts, sopari ( betle nuts), sakar (lump sugar) and sukomevo (mixed dried nuts). To fulfil the desires of His disciples, Acharya Swamishree also gave his divine darshan in the ‘tula’ along with Lord Swaminarayan.

Acharya Swamishree and the sants then performed aarti to the divine murti of Shree Ghanshyam Maharaj seated in the ‘tula’. H H Swamibapa Pipe Band was also given the opportunity to perform a salute to the divine darshan of The Lord seated in the ‘tula’.

Thereafter, the congregation offered aarti to Lord Swaminarayanbapa Swamibapa, before listening to the divine arshirwad of Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa and Acharya Swamishree in which Acharya Swamishree said:

During Shree Nilkanth Varni’s vaan vichran all sorts of wealth used to pray to The Lord to accept them, but Nilkanth Varni said “after I finish my vaan vicharan, i will give you abode at my devotees’ homes”; due to that blessings, today the devotees are pleasing The Lord by serving Him and the sant mandal.
The compassion and affection from The Lord are cleaning the material filth of the outer shell of the otherwise pure souls – the reason why the devotees want to please the Lord at each and every opportunity. When such devotees miss the darshan of The Lord and His sants, their souls are restless. Parvatbhai of Agatrai was such a staunch devotee. Once during times of drought, Lord Swaminarayan had requested the sants not to go from village to village for preaching as devotees themselves did not have enough grain to feed their families, hence to feed the sant mandal would be an impossible task for them. During that time Parvatbhai came to Lord’s darshan. The Lord asked Parvatbhai if all was well. How can all be well when we are facing double drought, replied Parvatbhai. The Lord enquired about the double drought to which Parvatbhai replied – one the normal drought and the other is the drought of sant samagam. Lord Swaminarayan was really pleased with Parvatbhai and hence forth requested the sant mandal to preach from village to village.

Following Acharya Swamishree’s Ashirwad, all the disciples were given an opportunity to take photographs with Acharya Swamishree and Lord Swaminarayan seated in the ‘tula’.

It was then time for the finale of the mahotsav. The whole congregation danced to the kirtan ‘Jay Jay Shreeji bapa Jay Jay Swamibapa’ and offered flowers to the Lord. It was truly a remarkable mahotsav that will vividly remain in memories that will last a lifetime!

Day 5 - 60th Patotsav, Annkut, Aarti, Tula