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11th February 2008 – Vasant Panchmi ( Shikshapatri Jayanti)

This day is celebrated by all disciples of the Swaminarayan Sampraday as it is the day that our merciful Supreme Lord Swaminarayan gave us His scripture of commandments, The Shikshapatri. Acharya Swamishree performed Mangala Aarti to Lord Swaminarayanbapa Swamibapa at 5.30am and after the daily routines, He performed poojan to ceremonial urns at H H Swamibapa Hall.

A group of devotees playing drums and manjira led the procession to the main temple hall while the ceremonial urns were held aloft on either side of Acharya Swamishree.

Acharya Swamishree, sants and devotees then recited The Shikshapatri at the lotus feet of Lord Swaminarayanbapa Swamibapa and thereafter performed poojan by showering flower petals. Coloured powder “gulal” was sprayed to sants and devotees by Acharya Swamishree and in turn sants sprayed the same upon Him. Acharya Swamishree then gave popcorn prasad to all those present.

Ashirwad:

• This is the day when new shoots appear on plants. In order for new shoots of spiritual knowledge to keep emerging, The Lord and His Shatpurush came upon this earth to liberate numerous souls.

• If we adopt good characters from others, new shoots of spiritual knowledge will keep emerging.

• We have come in association with The Incarnator of all incarnation, The Supreme Lord Swaminarayan, thus we should not lose the opportunity of getting liberated from the cycle of life and death.

• Lord Swaminarayan wrote The Shikshapatri and commanded all His followers to follow the commandments as laid down by Him.

• The Shikshapatri is a religious book for the benefit of not only the followers of Lord Swaminarayan, but the entire humanity. It summarises the details of all the other three hundred and sixty five religious scriptures published todate.

• For the benefit of those who cannot read it in Sanskrit, Nityanand Swami translated The Shikshapatri in Gujarati and recently an English translation has also been published.