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The 54th anniversary of when Jeevanpran Swamibapa installed the divine murtis of the supreme Lord Shree Swaminarayanbapa Swamibapa in Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Nairobi was celebrated in the presence of Acharya Swamishree from 23 December to 26 December 2006.

During the evening of 23 December, an evening of devotional music was presented by sants and disciples.

The Lord adores kirtan bhakti and during the time when He gave darshan in human form He sang and even danced with the sants and devotees who sang the devotional songs before him. In the Vachanamrut, the Lord has said that when My devotee pleases Me by singing devotional songs, I also join him and sing; and when he is performing a dance while singing, I also join him in the dance.

On Sunday 24 December 2006, the recital of the divine scripture, Shree Swaminarayan Gadi, was held. Bapashree ni Vato recitals were also held.

During His divine blessings, Acharya Swamishree explained the glory of Shree Swaminarayan Gadi.

“Our beloved Guruji Jeevanpran Swamibapa, by His mercy, has showed us the true form of this Gadi. We should practice true devotion and not hypocrisy. We should follow all the commands from the leader of this divine Gadi.

To practice true devotion, one requires good companions, an appropriately peaceful place to worship, and dedication.

We are all fortunate to have attained the first two of these aspects; we have attained a true Satpurush and true sants; and we have beautiful temples all over the world. What now remains is for us is our duty to offer devotion unto the Lord from the bottom of our heart; devotion with sincere dedication.

The Lord came from His divine abode to this Earth in the form of a human and offered His love to all His devotees. It was no one’s prayer – but it was sheer mercy of the Lord to give His darshan in human form.

We should learn to live closer to the Lord and His Satpurush and believe from our heart that both are the divine murti.

We should learn to have affection towards Him and His Satpurush, serve them and believe always what they say. By so doing, the lord will free us from the cycle of birth & death and we will attain ultimate salvation.”

Patotsav Ceremony

Tuesday 26 December 2006 marked the completion of 54 years since our Gururaj Jeevanpran Swamibapa installed the Murti of Lord Swaminarayan in Nairobi. Devotees from all over East Africa and even from overseas took part in the celebrations.

Acharya Swamishree performed the patotsav ceremony to Lord Swaminarayanbapa Swamibapa and then the devotees took this opportunity to please the Lord by offering aarti. A grand cake was cut by Acharya Swamishree and offered to Shree Ghanshyam Maharaj. A grand ankut thaal was delicately arranged before the Lord. The sants and devotees had prepared over 100 food items to offer to the Lord.

During His divine blessings, Acharya Swamishree said, “The adoration and aarti ceremony just performed before the Lord has been performed in Akshardham. The Lord in the form of an idol and the murti in Akshardham is one and the same; there is not even an iota of a difference between them.

We should never think of ourselves as great before the Lord. We should always remain His children and behave accordingly; otherwise we will not be worthy of attaining Akshardham.

On this special day, we ask the Lord to forgive our wrong doings and from now, try to obey all the commands of the merciful Lord. We must never act in a way that hurts our Lord.”

After the blessings, prasad was served to all in Swamibapa Hall.