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Purna Purushottam Lord Shree Swaminarayan manifested on this earth in a human form in Samvat 1837 Chaitra Sud 9 (Monday, April, 2nd, 1781) in the village of Chhapaiya as the son of devout disciples Dharmadev and Bhaktimata. The Lord manifested on this earth in order to:

• Fulfill the devotional desires and wishes of His loving devotees and grant them His divine parental compassion.
• Protect and rejuvenate religions decree (dharma) and devotion (bhakti) which were being offended by irreligious and evil persons.
• Establish and spread His eminence as the incarnator of all incarnations(Sarvavtari), His supreme spiritual knowledge, and His true upasana (true understanding of the glory of the Lord).
• Enlighten the previous incarnations and their devotees with His supreme upasana and then uplift them to His divine abode, Akshardham.
• Establish the long-forgotten principles of the Ekantik-dharma (true religion) by destroying evil and thereby protecting the upholders of truth and virtuosity.
• Elucidate the true spiritual knowledge and upasana to His devotees, i.e. the souls who seek salvation and then lead them to His divine abode, encouraging other souls to follow the path to salvation.

Sunday, April 9th, 2017, was the 236th anniversary of this glorious day of the Lord’s manifestion upon this earth. The disciples of Shree Swaminarayan Temple New Jersey gathered at the temple on this day to celebrate this very auspicious occasion. Throughout the entire celebration, the Lord was seated upon an ornate golden swing decorated with fresh flowers. Gently swinging, He bestowed His divine darshan upon the entire congregation.

The celebration commenced with a non-stop two-hour dhoon, during which disciples played musical instruments and recited the Lord’s name. Young disciples then performed a skit and a dance to commerate the glory of the Lord and the wonderful things He did for the betterment of infinite many souls during the time He gave darshan in the human form on this earth. The congregation then listened to Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa’s divine ashirwad and performed utsav. Disciples cut a celebration cake, performed aarti and sandhya aarti niyams, and were all given the pleasure to swing the Lord on His swing. Afterwards, prasad was served to all.