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DECEMBER 31, 2021 | The Indian Eye
DECEMBER 31, 2021 |
The Indian Eye 25 4

A LIFE THAT WAS Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s life was one caring, giving, and loving.
His life was a life of harmony, service, and faith.
LARGER THAN LIFE His life was a virtuous life – balanced, constant, and humble.
His life was larger than life because it will live for generations to come.

Constantly travelling, continuously toiling, and loving persisting, he was perseverance personified.

PRAMUKH SWAMI MAHARAJ’S LIFE IN NUMBERS: PERSEVERANCE PERSONIFIED

• Travelled to over 17,000 villages, towns, & spreading the message of love, spirituality, & faith • Established over 3,850 Satsang centers
cities in 50 nations
• Built more than 1,100 Mandirs and Cultural • Created Swaminarayan Akshardham
• Visited more than 250,000 homes Centers worldwide to uphold the values and beliefs in New Delhi & Gandhinagar, Gujarat
of Hinduism
• Personally wrote more than 700,000 letters • Created grand stone mandirs in Houston,
to comfort & guide individuals • Initiated over 930 young individuals into a life Chicago, Toronto, Atlanta, Los Angeles, &
of renunciation, spirituality, & the service of others Robbinsville, in North America
• Delivered more than 25,000 discourses

He lived for each one of us, as if there was Families, communities or friends, he silence, the voice of their guide & inspirer, saw Himabhai, a frail and aging devotee
just one of us connected & united to create heaven on Pramukh Swami Maharaj, resounded loud & who was worried about a personal illness.
earth through harmony clear, “People may call you backward tribes Instantly, Swamishri sat down. “Swamishri, I
or forest dwellers, but I can see God dwelling can’t even drink water anymore,” Himabhai
in you. I feel happy to see such true devotion. said sadly. Consoling him Swamishri said, “Do
Where there are pure hearts there is peace, & not worry. It is a problem of aging. It happens
you are experiencing it here yourselves. If you to everyone. Drive such negative thoughts
belong to God, he will never forget you. That away and remain in good spirits.” So saying,
is a fact.” Seeing the way in which the Adivasis Swamishri held his hand, personally led him
of Panchmahal welcomed Swamishri with inside, and said a prayer for him! - March 28,
joy, one felt that Pramukh Swami Maharaj 1990, Sarangpur, India
occupied a special place in their hearts.
His greatest creations were not the 1,100
In this pot, lies the end of 200 years of hatred. Wherever, whenever, compassion was his mandirs he created, but the universal love,
On the morning of April 12, 1990, warring only passion harmony, & peace he generated…
villagers drank water of each other’s wells as
a ceremony to wash away seven generations

The Nilgiri Express Train was waiting at the of revenge. A dispute over borders between
the neighboring villages of Odarka & Kukad
platform in Coimbatore. With a few minutes to
spare, Swamishri sat on the platform & asked had fanned into a ferocious fire of killings.
Year by year, the hatred hardened to the
for a writing pad & pen. He wrote a long letter extent that the Rajputs of Odarka & its
to Pujya Ishwarcharan Swami, explaining how
to perform the funeral rites of a very devout supporting 33 villages refused to drink water
devotee, Ambalalbhai Patel, who had passed from Kukad & its 11 villages. The regional
king, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinh & even
a few hours earlier in Ahmedabad, hundreds The year 1987 was one of the toughest years On August 28, 2000, at the Millennium
of miles from where Swamishri was. - Dec 31, the British Government failed to bring that Gujarat faced. It was when the land was World Peace Summit (United Nations, NY),
1989, Coimbatore Railway Station peace. Local history limped with a record of
aborted attempts. However, at the inspiration parched, when man became helpless in the Pramukh Swami Maharaj addressed the
of Swamishri, the leaders of enemy villages face of nature’s wrath, when mute animals assembly: “Only when we are at peace with
Not in front, not behind, he always walked were succumbing to nature’s cruel fate. One of ourselves, people & things around us, can we
with us, within us - a friend, forever… gathered together under the same canopy at
a single ceremony. They pledged for peace & the worst famines of the century. During these attain real peace. We must not progress at
begged Swamishri to wash the martyr stones challenging times, an ocean of compassion the cost of others; we should sacrifice a part
with holy water so that the past may rest in peace. flowed from the heart of Pramukh Swami of ourselves for the good of others. In the joy
- Apr 12, 1990, Odarka, Gujarat, India Maharaj. of others lies our own.” Let us also resolve to
make peace our highest priority.
He had a heart wherein the whole world In his presence, hurts healed, doubts
could live dissolved, confusions cleared, & people He offered his entire life at the feet of
found a way to a higher life… God & his Gurus. His absolute devotion,
selfless & desireless, has left footprints of
faith for generations to follow
On that day, Harish was just one of the 40,000 Before a surgery or before a meal, before
people who had lined up to personally meet wearing a new pair of glasses or before
Pramukh Swami Maharaj. He was amazed beginning the day, Swamishri always
when Swamishri acknowledged receiving his remembered God & guru first. It was his
letter. Everyone had access to him. His love profound faith that a higher, divine force is
made him available, helped him remember carrying us through life that kept him light,
faces & feelings, made him worry about every calm, & balanced. It was his deep conviction
individual. To Swamishri, people were not just In the Panchmahal district of Gujarat, India, that each of his achievements were due to his
names & numbers, but friends & family. - Dec 6, on the outskirts of a remote village called During his morning routine of visiting the guru’s blessings that kept him grounded &
1989, 69th birthday celebration, Bharuch, India Moti Bej, a large assembly of about 4,000 humble.
tribal villagers had gathered. Amidst pin-drop holy places in Sarangpur Mandir, Swamishri

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