On 10 December 2009, Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, the spiritual head of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery (based in Hawaii), visited BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Sydney, Australia. He was accompanied by two other sannyasins, Paramacharya Palaniswami, the editor-in-chief of Hinduism Today and Senthilnathaswami, the assistant editor.

They were warmly welcomed just before the evening arti. This was then followed by Satguru Bodhinatha’s inspiring speech in which he outlined the need of sincerely obeying the wishes of a living guru, without any doubts or fears because the guru knows much more than us.

On 19 December His Holiness Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swami, who represents a large following of the Sriman Narayana Ramanuja philosophy in Andhra Pradesh, visited BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Perth. He was particularly touched to see so many people in Australia dedicated to the teachings of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. He mentioned in his speech, “It is good to see all of you participating in regular spiritual activities under the guidance of Pramukh Swami Maharaj. I have met Swamiji on several occasions. He speaks very little, but very sweetly. He is great a Acharya.”