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Pramukh Swami Maharaj's 83rd Birthday Celebration in USA & Canada

Kirtan Bhakati

Puppet Show




29 November 2003, Sunday, Charlotte, NC :

Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 83rd Janma Jayanti Samaiyo was enjoyed & celebrated on the November 29th, 2003 at Charlotte, NC. It was the best samaiyo celebrated since 1996.

The Samaiyo commenced at 4:45 pm with Deep Pragatya. There was a Bang Presentation & Stuti on screen, followed with dhoon, prathana & kirtans. There was a puppet show which first started with Swagatam dance. The puppet show had 5 characters i.e., man with turban, 2 clowns, a big yellow bird & a gold fish. The show started with Bapa in the middle, & the puppet wearing a turban and the puppet clown came with a garland & put it around Bapa’s neck. Then there was Doha and “Rasio raas rame”. There were kids in the dance and also a puppet wearing the turban. Each kid was handling 2 puppets. At the end all kids and other puppets came out of the puppet stage and every one applauded. It was the best attraction of the samaiyo. Excellent lightings were arranged during the puppet show. There were Multi Media presentations “Thay Chhe Jay Jay Kar”, “Dhanya Dhanya Ye Sant Suhan Ne”. Drama “Andhare Bhoot Bharyu” played by Kishor & Shishu mandal. Dance “Rudo Avasariyo Aganiye Avyo re” by Kishor, Bal & Shishu Mandal.. There was also a speech by Chief Guest Thakorbhai Topiwala, who is Crop Sanchalak for Hindu center for the past 22 years. He spoke about religion & children. Then was Swamishri’s arshiwad where He talked about sanskar of our children and duty of each parents. The whole celebration lasted 2 - ½ hours.

 


6 December 2003, Sunday, Clifton, NJ:

BAPS Clifton Mandir celebrated the auspicious birthday of His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj on December 6 with great jubilation in the presence of Pujya Amrutcharit Swami and Pujya Vivek Yogi Swami. In spite of the first snowstorm and treacherous road conditions. The celebration assembly was endowed with a flair of devotion and joy through bhajans sung by Pujya Vivek Yogi Swami and youths. Pujya Amrutcharit Swami narrated incidents (Prasangs) reflecting Swamibapa’s service for the good of others, His efforts to uplift society through strong family values, and in developing satsang in the world. Additionally, he have example of how Swamishree has worked on improving relations between individuals, families, and society. He mentioned that Swamishree’s agna of Gharsabha is the ideal vehicle for enhancing social relations. He challenged everyone to implement Gharsabha and demonstrate fulfillment of this agna to Swamishree when He comes to the North America next year.

Clifton Kishoris had organized a bake sale, fundraiser for “Akshar Dham Inside and Out: Divine Food for Divine Cause”. Clifton Ladies wing had organized a mini Annakoot for this occasion. The celebration ended with all the attendees enjoying the mahaprasad.

 
Shri Akshar Purushottam Maharaj

Singing devotional songs

Annakut before murtis


Kirtan Bhakati

Dance by balaks

Interview about balak’s niyam-paalan




7 December 2003, Sunday, San Jose, CA :

Bal and Kishor mandals of SanJose demonstrated great devotion, efforts and enthusiasm to celebrate the 83rd Janma Jayanti of our beloved guru H.D.H Pramukh Swami Maharaj entirely on their own, which was really a great experience for everyone who was present.

Celebration started in the afternoon at 12:30pm with Kirtan Aaradhana by Bal and Kishor mandal in which each and every member of Bal and Kishor mandal participated. This afternoon of devotion and melody was followed by the main event at 4:00pm. Attendees were treated with several innovative ways of presenting the life and work of SwamiBapa. Starting with the speeches by a balak on Swamishri’s enormous efforts for satsang and on Swamishri’s atmiyata by a kishor, a journey through the ocean of his virtues continued through a video presentation of Vicharan-2000. An interesting live quiz show was a blend of fun and satsang knowledge. A mega dance by 48 balaks on the kirtan “Rudo Avsar Anand no aayo re” created the environment of divine happiness. A live interview with balak and his parents about the balak’s niyam-paalan provided glimpse of our future generation being molded by Swamishri. Samaiyo ended with Raas-Kirtan bhakti devoted to everyone’s beloved guru SwamiBapa.

 


7 December 2003, Sunday, San Francisco, CA:

San Francisco Mandir just got started three months ago. On the first opportunity to show our love for our beloved guru Pramukh Swami Maharaj kishore mandal and Bal mandal decided to celebrate Swamishri’s 83rd birthday. The Celebration assembly was held from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The celebration included speeches on Swamishri's love for haribhaktos, Balaks and Kishores. The celebration assembly was endowed with a flair of devotion and joy through bhajans sung by Kishores. Kishore mandal helped in serving and cleanup. Every balak and kishore was dressed in our while zabbo and lengho showing our Aksharderi proudly. Invited guests from San Francisco bay area community were impressed by the celebration.

 
Singing devotional songs





30 November 2003, Saturday, Augusta, GA:

On November 30, 2003 the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir of Augusta, Georgia celebrated Pragat Guruhari Pramukh Swami’s 83rd Janma Jayanti Mahotsava with a lot of excitement and joy.The Samiayo included Dhoon, Prathna, Kirtans, and Discourses. It started promptly at 4:00 PM and ended at 6:10 PM.

The samiayo began with Manglacharan, dhoon, and prathana. Several speeches were given interspersed with many uplifting kirtans. Rajeshbhai Amin gave the Prasangic discourses. He discussed in length Pramukh Swami’s life and his message. He told the audience that Pramukh Swami’s life is so great that the present great saints and scholars admire Pramukh Swami Maharaj and he cited the names that admire him. Our guru Pramukh Swami is gunatit saint. He also gave statistics of Pramukh Swami’s achievements.

 


6 December 2003, Saturday, Boston, MA:

December 6, 2003, first big snow storm of Northeast region. Despite the two to three feet of snow, about 300 Hari Bhaktos from far away came to Mandir to celebrated P.P. Pramukh Swami Maharaj's 83rd Birthday. The Balaks and Kishores of the Boston BAPS Mandir organized and conducted P.P. Pramukh Swami Maharaj's 83rd Birthday Celebrations with much effort and enthusiasm. The entire program was centered on the theme, "Sant te Swayam Hari." From the Shishu Mandal opening the celebrations with Jaynaad and Stuti, to the Kishore Mandal closing the celebrations with a vibrant dance to the kirtan, "Swaminarayan Charan Kamal Ma," along with all the kirtans, speeches, and video presentations in between, all showed how every aspect of Pramukh Swami Maharaj is divine because Shriji Maharaj resides within Him.

 
Decorated Murtis

Singing Kirtan

Dance by Kishore Mandal


Decorated Murtis

Decorated Murtis




30 November 2003, Saturday, Jersey City, NJ :

H.D.H. Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 83rd Birthday was celebrated at Jersey City Mandir with a great joy and devotion. The theme of the Samaiyo was “Pagle Pagle Guru Harina, Shreeji Aave Pass.” The Path from the main Gate to the main Shrines of the Mandir was decorated nicely with 83 foot steps of Guru Hari Pramukh swami Maharaj. These foot steps were surrounded by roses and all major events of his life was highlighted near the foot steps with the years they occured. Since morning, people kept coming to Mandir for ‘Samuh Pooja’ and later for Annakut Aarti and Thaal. In the Annakut, more than 125 items, including a huge cake made by kishori Mandal, were offered to the Shriji Maharaj.

Evening sabha, Main celebration ceremony, started at 4 p.m. Dhoon was sung by the Bal Mandal. The celebration was full of music and devotion with the melodious kirtans such as “Nen ma samay nahi…”, “Pramukh swami ni jivan bhavna…”, “Rudo avsariyo aanganiye aayo re…”, and many more which raised the spirit of all the Haribhaktos. There was a small speech delivered on the topic, “how we can develope our true bhakti towards our guru by looking at his life”. The Parayan was done on “anand brahm.” At the end, everyone enjoyed video presentations of Bapa’s Vicharan. After the Samuh Aarti, everyone enjoyed maha prasad from the Annakut. At night, the live telecast of Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s Birthday in presence of him from India was shown on the big screen in the Sabha hall.

 


7 December 2003, Sunday, Miami, FL:

Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 83rd birthday was celebrated with grand enthusiasm and zeal at Boynton Beach BAPS Mandir on 7th Dec’03(Sunday). The main hall was beautifully decorated for the grand function. The team members decorated enthusiastically leaving no stone unturned and making the Mandir look beautiful for Swami Bapa’s Birthday Celebration. The main hall was decorated with 83 colorful ribbons and 83 balloons making it look like a Grand Birthday Celebration and reminding us of 83 years of hardship that Bapa has gone through for his Bhaktos. A huge cutout of Akshar Deri was set behind Bapa’s Murti.

Total of 19 cakes weighing more than 40 lbs totally were decorated in a fashionable way with many pictures of Swamishri on rice paper adding to the mood of Birthday Celebration. The cake was made by Yuvati Team who worked all night to make this possible.Outside the mandir, the main gate was decorated with colorful balloons. The grounds were setup with Games, Food-counters, and Stalls all decorated to make this event delightful for our Balaks and Balikas. Balak-Balikas had registered at this event and participated in the games. They also arranged to have prizes given to the winners of the games like Balloon-Shooting, Musical-Chair, Sack-Race, Limboo-Chamchi.

The main sabha was honored by Pujya AkshayMuni Swami, Pujya VishwaTirth Swami, Pujya AmrutNandan Swami and Pujya ShantMurti Swami. Discourse was held in presence of Hari-Bhaktos.

 
Pramukh Swami Maharaj's 83rd Janma Jayanti Celebration, Mimai, FL

Pramukh Swami Maharaj's 83rd Janma Jayanti Celebration, Mimai, FL




'Spritual Discourses by P.Kaivalymurti Swami

Bal Mandal performing dance


7 December 2003, Sunday, Phoenix, CA :

On Dec. 7th 2003, Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 83rd birthday celebration was celebrated at BAPS Shree Swaminarayan Mandir – Phoenix. P. Uttamcharan Swami and P. Kaivalymurti Swami came to celebrate this celebration with us at the request of bal and kishore mandal. This samaiyo’s program was organized by Kishore mandal. Bal mandal did two devotional dances. One with the tune of “Anand no rang” and the second with “Aapna te aabhma”. Kishore mandal presented a kirtan aradhna. P. Kaivalymurti Swami also sang a kirtan in his “madhur kanth” and also gave a speech. The main subject of the speech was that Bapa is “antarami”, that is he knows the past, the present and the future.. At the end dhoon was performed by both saints, followed by Aarti. The celebration was held from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. At last the celebration was culminated into delicious Mahaprasad prepared by mahila wing.

 


7 December 2003, Sunday, Washington DC:

H.D.H. Pujya Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s 83rd Birthday samaiyo was celebrated at the Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, Washington D.C. in the presence of Pujya Viveknidhi Swami, Pujya Bhaktiswaroop Swami, and a grand assembly. The morning began with a special Mahapuja performed by Pujya Viveknidhi Swami in which large number of people participated.

In the afternoon, the 3 hour long main program, entitled "Divyatanu", or “Divine Anatomy”, was primarily organized and performed by Baal/Kishore Mandals. It showed how P.P. Pramukh Swami Maharaj has used his entire body for satsang. He has used his feet to travel all over the world to visit devotees; he has used his hands to write letters that have comforted literally hundreds of thousands; and he has used his ears to listen to the common and not so common problems that so many have brought before him.

The program began with stuti led by the shishu mandal, followed with dhoon and prarthana sung by bal mandal. A drama performed by both kishore mandal and yuvak mandal depicted the true story of a centuries’ old fight between two villages. Both the British colonial government and the Indian government tried to put an end to the fighting but couldn’t. Only Pramukh Swami Maharaj was able to bring the two sides together in peace. Balak and kishore speeches demonstrated to the audience how we should use our hands and ears properly in the service of society. The highlight of the program was a masterful kishore dance set to the kirtan “Ayo re ayo re.”

After the program, a representative from the office of Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. presented a citation to the mandir for its work in youth and community service activities. Everyone greatly enjoyed this samaiyo together, and were able feel a great deal deeper into many facets of Swamishri’s life.



 
Mahapuja Rituals

Singing Bhajans

Drama

© 2003, Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, Swaminarayan Aksharpith