"You should all recollect the past festivals where the Paramhansas, brahmachãris, satsangi men and women had gathered, where we requested kirtans to be sung, where kathã was held and where our pujã was performed. And you should listen to and reflect upon these and other such divine charitrãs and lilã of ours."
Lord Swãminãrãyan. Gadhadã II. 35

Introduction
    The unique feature of the Vachanãmrutam, rarely seen in other scriptures, is the detail given in the first paragraph of each kathã. Here we can observe the historical approach of the compilers, who had noted : the year, month, day, the town, the time of day, the garments and decoration of Shriji Mahãrãj and the people present in the assembly.

    In this section, we shall consider these features, which enhance our understanding of the immediate environment of the assembly. Added to this, we gain an insight of the devotion of the four Paramhansas, who included these features.

    The dialogues of the Vachanãmrutam begin in Samvat 1876 (CE 1819) and end in Samvat 1886 (CE 1829). They are in dialectic form. On some occasions, Mahãrãj gives a talk, without any counter questions from the assembly. This is known as graced sermons - blessings. On other occasions, Mahãrãj asks the sãdhus to pose questions. A dialogue then follows.

     The dialogues have taken place in the following villages and towns of Saurãshtra and Gujarãt : Gadhadã, Sãrangpur, Kãriyãni, Loyã, Panchãlã, Vadtãl and Amdãvãd. There are a total of 262 Vachanãmrutas.

    Each Vachanãmruta in the Gujarãti edition has a title. The original handwritten manuscripts had no titles. Only the Bochãsanwãsi Shri Akshar Purushottam Sansthã's editions of the Vachanãmrutam have printed these titles. They have been incorporated for easy recall and reference. The titles were composed by the sãdhus of the Junãgadh mandir during the time of Gunãtitanand Swãmi as a memory aid. When they quoted a Vachanãmruta, they did not vocalize the number of the Vachanãmruta but selected its main theme for the heading and used these words or phrase. For example, Gadhadã I. 10 is about an ungrateful sãdhu named Sevakrãm, whom Lord Swãminãrãyan had met during His forest sojourns as Neelkanth. So the title adopted for this Vachanãmruta is Ungrateful Sevakrãm.

     On a few occasions, a word used in the title of a Vachanãmruta is not found in the text of that dialogue. This word had been purported by the sãdhus, which gives the gist of that Vachanãmruta. For instance, in Gadhadã I. 22, the word Ekdãnu appears in the title, but not in the text. Here, it then means that any activity done with the consciousness (smruti) of God is equivalent to the importance of an Ekado - the number one, before the zeros in a number. Without the smruti, that activity loses its value. It is rendered mechanical rather than devotional.

     In the title of Gadhadã II. 42, the word koonchinu is used. But there is no koonchi (key) mentioned in the dialogue. Here, the sãdhus had themselves designated a word to convey the importance of Akshar Brahman i.e. likening him as a key to Akshardhãm. (Ref. details in Part V.)

     The English version of the Vachanãmrutam does not have the titles because of difficulties in translating them in brief.

     Mahãrãj used to summon a gathering at any time of the day to hold a kathã and the sãdhus and devotees would eagerly look forward to it. On occasions, Mahãrãj used to summon the sãdhus in the middle of the night, as occurs in Gadhadã II. 22, in which He gives a sermon of such importance that it could not wait till the following morning.