The Clifton BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir celebrated the Guru Purnima festival with great splendor and enthusiasm. The afternoon program commenced with a traditional maha puja. The evening assembly was interspersed with several devotional bhajans and kirtans and video presentations depicting Guru Pramukh Swami Maharaj's contribution to the society.
The key note speech centered around how Hindus traditionally celebrate the day of full moon, Purnima, in the month of Ashadh as Guru Purnima. The speaker elaborated on characteristics of Guru and true meaning of the Guru Pujan that will help us achieve our ultimate spiritual goal of being brahmrup. In accordance with the injunctions from scriptures of Hindu Dharma written by Ved Vyas and cited above, Lord Swaminarayan too considers the Guru as foremost; to be venerated as one venerates God. A Kishore from Clifton emphasized the need for a guru in one's life and spoke about the meaning of Guru as the remover of darkness. The celebrations concluded with participants offering their humble reverence to H.D.H. Pramukh Swami Maharaj for his grace in making them better human beings. Clifton Kishori Mandal had organized a bake sale, fundraiser for "Akshar Dham Inside and Out: Divine Food for Divine Cause".