To please Bhagwan Swaminarayan and guru Pramukh Swami Maharaj children, youths and senior devotees perform austerities, pilgrimages or other devotional means. The spiritual endeavours performed by the devotees during Swamishri's visit to the local centres are congratulatory and worthy of recognition. They also reflect Swamishri's divinity for inspiring such spiritual efforts in all.
Below is a summary of some of the spiritual endeavours performed by devotees of all ages, male and female in 2004. These are only the recorded figures and represent only a very small percentage of spiritual endeavours performed by devotees.
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Prior to Swamishri’s visits to Atladra, Gandhinagar, Amdavad, Bhadra, Jalila, Nadiad, Rajkot and Gondal:
- Over 2,860 devotees observed a waterless fast.
- Over 40 devotees observed a continuous 84-hour waterless fast.
- Over 110 devotees observed khatras, eating only once daily and other austerities.
- ‘Relay fasts’ in which members of a particular centre observe a one day fast in turn prior to Swamishri’s arrival. The relay fasts lasts for varying durations.
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During Swamishri’s visits to Mumbai, Gandhinagar, Amdavad, Gondal and Bochasan:
- Over 2,010 devotees walked from the suburbs or surrounding villages to the main mandir, covering distances varying from 5 to 60 km.
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Devotees performed prostrations either in one location, i.e. in the mandir, at home, etc. or on the road while covering the distance from their home to the main mandir for Swamishri’s darshan:
- Over 160 devotees offered a total of over 220,770 prostrations.
Other spiritual endeavours performed include: malas; pradakshinas (circumambulations); recitation of Janmangal Namavali, Vachanamrut, Swamini Vatu and other scriptures; panchang pranams; prabhat feris (small parades in the neighbourhood singing devotional songs and dhun).
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- 73 devotees walked 6 miles from Finchley to the mandir.
- 82 devotees walked 16 miles from East London to the mandir.
Other spiritual endeavours performed in the months prior to Swamishri’s visit include:
- Various types of fasts
- Scriptural reading
- Abstaining from favourite foods.
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Prior to Swamishri’s arrival in New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Orlando, Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and Toronto women devotees performed:
- Over 38,000 waterless fasts in 6 months.
- Over 800,000 malas in 6 months.
- 555,000 recitals of Janmangal Namavali.
- Over 518,000 pradakshinas.
- 560 women observed 84-hour fasts.
Austerities observed by other devotees include:
- Continuous 84-hour waterless fasts
- Dharna-parna (alternate day waterless fasts) for periods ranging from 12 days to several years
- Chandrayan
- Khatras
- Only one meal a day
- Abstaining from favourite foods
Other spiritual endeavours performed include:
- Prostrations
- Pradakshinas
- Malas
- Daily recital of Janmangal Namavali and cheshta
- Memorising of scriptural passages from the Vachanamrut, Swamini Vatu, Bhaktachintamani and devotional songs.
- Scriptural reading
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Austerities observed include:
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