Raksha Bandhan - 24 August 2010 (VS 2066 ) Tuesday, Bhavnagar
Prior to Swamishri’s daily morning puja darshan Viveksagar Swami discoursed on the Kathopanishad.
On arriving for his morning puja Swamishri inaugurated the newly constructed assembly hall by untying a giant nadachhadi. Youths sang bhajans related to the festival in Swamishri’s puja. Sanctified rakhis were distributed to all the devotees on entering the hall. At the end of Swamishri’s puja the ritual mantras for the ceremony were sung after which the devotees tied the rakhis on each others wrists.Finally Swamishri blessed the assembly, “Raksha Bandhan means that we are bound to God. God too is bound to us by our devotion to him. Dada Khachar had bhakti and that was why he sacrificed his wealth, family and home in the service of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. God does not come to take, but to give. He has given us this human body – eyes, ears, nose, hands and legs… Today on Raksha Bandhan, sustain the bonds of agna and upasana. One should abstain from addictions and from watching television and movies.”