Jai Swaminarayan,

Imagine, there are just a few days until your best friend’s birthday. You really want to attend, but have many things on your “to-do” list. Yet, you are still willing to sacrifice some time out of your busy day and money out of your piggy bank to get them the perfect gift. The magic word here is sacrifice, or samarpan!

Did you know that this word doesn’t just mean giving up an object for someone else? Samarpan is also giving that little bit of time towards all the promises we make every day. We spend so much time in our day doing things that please others, whether that be our friends, our parents, or our teachers. Yet, often times we forget that there are other responsibilities and duties we have to fulfill as a bhakta and as a shishya. It is important for us to take out the time to do everything that will make Mahant Swami Maharaj happy. This can be done by taking out time to follow our niyams like doing our puja, studying hard, reading satsang books, doing seva at the mandir, and helping our parents.

Last year, Swamishri was in Mount Abu. Despite his busy schedule and age, he took time to play chess with kids, write on the balloons and the whiteboard, go on the swing, look at everyone's paintings and do pradakshina with them. He teaches us to sacrifice time to please others. Through his selfless love and time sacrificed, he has connected with so many people. In the same way, we should sacrifice some of our time to make sure we always maintain that connection with our Guru.

Until next time!

Jay Swaminarayan from the ‘kids.baps.org’ team