Jay Swaminarayan,

Yogiji Maharaj would always encourage santo and haribhakto to do upvas. Once, Mahant Swami Maharaj went to do darshan of Yogiji Maharaj. Just as he got there, Yogibapa gave him a nirjala fast for one day. Mahant Swami Maharaj happily took the agna and did the nirjala fast as told for the day. The next day, Mahant Swami Maharaj took lemonade with him on his way to darshan hoping that he could complete his fast. However, this was not the case. As soon as he went to Yogibapa for his darshan, he was given an agna for another nirjala fast. This went on for 5 days! On the sixth day, as Mahant Swami Maharaj made his way to do darshan, Yogiji Maharaj had a glass of lemonade ready for him with a big smile on his face! Mahant Swami Maharaj didn’t care about not eating or drinking anything for 5 days, but he only cared about seeing that smile on his guru and making him raaji.

How can we get that same smile from our Guru Mahant Swami Maharaj? We can do this by keeping samp! Mahant Swami Maharaj talks about keeping samp in our families, friends and mandir in his katha all the time. We should be careful with our vartan and vani at all times. We can follow the basic niyams such as doing puja, aarti, satsang reading, ghar sabha, etc. All of these are simple ways to make Swami smile.

Do everything only to make Swami smile, and it will turn out to be the best!.

Until next time!

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