Jay Swaminarayan,

Have you ever wondered what life would be like if there were no schools, libraries or parks. What would happen to our community? Without education, we would not be learning or knowing all we know today. Without a library we would not be able to read all the books we read today. Without a park we would not have all the fun times we have today. Just like that, without a mandir we would not be able to know of our values and experience mental peace. Friends, do you ever wonder why mandirs are so important to us as children? What can we learn from mandirs? Or, how they make us different from other people? Let’s find out. Many of our friends might go to mosques because they are Muslims or they might go to churches as they follow Christianity or maybe even Gurdwaras as they are disciples of the Sikh Religion. We as Hindus go to mandirs. A mandir is important to us as children because the mandir is the one place which will teach us our values, take us out of our problems and helps us stay connected with Bhagwan. From mandirs we can also learn our faith and the history behind our culture. A mandir has been said to bring peace and happiness into people’s lives. A mandir has been said to be there for people when they needed any sort of help and guidance. A mandir has been said to bring people’s wishes come true. A mandir has been said to make people calmer and happier. And the most important, mandir has been said to bring people closer to God!

Our gurus have tirelessly built and inspired the creation of mandirs so that we can uphold our Hindu traditions and spread the word of our Swaminarayan Sampraday! We should be proud that we have a place that we can call home!

Until next time!

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