Dada J. P. Vaswani's 87th Birthday and Inauguration of the Gita Mandir by Municipal Commissioner – Dr. Nitin Kareer

Just as the sun struggled to peep through the dense clouds, the devotees of Dada J. P. Vaswani struggled through the showers and waded through the knee high waters. But come they did – in thousands – to wish their dear Dada, their Guru and master, a very happy 87th birthday.

The activities of this auspicious day began with the feeding of the poor. Dada started off with a prayer to the Lord, in which he did not desire to be His servant, but instead he wanted to be a slave of the Lord – a slave has no desire of his own; in his master's wish is his will.

Dada quoted from Sant Kabir, who implored us to free ourselves from this body-cage and let our spirits soar like newly freed birds.

We forget that we have been born on this earth for a specific purpose, to learn some lessons. The mind is an instrument which we have brought along with us to do work on the physical plane. But we are not a part of this body-mind complex. We are innately pure and white like swans, who when fed milk, drink only the milk part and leave behind the water-part.

We should be a ‘Param-hansa' (swan) like Ramakrishna Paramhansa – is the reminder to give ourselves on this birthday.

Then the Municipal Commissioner, Dr. Nitin Kareer joined Dada J.P. Vaswani in inaugurating the commencement of the Gita Mandir which is going to be a 5-storey structure and will house a number of the humanitarian activities carried on by the Sadhu Vaswani Mission. Then along with Dada, cut the 2-tier birthday cake amidst the joyous singing and deafening claps of the crowds. The function closed with fellowship meals in which all the rich and the poor ate together.

Service programmes were held throughout the day.

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