Bhagwan Swaminarayan had made a sankalp that for the emancipation of countless jiva, the Swaminarayan satsang should spread widely across the masses. Brahmswarup Yogiji Maharaj descended on this Earth to fulfil that sankalp and spread the sampraday in to every walk of life. One particular quest was to empower women and give them an equal opportunity to attain God realisation of the highest spiritual level as described by Bhagwan Swaminarayan in Vachanamrut G III 26. Yogiji Maharaj being a tyagi sant could not undertake this task personally and so He chose a grahastha, Babubhai Patel (Pappaji) to take on this task.
Param Pujya Pappaji, Param Pujya Kakashri and Param Pujya Sonaba had surrendered their lives to Yogiji Maharaj realising Him to be God incarnate. They themselves were so spiritually elevated that they were brahmswarup in their own right, such that their home in Tardeo was known as Yogiji’s Akshardham. P. P. Sonaba’s daughters, Pujya Taraben and Pujya Jyotiben, were realised souls from their previous life and had resolved not to marry but to dedicate their lives to God.
When on 3rd October 1952 P. P. Pappaji went to Gondal to ask Yogiji Maharaj what path in life P. Taraben and P. Jyotiben should take, Yogiji Maharaj gave blessings, “Beno bhagwan bhaje to shu khotu? Maharaj jog gothavi apashe ane e jog e kariya tamare karvanu che.” (What is wrong if [these] sisters want to devote their lives to God? Maharaj [Swaminarayan Bhagwan] will ensure that this will happen, and further more you are to undertake this task.”)
In a short time P. Taraben and P. Jyotiben were joined by Pujya Hansaben (Didi) and Pujya Deviben and all four later became the pillars of Gunatit Jyot. By 1963, there were twenty five beno who wanted to devote their lives to God. A shibir comprising of these beno and grahastha, who wanted to achieve single-minded devotion to God, was held in November 1963 at Ganeshpuri. At that the shibir, sections from the Vachanamrut that were specifically highlighted by Yogiji Maharaj were read and explained. At the conclusion of the shibir, on 19th November 1963 P. P. Pappaji asked beno to make a sankalp to devote their whole lives to God. When Gunatit Jyot was inaugurated in 1966 these beno were the first sister group to join Jyot. Even today, when ladies take their vows to join Jyot and become sadhu, they make the very same sankalp that was first made by beno on 19th November 1963. Since then, this day is known as Sankalp Smurtidin.