Swami Shreeji
It is a great honour for all of us to celebrate the centenary of our beloved Param Pujya Ben this year. She is one of the first sants to have reached this age in the Swaminarayan sampraday and we should be proud of it.
Param Pujya Ben had innate spirituality but had to pass through the usual phases of life as per our indian culture. She became a widow in 1936 at the young age of 22 years. Since then she concentrated her life on her bhakti, which started with Lord Krishna initially, followed by Lord Shanker and later Shashtriji Maharaj and then Yogiji Maharaj.
Since then P.P.Ben became keen on Pratyakshni bhakti and we all know that after her realisation that Guruhari Param Pujya Pappaji was God incarnate, she in real sense joined Gunatit Jyot as sadhak and came up with her own brahmsutra “Maharaj – it’s You – it can only be you, inspiring mukto and no one else”.
Many have experienced P.P. Ben as being one and merged with Pappaji Maharaj and hence one with Maharaj.
There were many devotees already following P.P. Ben from Jinja in Africa. She enabled each one of them to realize the greatness of Guruhari Param Pujya Pappaji and follow in her footsteps in practicing true bhakti. When Guruhari Param Pujya Pappaji established Gunatit Jyot, He selected P.P.Ben as one of the leading Gunatit swaroops not just for the Jyot, but also for the whole Gunatit Samaj, because she was such an example to be followed.
P.P. Ben has made great contributions in the lives of many within Gunatit Jyot and the Gunatit Samaj, which has been experienced by many; indeed you could say the Gunatit Samaj within the UK would not have been existence if it were not for her considerable efforts over the last thirty years in nurturing all who followed Her. It was Her wish to establish a Gunatit jyot within UK and this wish was made possible with considerable effort and support from Her followers.
She has made great efforts in raising the finances for various building projects carried out by Gunatit Jyot, not just in India, but the UK as well. She is truly a Nari sadhu to have achieved V.Ch 26 status as predicted by Bhagwan Swaminarayan. It was Yogiji Maharaj who conveyed to P.P.Ben that she would reach the divine supermental state and would not be affected by any type of adversity.
P.P.Pappaji has addressed Ben as “Naimisharnya” where God’s Ekantic sadhu resides. We have experienced Her as powerful lady, whose sankalp of purity in Her followers has been strong enough to eradicate’jagat ni vasna ‘.
P.P.Ben’s sankalp for beno to become param baghvat sant is her ultimate cry and she strived constantly to ensure that this was achieved. Her prayers were constant for bhaio, santo and grahasto to remain happy and contented with what Pappaji Maharaj has given to us. Her deepest wish was that Param Pujya Pappaji would gift all with good health, wealth and spiritual happiness in our lives.
On this centenary year, we pray that P.P.Ben’s remains with us forever spiritually and that her blessings are showered continuously on us so that we feel Pappaji Maharaj’s presence more and more. Such blessings from asatpurush like P.P.Ben are essential to help us achieve an inner calm within our lives.
Dr. Menkaben Shah
Jai Swaminarayan