Param Pujya Pappaji and Param Pujya Kakaji Centenary Celebrations – Paris 12-14th August 2013
On 12 August 2013 the Yogi Divine Society initiated the first of five celebratory events in Paris; this event will lead up to the 100th birthday anniversaries for Param Pujya Pappaji and Param Pujya Kakaji to be held in 2018.
Guests were invited from all the Gunatit Samaj organisations, which Param Pujya Pappaji and Param Pujya Kakaji established. The main theme of this event was “Samp, Suhradbhav ane Ekta”, that is, to maintain harmony, oneness and spiritual unity between us all.
Although the event was organised by Yogi Divine Society members in Paris, of which there are only a around 30 families led by Pujya Pravinbhai Lad, they were strongly supported by the other families and Paris and encouraged and supported by Pujya Bharatbhai, Pujya Vashibhai and Pujya Dinkerbhai. The latter had brought groups from Chicago and Bombay to enable the management of the seva during the samaiya. However, the whole of the Paris Mandal, regardless of who they followed, had joined together to host this major event. This demonstrated their spiritual understanding of acting upon the fundamental principles of samp, suhradbhav ane ekta. This was truly a heart-warming samaiyo to behold and demonstrated the founding principles laid down by Param Pujya Kakaji Maharaj and Param Pujya Pappaji Maharaj in establishing these organisations.
12th August 2013
On the evening of 12th August, visitors were formally welcomed to the Paris samaiyo. The celebrations were then kicked off with a Bhajan Sandhya. Pujya Saheb, Pujya Nirmal Swami and Pujya Guruji initiated the event with their blessings.
13th August 2013
The morning of the 13th started with a mahapuja, this was open to anyone who wanted to participate, more than 200 people took part. The arrangements were excellent.
The opening ceremony for a new book called “Krupa Prasad” was performed by Pujya Guruji. This book, which is written in French, establishes the core principles of the Swaminarayan Sampraday for the younger members of the Paris mandal. Clearly, the samaj in Paris has progressed so much that they are now laying the foundations to secure the satsang for future generations to come. 
Indeed, it was heartening to see Pujya Ankurbhai Lad give a pravachan in both French and Hindi, explaining what they are trying to achieve with the publication of this book. This ceremony was completed with further blessings from Pujya Bharatbhai, Pujya Dinkerbhai, Pujya Shantibhai and Pujya Nirmal Swami.
In the evening a cultural programme called “Divya Anugragh Paya” was held and performed by the younger members of the Paris samaj. This depicted the life of the haribhakto in Paris trying to establish their lives and in achieving their life goals both financially and spiritually by using Param Pujya Kakaji’s murti. The drama showed how haribhakto utilised Param Pujya Kakaji’s divine power to overcome their many difficulties. These stories could not but touch our hearts and souls. Indeed, the key example of how Pujya Pravinbhai Lad utilised the power of dhun, which he did twice a day for a year leading up to this event, to ensure the success of this event. A whole group of individuals joined in this dhun by joining a conference call, utilising the technologies available to ensure whoever wanted to participate could do so with ease.
14th August 2013
The 14th August was the main day of the samaiyo, whereby all our revered swarupo showered us with their blessings. They explained what they wish us to strive for in our lives as homage to the efforts that P. P. Kakaji and P. P. Pappaji made for our spiritual upliftment. The morning was commenced by Pujya Vashibhai who congratulated the Paris mandal for grasping this opportunity to do seva of the whole samaj and hosting such a magnificent event. He highlighted the efforts that these haribhakto had made for a successful event and he asked for everyone’s blessing in giving them the strength for their challenges in life.
Pujya Dilipbhai, representing Gunatit Mission and Gunatit Jyot reminisced about the first shibir that was held in Paris 20 years ago when there were only a small number of satsangi compared to the large number of people today, whereby on this occasion the hall was packed with haribhakto from all over the world. He asked that we “run together” and work together to keep Param Pujya Kakaji and Param Pujya Pappaji alive in our hearts. He also emphasised how hard the Paris mandal had worked to make this samaiyo successful by demonstrating great “mahatmya” and by being “survadeshi”.
Pujya Satishbhai Chetwani spoke about Param Pujya Kakaji and Param Pujya Pappaji’s true legacy of seeing Shreeji Maharaj in everyone and to ensure that everyone follows the true meaning of Yogi Bapa’s agna in seeing God in all things, events and people. It is our duty to ensure that our swarupo’s efforts is repaid by building upon this foundation by earnestly and sincerely following our guru’s wishes. Pujya Das Swami spoke about Param Pujya Pappaji and Param Pujya Kakaji in terms of how we can repay their grace. He talked about when he was encouraged to become a sadhu in 1964 at the age of 19. He said that with Param Pujya Kakaji’s agna he has been following Pujya Mahant Swami and Pujya Hariprasad Swamiji.
Pujya Sahebji stated that both Param Pujya Kakaji and Param Pujya Pappaji were Bapa’s swarupo and living with them felt like living with Bapa. Both these satpurush lived in absolute gunatit bhav and we should also not waste time with other things but should follow a gunatit satpurush by keeping divyabhav, nirdoshbhav and faith. These two brothers developed a new path to achieve gunatit bhav, which they established for us and we should now repay their efforts by following this principle.
Pujya Saheb also explained that to keep nirdoshbudhi, one needs strength; this is gained by doing seva and singing the praises of every mukto. Pujya Saheb said that in this day and age of modern science and technology, it is very easy for us to live with samp, suhradbhav ane ekta. We should live according to our guru’s wishes but utilize modern technology to help us!
Similar blessings were given by Pujya Hariprasad Swamiji and Pujya Guruji, earnestly urging all the attendees to understand the meaning for samp, suhradbhav ane ekta and to try to establish these attributes in their lives.
The samaiyo finished with a cake cutting ceremony, whereby the Paris mandal presented a cake in the shape of Eiffel Tower to our swarupo, which they duly cut. Every the haribhakto who had attended this event were truly rejuvenated with the pravachans and felt additional zeal to continue with their journey for spiritual progress that was established by Param Pujya Pappaji and Param Pujya Kakaji.
It was with great sadness that all the haribhakto missed the darshan of Pujya Jyotiben, who had travelled back to Vallabh Vidyanagar from Switzerland upon hearing the news about Param Pujya Ben’s ill health. It was Pujya Jyotiben’s greatest wish to be present in Paris to attend this samaiya and give her blessings for the efforts that the Paris mandal undertook to stage such a major event, which was their very first samaiya. The whole event was a great success, which was enjoyed by everyone who attended.