San Jose
The samaiyo was celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion by the devotees of all age groups. The special program "Mala Na Manka" was enjoyed by many new mumukshus as well. Traditional decorations set the aura of a village while blending in with the theme of the samaiyo very well.
After dhun, parthana and kirtan at the beginning of the sabha, the children and the youths started the main cultural program. Between each piece of the program 2 kids came on stage and presented subtle snippets of dialogues in Gujarati, which served as the emcee comments. Shishu mandal opened up the stage with "Ghanshyam, Ghanshyam maari saathe ramva..." dance followed by the first drama in which 10 yuvaks participated. Then, 7 balaks performed the dance - "mala na manka." Afterwards, an example from "Yogiji Maharaj ni Bodh Kathao - shape of a Haathi" - was performed by small kids. The kishore mandal presented the dramas of "Galuji" and "Kalyan Das" with high professionalism showing splendid teamwork. Yuvak mandal presented the prasang of "Ladhi Bai" showing her faith in Lord Swaminarayan's aagna against all the odds of the world.
With a small break in the cultural program, P. Kaivalyamurti Swami explained the message from Ramayana towards a better life followed by P. Uttamcharan Swami, who focused on Lord Swaminarayan's work as to how he changed the lives of thousands of devotees.
The peak of the celebration was in the last drama of "Dada Khachar" and the message at the end depicting the true way of doing being an ideal devotee of Maharaj. The program was concluded by the dance "mala na manka" once again by the kids. From the expressions of the majority of the haribhaktos, this was one of the best Hari Jayanti Samaiyo we had in San Jose.