As part of the year-long celebrations of Brahmaswarup Shastriji Maharaj’s 150th birth anniversary and in commemoration of the arduous travels he undertook to inspire spirituality in all, men and women BAPS volunteers and devotees visited the villages to conduct de-addiction camps, for personal satsang contact, student motivation workshops and mandir cleaning programs. The campaign was titled, 'In the Footsteps of Yagnapurush - Suhrad Vicharan'.
On 13-14 and 20-21 September, in groups of four, volunteers and devotees visited their allocated villages throughout Gujarat.
On the first morning of their two-day stay, they visited the main village school to motivate the pupils to study. Then, the group engaged in personal meetings with senior and elder devotees of the village to learn about their satsang experiences with Shastriji Maharaj, Yogiji Maharaj and Pramukh Swami Maharaj.
Thereafter, the group approached resident villagers to encourage them to give up their addictions to smoking, alcohol, gambling, etc.
In the evening, they conducted a satsang assembly in which they presented bhajans and speeches.
On the second morning, the group continued their contact of devotee families in the village. In the afternoon, the groups, with the help of local devotees, would thoroughly clean a pre-selected mandir in the village.
As a result of this vicharan to the villages, the participants all felt that their understanding of satsang had increased.
Summary - Men
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620 villages visited.
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2,480 volunteers and devotees.
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15,300 families contacted.
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66,300 devotees and well-wishers attended the evening satsang assemblies.
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18,600 man-hours of personal contact.
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500 schools hosted study motivation presentations.
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2,170 hours of mandir cleaning.
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535 mandirs cleaned.
Summary - Women
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2,343 villages.
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9,618 volunteers and devotees.
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49,460 families counselled.
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70,000 well-wisher females attended the evening assemblies.
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28,858 hours of personal contact.