Devotees of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha from 16 countries throughout Africa participated in a special online Vedic mahapuja prayer ceremony.
The mahapuja ceremony began at 9.00 a.m. and was led by sadhus at the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Nairobi, Kenya. Over 16,730 devotees from over 4,180 families in 16 countries across Africa devotionally performed the mahapuja rituals at their homes as guided by the swamis through a live webcast. The mahapuja was also performed at all 29 BAPS mandirs across Africa by the resident pujari. As per the wish of His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj over 211 recitations of Shri Sahajanand Namavali were completed during the mahapuja ceremony.
At the conclusion of the mahapuja ceremony, Pujya Bhaktipriya (Kothari) Swami blessed all through a live broadcast from India. He prayed that may all be protected from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, may local and international economies and businesses return to normality as soon as possible, may all the frontline workers remain healthy and may the atmas of the deceased attain peace.
Currently, all BAPS mandirs worldwide are closed in accordance with governmental and scientific community guidelines, thus creating a void in the lives of many devotees. The online mahapuja ceremony served to provide peace of mind to and to connect all BAPS devotees and well-wishers in solidarity against the pandemic.