May Goddess Lakshmi step into your home and bring peace, contentment, happiness, good health and wealth in your life!

We are seeking blessing of Shree Swaminarayan Maharaj on the festival of lights which signifies the triumph of good over evil. On this Gujarati New Year, I ask the Almighty to guide us

from Ignorance, lead us to truth;
from darkness, lead us to light;
from death, lead us to immortality.

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad — I.iii.28

I wish I could be with my family and friends on this festival. But, we can’t this year. I still feel very proud about my culture, tradition and festivals. Today, I read a nice quotation by Mark Twain about India and Indian Culture at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Chino Hills, CA during Diwali celebration and thought to share this quote on this auspicious occasion.

So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or Nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his round. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked

Mark Twain, in Following the Equator (1897), Ch. LVII