India Post News Service
NEW DELHI: New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy visited Swaminarayan Akshardham in Delhi as part of the first official trip that a sitting governor of the state has ever undertaken to India. New Jersey is home to what will soon be the one of the three BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham complexes worldwide, as well as seven other BAPS Swaminarayan mandirs and a robust Hindu community.
Governor Murphy traveled with a large delegation, including New Jersey’s First Lady Tammy Murphy legislators, economic advisors, healthcare and technology officials and professors, according to a press release issued by the temple.
The delegation was greeted by Pujya Gnanmunidas Swami and other senior BAPS swamis on behalf of His Holiness Mahant Swami Maharaj, the sixth spiritual leader of BAPS. The delegation offered respects at the Swaminarayan Akshardham Mandir and performed abhishek, the ceremonial pouring of sanctified water from 151 holy bodies of water from across India on the idol of Shri Neelkanth Varni.
They also toured the educational Sanskruti Vihar, a cultural voyage that displays 10,000 years of India’s heritage and contributions to society and attended the weekly assembly of devotees, where the governor spoke to those in attendance.
Governor Murphy emphasized during his message to devotees that he hoped his work as leader of New Jersey would add to the rich history of friendship between New Jersey and India.
“Together, I firmly believe that we cannot just open the doors of progress and opportunity in New Jersey, but also here in India, and in doing so, we will be able to have a very real, and very positive impact on the lives of countless people and their families,” he said.
Murphy personally met with Mahant Swami Maharaj in Robbinsville, New Jerseym in 2017 and said that he looked forward to meeting him again during the latter’s upcoming trip to the US.
