Hi Folks,

After spending two days at MountAbu we have left for Ahemdabad. We had visited many places at Ahemdabad but the main important places with which I was impressed were Akshardham, Dhakor dwarka, Gandhi ashram.

Dhakore dwarka was part of the Pancha dwarka tour. It was 75 Km away from Salemabad. The temple was very ancient temple. The story of this Dwarka goes like this.

One of the Devote of Lord Krishna used to stay at Dwakra, &was visiting Lord Krishna at Dwarka every year. After many years, because the devotee had become old, he thought that it had become very difficult to visit The Lord. he thought of bringing the Lord to his place. With this intention he had gone to Dwarka & prayed the Lord that for the past so many years he was visiting the Lord, now he had became old & not in a position to travel any more. He came to Dwaraka with the intention of taking Lord Krishna with him He was waiting for the lord to accompany him back to his village. After days of waiting, one night after the temples of Dwarkadheesh were closed, the Devotee was sleeping out side the temple. Lord Krishna came to him & woke him up, saying that he was ready to accompany him. Lord said you sit on your bullock cart; I will drive it, & drove the Devotee back to his village. By early hours of next day both Lord Krishna & the devotee were at his village. And in the morning when the devotee woke up he found himself in his village along with the Murthy (Statue) of Lord Krishna. From then onwards he started doing daily rituals according the shastras to that Murty & that is being continued till now. This did happen some centuries back. But the statue was still the same. The King of Gujarat came to know of this & built beautiful temple to Lord Krishna. The Murty is very beautiful & the temple was very well maintained. I liked the temple & its atmosphere very much.

Aksardham is a great Monument. It had become suddenly famous when the militants attacked Akshardham. It is very huge structure beautifully built with Rajastans pink stone! Akshardham in fact was Swaminarayan temple. The statue of Swaminarayana was made up of Gold & looks very pious! The silence in the Hall of Swaminaraya was very peaceful. The museum was a permanent exhibition of spiritual, cultural & eternal truths of Indian philosophy& rich heritage of mythological stories!

There was a video show of the darkest period of Indian History, 18th century. A light & sound show in a village environment where the narrator is a banyan tree, both were very good. I felt we are no less than the world Disney makers. There were so many interesting things to see. With the high technical expertise, the museum was very beautifully arranged!

Then Gandhi Ashram. When we had entered the ashram, our feelings of patriotism come out & the peace, the serenity I had experienced was unique. The Ashram had an exhibition of photographs of Gandhi jig. There was a photo where Gandhi jig was playing with a small kid. It was beautiful! I liked it very much.

He tour to Ahemedabad ended with a visit to Sant Asharam Bapus Ashram.