American space agency NASA is going to pay a unique tribute to Guru President Swami Maharaj of BAPS (Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha).
NASA's Odysseus spacecraft is headed to the Moon and will attempt a soft landing on the Moon on February 22 as part of NASA's IM-1 mission. The picture of Pramukh Swami Maharaj and the works done by him are engraved on its outer surface.
Intuitive Missions has shared its pictures on social media and has written that the IM-1 mission launched in coordination with Relative Dynamics has paid tribute to His Holiness President Swami Maharaj. The engraving on the spacecraft is in honor of the service of Chief Swami Maharaj. He spent his entire life selflessly supporting human values and serving humanity. His service work was instrumental in cultural bonding between the two countries. Even in the field of space exploration, cooperation between different countries is becoming important.
Pramukh Swami Maharaj was born in 1921. His worldly name was Shantilal Patel and later he joined the Swaminarayan sect and took initiation. Born near Vadodara, under the leadership of Swami Maharaj, the BAPS sect expanded its activities in education, health and social work all over the world.
Due to Pramukh Swami Maharaj, many BAPS temples have been built in America. The grand Akshardham temple in Delhi was also built by him. About 1000 new temples were built during his lifetime. He died in 2016 at the age of 94.