The most important exhibit — and the very heart of this museum — is a manuscript of Bhagvan Shree Swaminarayan. Shree TejendraPrasadji Maharaj is Himself its owner. No other temple or person has His writing or signature. No one has even a copy. This is a legal document, a power of attorney given by Bhagvan Shree Swaminarayan to one of His followers on a 1 stamp paper, endorsed by a British officer. In the main hall of the museum, this letter will be the only exhibit. It is in Bhagvan Shree Swaminarayan’s own handwriting, wherein he proclaims His status as being the Lord Himself. It thus promises to be the clinching attraction at the museum, being an extremely rare, significant, and precious document. The other equally vital exhibit is the horoscope of Bhagwan Shree Swaminarayan Himself, which underlines the rarity, solemnity, and sacred nature of the exhibits but also in addition that of the fantastic museum itself.
Other attractions would include Bhagvan Shree Swaminarayan’s personal belongings such as clothes, vessels, malas, footprints, a silver toothpick, fragments of His hair and nails, and so on. The collection also includes a flute, which has a story all its own. One of His followers once commented that Lord Krishna was known for playing the flute. On hearing this, Bhagvan Shree took the flute and played on it with effortless ease!
The display items will be changed periodically to retain the interest of visitors. The collection is expected to grow as people are still donating objects that can be exhibited.
In the final analysis, a visit to the Lord’s own temple-museum will prove to be a soulful journey into a grand monument that invigorates thoroughly in the presence of His own artifacts. It also thereby offers a welcome respite to the traveler on the path of Life itself.
