Around the period of the Dhanurmas, Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan disciples recall the glorious Shakotsav festival performed by Lord Shree Swaminarayan in the village of Loya in Samvat 1878. This year marks 201 years since that Loya Shakotsav festival was held. 

On that occasion, Lord Swaminarayan Himself cooked an eggplant curry. He did this to highlight to everyone the importance of performing humble, selfless services. He used 18 Mahns (1 Mahn (unit of mass) is equivalent to 20 kg) of fresh ghee for just the vaghar. Into this, He placed cut eggplants, enough to fill 18 large carts. Lord Shree Swaminarayan put in the salt, spices, sugar, chillies etc. and made a delicious curry. He then served the food Himself to the sants and disciples. He had asked Nityanand Swami and the other sants to make sweet ladus, so Nityanand Swami served those. However, the Lord had instilled a divine, delicious taste into the curry, and consequently, everyone asked for more and more of it, and refused to take any of the ladus. In this manner, a grand Shakotsav festival was held in the village of Loya.

Honoring the divine deeds of the supreme Lord Shree Swaminarayan 201 years ago, Secaucus Temple disciples held a Shakotsav celebration on Saturday, January 28, 2023 along with a celebration for Sudguru Shree Gopalanand Swamibapa Jayanti. A splendid display of different kinds of vegetables, fruits, spices, and foods was presented before Lord Shree Swaminarayan. 

The celebrations saw young disciples re-enact the Shakotsav events performed by Lord Shree Swaminarayan. In addition, disciples sang joyous kirtans and gave speeches to highlight the importance of Shakotsav and Sadguru Shree Gopalanand Swamibapa's impact on the Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan. Following the celebration, disciples performed aarti and were treated to maha-prasad similar to the meal that Lord Shree Swaminarayan prepared for His disciples over 2 centuries ago.