Shikshapatri

• Shikshapatri means a ‘letter of teachings'. From a very young age Lord Swaminarayan was highly educated in various important Hindu scriptures. His father, Dharmadev had personally taught him.
• Lord Swaminarayan selected key points from various scriptures & made a small ‘GUTKO' booklet. This formed the basis of the Shikshapatri.
• It contains 212 shloks.
• It was written in Vadtal on the 5^th day of the bright half of the month of Maha VS 1882 (AD 1826), on the day of Vasant Panchmi.
• The Lord wrote the Shikshapatri in Sanskrit. It was later on translated into Gujarati, English & various other languages.
• This scripture shows us the way to live life, daily duties & how to behave in the family and society.
• Maharaj Mention 8 scriptures which are very dear to Him:

1) Srimad Bhagvatam,

2) Srimad Bhagvat Gita,

3) Vasudev Mahatmiya,

4) Vishnu Shatranam,

5) Vidur Niti,

6) Vyas Sutra,

7) Yagnavalkya Smruti,

8) 4 Vedas.

In order to attain salvation one should listen to all 8 scriptures regularly.