Hindu Leader Ends 3-Month Visit to U.S.

A week’s worth of blessings and exhortations concludes in Whittier today as one of India’s most highly regarded religious leaders concludes his three-month U.S. tour.

For seven days and eight nights, His Divine Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj has beseeched Southern California’s Hindu community to spread brotherly love and exemplify family unity as a solution to contemporary social ills.

Surrounded by monks and silk flowers and perched in a lotus position atop an immaculate white seat, the Maharaj spent Tuesday giving blessings and autographs to devotees, many of them members of his international branch of Hinduism.

His followers believe that the Maharaj, 75, is the fifth incarnation of Lord Swaminarayan, founder of the Hindu sect that now claims 40,000 members and 75 centers in the United States.

Audiences of more than 3,000 people came to see the Maharaj during ceremonies last weekend, organizers said. Bharatsinh J. Zala, coordinator of the sect’s Whittier center, described the Maharaj’s visit as a personal experience without parallel.

“From the moment you first see [the Maharaj] at the airport it is the happiest moment of your life,” Zala said.