Introduction
The symbol of Akshar Deri on the home page of www.swaminarayan.org is the trademark of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Sanstha. The Akshar Deri is a holy shrine that commemorates the cremation spot of Aksharbrahma Gunatitanand Swami who was the choicest disciple and first successor of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. According to the Vedic principle of Bhakta and Bhagwan, Gunatitanand Swami is revered as the ideal Bhakta and Swaminarayan as Bhagwan. Akshar Deri is visited by hundreds of thousands of people from throughout the world. Devotees offer prayers, prostrations and perform circumambulations for spiritual elevation, fulfillment of mundane desires and relief from miseries. It is a divine and holy place of pilgrimage in the Swaminrayan Sampraday.
On 23-5-1934 Brahmaswarup Shastriji Maharaj, the 3rd successor of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, built a beautiful 3-shikhar mandir above the Akshar Deri and consecrated the murtis of Akshar and Purushottam. The history of how the Akshar Deri and the mandir was built and its glory and significance in as follows.
