Spiritual leader from Gujarat secures place in Guinness Book

Spiritual leader from Gujarat secures place in Guinness Book
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

LONDON, JULY 9: His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharaj, a Hindu spiritual leader from Gujarat, has joined the ranks of the best in the world, winning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

At a special awards ceremony here last night, Swami was presented with two sets of certificates for consecrating 355 temples in 11 countries between April 1971 and May 2000 and for building the largest traditional Hindu temple outside India, the `Shree Swaminarayan Mandir' at Neasden.

In the presence of over 4,000 cheering devotees who had gathered at the sprawling hall of the Swaminarayan Mandir, Tim Footman, director of Guinness World Records, presented the framed certificates to Swami, detailing his rare feat.

Footman said Swami's achievements and records would figure among the 7,000 world records which would feature in the latest edition of guinness book of world records.

He said the records were a mix of both serious and non-serious. Among the non-serious ones were standing on one leg for 76 hours and eating most pins in half an hour, while the serious ones included "life saving'' and lives lost, fortunes made and fortunes lost.

But the records set by swami is unlikely to be broken in the near future, he said.