More than 4,000 people visited Flushing Swaminarayan (BAPS) Mandir Wednesday, October 22, 2025, for the Annakut created to mark the Gujarati New Year.
The Flushing Mandir has been celebrating Gujarati New Year and organizing Annakut offerings for the past 51 years. Every year, the Annakut is presented under different themes which the food mountain illustrates with different dishes.
This year’s Annakut featured more than 1,000 different dishes, prepared by devotees as offerings to Krishna, Sahjanand Swami who was the founder of Swaminarayan Sampraday, other deities and Gurus of the Sampraday.
The theme of this year’s Annakut was ‘Samp’ or Unity and Harmony. The Mandir was decorated with flowers, lights, diyas, and rangolis. Wall decorations depicted the significance of Diwali, Lakshmi Pujan, Saraswati Pujan, and the Hindu New Year. Special wall presentations were dedicated to the work of Pramukhswami maharaj who was the inspiration and force behind the Akshar Purushottam Mandirs in the U.S.
ADVERTISEMENT
Special hourly aratis punctuated the New Year’s Day for devotees who kept coming through the day from11 am to 6 pm.
Speaking to Desi Talk, Dr. Vipul Patel, Administrator of the External Affairs Committee said, “Devotees of all ages, including the elderly, the young, and the ‘sant’s participated in the aratis.” He said there were aratis by the ‘vadil mandal’, the ‘yuvak and yuvati mandal’, ‘kishor and kishori mandal’, ‘bal and balika mandal’ , the ‘mahila mandal’, and the ‘sant’s.
Special visitors to the Annakut included Senator John Liu, Assembly members Edward Braunstein, David Weprin and Nily Rozic and Councilmember Sandra Ung.
Speaking on the occasion, Senator John Liu said BAPS began at the Flushing Mandir which was its first ever temple in the U.S. “Many BAPS temples have come up now in the US, but this is where the roots are,” Liu said.
Congratulating the audience, Liu said establishment of Diwali as New York City official holiday is a great achievement. “Now we have to work to make it a state holiday,” he said.
Some of the representatives said they have been attending the New Year’s Annakut for more than ten years, and spoke about the importance of Diwali and of traditions like the Annakut which hold a cultural significance. They also praised the Flushing Mandir for serving the community and fulfilling their need for a cultural center for many years. Assembly member Weprin presented a proclamation to BAPS.
The kitchen volunteers had been busy from early morning preparing the free New Year’s feast of delicious Indian vegetarian dishes including khasta kachori, khichu, jalebi, pav bhaji, pani puri, pizza, French fries, ice cream and more.
Decorations, meal preparations and organization were supervised and managed by women volunteer team headed by Pragna Patel, with special support from Eshaben and Riyaben, who ensured everything was in order through the day.
“We also presented devotees a sampler box of all the items from the Annakut as prasad to take home,” Patel said, explaining the Annakut items were taken to the kitchen and packed into boxes at the end of the day after the last arati.