On Friday 14 March 2018, Mr Katsuya Kodama visited Maninagar Mandir for Acharya Swamishree Maharaj’s blessings.

Mr Kodama is a Japanese peace researcher and sociologist, who has specialised in the research of non-violent peace activism, study on Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, refugee issues, foreign workers, and peace-building. He is a current Secretary-General of International Peace Research Association, former professor and vice president at Mie University, Japan and former vice president of International Social Science Council at UNESCO. Mr Kodama received the Anuvrat Ahimsa (non-violence) International Peace Award from the ANUVRAT Global Organization, India in 2012.

Together with the help of Dr Mukund Patel and Mr Mukesh Patel from Ahmedabad, Mr Kodama is organising an international peace conference in the city during December 2018. This will be the first time that such a global peace congress of that scale is held in India, and Mr Kodama was keen to obtain Acharya Swamishree Maharaj’s blessings for the occasion. Acharya Swamishree Maharaj’s prayer for peace was conveyed and presented to Mr Kodama. Acharya Swamishree Maharaj blessed him with a pagh, symbolic of the spiritual and eternal divine peace experienced at Shree Swaminarayan Gadi.