Shikshapatri means a ‘letter of teachings’. From a very young age Lord Swaminarayan was highly educated in various important Hindu scriptures. His father, Dharmadev had personally taught him.
Lord Swaminarayan selected key points from various scriptures & made a small ‘GUTKO’ booklet. This formed the basis of the Shikshapatri. It contains 212 shloks.
It was written in Vadtal on the 5th day of the bright half of the month of Maha VS 1882 (AD 1826), on the day of Vasant Panchmi.
The Lord wrote the Shikshapatri in Sanskrit. It was later on translated into Gujarati, English & various other languages.
This scripture shows us the way to live life, daily duties & how to behave in the family and society.