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October
1 - 6
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Himalayan
yatra
For one week, Pujya
Swamiji led a divine yatra to Badrinath, Kedarnath,
Guptkashi and Rudraprayag in the Himalayas.
We began from
Rishikesh on the morning of the 1st October and drove to
Guptkashi to the divine ashram of Swami Girjananandji.
Then on October 2, we left early and drove to Gaurikund
from where we started the 14 km trek to Kedarnath,
reaching to the holy tirth in the late evening. Our plan
had been to have darshan and puja in the temple on the
3rd morning, but the 3rd was an eclipse; hence the
temple would be closed. Therefore, they arranged for a
special, private puja for our group from 11:00 pm -
midnight on the 2nd night.
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On the 3rd morning, after
having a crystal clear darshan of Kedarnath,
we trekked back down to Gaurikund.
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We reached back to
the beautiful Himalayan ashram in Guptkashi in late
afternoon and spent the duration of the eclipse (from
4:18 pm - 5:30 pm) in puja, prayer and chanting.
October 4 morning we
drove to Badrinath, stopping along the way for darshan
at Hanuman Chatti.
After lunch at Parmarth Lok, Badrinath, we left for Mana,
the last village on the Indian side of the border, and
also the site where many historical and spiritual events
took place. For example, in Mana, in Vyasa Guffa,
Maharishi Vyasji wrote the Mahabharata and also arranged
the Vedas into the current arrangement of 4 separate
Vedas.
Further, in Mana, one
can walk the path that the Pandava brothers walked with
Draupadi after the Mahabharata war, and one can even see
the bridge (Bhima phool) where Bhima pushed a large rock
across the Saraswati river so that Draupadi could cross.
We meditated in Vyasa
guffa, had darshan of the Saraswati river and Bhima
phool, and also distributed sweets to every member of
the village!
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On the morning of the 5th
October, we had a divine puja in the mandir
and also a beautiful yagna outside the
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In front of the
Badrinath Mandir
On the 5th October, after leaving
Badrinath, we spent the night in Rudraprayag, the sangam
of the holy Mandakini river from Kedarnath and the holy
Alakananda river from Badrinath. Pujya Swamiji felt that
Ganga Aarti should be performed at this sacred prayag.
Hence, we had arranged in advance for aarti supplies and
we organized the first aarti at Rudra Prayag sangam.
Pujya Swamiji pledged his support and assistance in
helping the local people continue the aarti each
evening.
Yatris included the family of Sandeep
and Manjari Gupta, owners of Dainik Jagran newspaper,
Smt. Yashodhara Oberoi, Lily Bafandi of Switzerland and
others from USA and India, as well as our divine
Rishikumars.
October
16--
Rishikesh
His Excellency the
Honorable Governor of Uttranchal and Honorable former
Chief Justice High Court of India, Shri Venkatachaliahji
came for Ganga Aarti. Shri Venkatachaliahji is an
honorary patron of the Encyclopedia of Hinduism project
and he was very glad to hear how the project is
progressing, closer and closer to its ultimate, historic
completion. Pujya Swamiji also shared with him various
other projects of IHRF's underway, including the
widescale tsunami relief and also the Mansarovar/Mt.
Kailash project.
Pujya Swamiji sits with Hon.
Shri Venkatachaliahji
The Honorable Governor of Uttranchal,
Shri Sudarshan Agarwal, came also that evening and
graced us all with his presence. Pujya Swamiji always says that he wishes every state in
India had a governor like Shri Sudarshanji. He is the
epitome of selfless service, integrity and commitment.
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Hon. Governor Shri Sudarshan Agarwal
and
Hon. Chief Justice Shri
Venkatachaliah
perform Ganga yagna
and aarti with Pujya
Swamiji.
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After the Aarti, the Honorable Guests
spoke and Shri Prakash Hindujaji
presented a
flower mala to the
Honorable Governor
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Pujya Swamiji offered
sacred Mansarovar jal (holy water) to the Honorable
Governor and Honorable Chief Justice
After the aarti, the Honorable
Governor, Honorable Chief Justice, Shri P.P. Hinduja and
Shri J.C. Pant gathered in Pujya Swamiji's garden for
prasad
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October
--
Rishikesh
Pujya Swami
Madhavpriyadasji of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya came to
Parmarth Niketan with a large group of Swaminarayan
Swamijis. It was a great honor for us to have their
darshan and to have them with us. In November of 2002 a
group of 200 Swaminarayan swamijis and devotees had come
to Parmarth, under the leadership of Pujya Swami
Madhavpriyadasji for several weeks. We hope they will
continue to grace Parmarth with their presence.
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October 23
--
Delhi
Pujya Swamiji and
Pujya Bhaishri traveled together to Delhi for the
opening of the new, divine Akshardham temple. The
Akshardham temple is being heralded as the 8th wonder of
the world! Pujya Swamiji and Pujya Bhaishri had a tour
of the entire temple and its grounds and also saw the
outstanding IMAX film. Then, they had a program in the
temple hall where each gave effusive praise and
blessings for this spectacular spiritual and cultural
masterpiece. It is all due to the grace of H.H. Pujya
Pramukh Swamiji that this divine temple came to
fruition.
October
23 - 30
--
Rishikesh
Samantha Matthews,
yoga teacher from Los Gatos (near San Francisco),
California came with a group of yoga students to spend a
week on the banks of Mother Ganga, learning yoga and
living yoga! Samantha had done her teacher's training
program here at Parmarth Niketan several years ago and
is now a successful and beloved yoga teacher. It's
wonderful to see the teaching and the touch of Parmarth
spreading out to touch more and more people around
the world.
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Group of yoga students who came
with
Samantha perform sacred yagna
and aarti
after taking spiritual names
and mantra from Pujya Swamiji
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DIWALI
November
1--
Rishikesh
November 1 was the
divine occasion of Diwali. For the full meaning of this
beautiful festival of lights, click here.
Diwali at Parmarth
was celebrated with a divine puja on the banks of Mother
Ganga and a yagna and Ganga Aarti. Following aarti Pujya
Swamiji gave His "Diwali Message" to all present and
then the rishikumars lit firecrackers on the ghat!!! A
perfect mix of prayer and play!
Guests on Diwali
included people from USA and from across India. VIPs
included Shri Bawa Jain, the secretary General of the
Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual
leaders at the United Nations and the current Secretary
General of the World Council of Religious Leaders, and
the Birla family from Bombay and Delhi. Yash and
Avanti Birla from Bombay came with their dear children
Nirvaan, Vedanth and Shloka, and Chandrakant Birla came from
Delhi with his wife and daughter Avanti.
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Shloka Birla lights sparklers with the
rishikumars
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After dinner, the guests
present helped to distribute warm clothing
to the rishikumars for winter - including
hats and sweaters.
November
5--
Rishikesh
Shri Pankaj and Smt.
Charoo Munjal of Hero Honda came to Parmarth with their
entire family for the mundan ceremony of Aryan Kholsa,
son of Shri Gagan and Smt. Rohini Kholsa. It
was a beautiful, divine ceremony on the banks of Mother Ganga performed by the priests and rishikumars.
It's always so
beautiful to see families who are highly successful,
wealthy and prominent business people choose to come all
the way to Rishikesh, to this holy land, to perform the
sacred sanskars. It is so easy to lose sight of the
importance of these divine rites of passage when one
reaches such a high level financially and socially.
Thus, we were so impressed to see the piety and devotion
with which the entire family traveled from Bombay and
Delhi to Rishikesh for this beautiful sanskara.
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Puja and prayer at the mundan ceremony
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Pujya Swamiji offers
a flower and blessings to dear Aryan
If you would like to learn more
about these beautiful sanskaras or to see the other
sanskaras we perform at Parmarth, please see
www.parmarth.com/sanskaras.htm
November
7--
Haridwar
and Rishikesh
Pujya Swamiji was a
Guest of Honor at the inauguration of the
Manav Seva Sannidhi
artificial limbs camp
organized by Divine Soul Smt. Abhilasha Singhvi,
daughter of respected and eminent philosopher, writer,
former High Commissioner to the UK, political and social
leader Dr. L.M. Singhviji. Abhilashaji has been
organizing camps for 18 years in which the poorest of
the poor who have lost limbs due to illness or accident
get new, custom-made, top-of-the-line prosthetic limbs
made on site. The camps have previously been held in
Gujarat, and this was the first in Uttranchal. Next camp
will be held and organized at Parmarth!
There was a beautiful
inauguration ceremony, attended also by the Honorable
Governor of Uttranchal Shri Sudarshan Agarwal, during
which Abhilashaji explained the program and introduced
both the new patients who would receive limbs during
this camp and also former patients who have received
limbs in the past.
As she called out the
names of each former patient, she told the story of how
he/she lost the limb. Each came prancing out, proudly
and confidently striding forth on their new feet and
legs. One man who had lost both legs actually now makes
a living as a delivery man on a bicycle!! To the
thunderous applause from the audience, he came out
adeptly riding his bicycle through the crowd.
Pujya Swamiji speaks
at the function. Beside Him are (right to left):
Honorable Governor of Uttranchal, Dr. LM Singhviji,
Pujya Swami Satyamitranandji and Brahmachari Satpalji
One very poor man
from the Himalayas had lost his leg in 1962 fighting for
India in the war against China. He has been handicapped
since, for more than 40 years. However, through this
camp, he was about to receive a new leg! Pujya Swamiji,
in His speech, said poignantly that the man who had
given his leg so that India could stand proudly had
become handicapped and unable to stand himself. Yet,
today, due to Abhilashaji's divine seva, he who had
given his leg to India was going to receive a new leg
from Abhilasha!
Pujya Swamiji was so
touched by the patients whose lives had been repaired by
receiving a new limb that He invited them all to come
for Ganga aarti in the evening. Dr. L.M. Singhviji, dear
Abhilashaji and Smt. Kamal Singhviji were already
planning to come, but Pujya Swamiji requested for all of
the former patients to come as well.
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Clockwise from right: Dr. LM Singhviji,
Smt. Kamalaji and dear Abhilashaji
perform yagna with Pujya Swamiji
and with the patients who have
received prosthetic limbs through
MSS camps; Pujya Swamiji
blesses Dr. LM Singhviji
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It was a truly divine
experience of unparalleled optimism and hope to see a
group of patients, crippled, impoverished and abandoned
by everyone other than Abhilasha, dance the Garba around
our yagna kund after aarti!! Other than Abhilashaji's,
there were no feet of flesh and blood touching the
ground. Everyone - the men, the women, the old and the
young - were dancing joyously on limbs of synthetic
materials. Yet, the joy with which they danced far
surpassed those who are still blessed by God to have all
4 limbs in tact.
Pujya Swamiji has
pledged His support for this divine mission.
Also, on that evening we had a special honoring of Janak
Singh, a man who had begun in Pujya Swamiji's seva many
years ago, working in the office for the India
Foundation's innumerable charitable projects. Pujya Swamiji
could see Janak's ability and also his dedication and
honesty. So, when the opportunity arose, Pujya Swamiji
recommended him to a devotee who is a successful
businessman abroad. Janak left India to go work for this
business man, and due to his hard work and ability, he
has earned crores of rupees in the last few years!!!
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However, we received an
email from him several months ago in which
he said that he wanted to donate his first
one lakh of dollars to the Foundation! He wanted to give his
first successful earnings back to the Guru,
to the foundation and to the project that
had given him his start in life! On Janak's
last trip to India he came back to Parmarth
where Pujya Swamiji had Dr. L.M. Singhviji
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November 8--
Delhi
Pujya Swamiji was a
special Guest speaker at a function regarding the tragic
situation facing girls in India - with respect to
feticide, child-selection, abandonment of girl children
and the consequent grave decline in the proportion of
young girls to boys in many parts of the country. The
program was organized by UNESCO with Art of Living.
Spiritual leaders from all faiths from across India came
to this function and spoke out against the current
situation and pledged to use their influence to effect
change.
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Clockwise from right: Pujya Swamiji
delivers His talk; Pujya Swamiji with
Pujya Swami Vishveshtirthji from Udupi;
Pujya Swamiji with Pujya Bal Gangadhar
Swamiji from Bangalore and Pujya
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
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All of the spiritual leaders
present at the conference
November 9--
London
Pujya Swamiji gave a
beautiful lecture during His short stay in London titled
"Your Divine Yatra to Spirituality". He explained, in a
gracefully flowing mix of English, Gujarati and Hindi,
how to turn our lives from the external to the internal.
The program was
co-organized by Garavi Gujarat Magazine/Asian Trader
Publications, UK (see
www.gg2.net) and India Heritage Research Foundation.
It was a great gathering of approximately 400 people at
the Kadwa Patidar Center, particularly as it was a
weeknight!
We also celebrated
the birthday of Kalpesh Solanki, managing Editor of
Garavi Gujarat and IHRF trustee, during the function.
November 11-13--
Miami, Florida, USA
Each year the
Omega Institute of New York (USA's premier institute for
yoga, meditation and other healing/spiritual sciences),
see www.eomega.org ,
hosts a huge conference to which they call all of the
top, most famous, renowned yoga teachers, meditation and
healing experts from USA together. The Conference this
year was titled "Path of Yoga." There were approximately
40 of America's founders, directors and leaders of all
the different forms of yoga who came together to offer
classes at the huge Sheraton Bal Harbour Resort in
Miami. Nearly 1000 participants came from across the
world to participate and learn in the conference.
Each year, the
conference opens on Friday evening with a special
Key-note address. A famous expert in the field is
usually called to deliver this 90 minute inaugural
address. However, this
was the first time they had called a holy person, a
saint, a spiritual leader to be the keynote speaker.
With humor and examples
from everyday life, Pujya Swamiji explained each of the
eight limbs and how they are all crucial parts of being
a �yogi.�
Typically in the West,
yoga is taught as asana. Occasionally some pranayama
and/or meditation is taught. But, rarely are the yamas
and niyamas discussed as crucial aspects of living a
yogic life. Rarely are students taught that being a yogi
means being peaceful, being truthful, being generous,
exercising restraint in all areas, surrendering to God.
Everyone left the talk with a clear understanding that
yoga is much more than postures and they learned how to
bring the full, completeness of yogic union into their
daily lives. It was the first time that most of the
participants had met a saint, and their lives were
changed.
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During the course of
the weekend (Pujya Swamiji also gave additional
discourses and question-answer sessions on a Yogic
Life), so many people told him that due to His talk,
their lives had changed. Many became vegetarian. Many
promised to incorporate ahimsa, satyam and the other
yamas and niyamas into their daily lives. All were
forever touched and transformed by His presence.
November 14--
Tampa,
Florida, USA
After spending
the weekend in Miami, Pujya Swamiji spent a night in
Tampa where He gave pravachan and darshan at the BAPS
mandir in Tampa. The program was organized by Dr.
Sharadbhai and Gargi Patel and Bellaben and Yogeshbhai
Patel.
November
20--
Phoenix, AZ, USA
On the
occasion of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Ekta
Mandir in Phoenix, Pujya Swamiji travelled to Phoenix
where He gave 2 programs. The first was at the Festival
of India where He gave a talk on Karma Yoga and the
second was a special pravachan program at the community
hall next to where the Ekta Mandir will be built.
One participant sent
the following email to Shri Bhagubhai Patel (who had
organized the program) afterwards, describing his
experience:
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Yesterday�s event was one of a kind that touched both
our hearts and also that of many young executives,
engineers, doctors, lawyers and the seniors!
The attendees were on their best behavior and they were
indeed well disciplined during the presentation! There
was pin-drop silence during the Discourse of HH Pujya
Swamiji! This proves a point that the Discourse was
outstanding with immense clarity and simplicity that had
direct relevance in daily life, along with genuine
quality substance and a powerful message for all of us.
All that he did was in an extremely friendly and
practical manner with fatherly, in fact saintly,
touching advice to surrender our anger and ego, to
forgive and forget, and to set an example especially for
young ones! HH Pujya Swamiji has full command over so
many languages. He has special public speaking skills of
switching languages at ease. His speech flows like the
holy and cool waters of river Ganges!
The key words from his talk were: calm, humble,
politeness, yoga, pranayam, meditation,
touch/connection, sanskar�.
Your persistence and insistence to HH Pujya Swamiji for
gracing the Center with his presence was evidently
absolutely well worth it. It certainly proved to be a
huge success. All of us definitely benefited a lot from
his brief moments with us!
Briefly, Bhagubhai, Good job well done!
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November
24-25--
Tsunami Affected Areas, India
Pujya Swamiji
returned from His short trip to USA and went immediately
down South to the tsunami affected area where we are working
on several projects, including the reconstruction of 2
villages in Pondicherry and the construction of an
orphanage & home for widowed/abandoned ladies in Tamil
Nadu. (see
www.projecthope-tsunami.com for details of
the projects). The official handing over of the houses
of Pannithittu village was completed on December 13 by
the hands of the Honorable Governors of Tamil Nadu,
Uttranchal and Pondicherry together. See next month's
update for full details.
November
28-
Rishikesh
Shri S.P.
Hindujaji of London, UK came with his entire family to
Parmarth Niketan to celebrate the special occasion of
his 70th birthday. We had a beautiful puja, yagna and
aarti on the banks of Mother Ganga and then had a
special bhandara where nearly 100 revered saints plus
poor ladies plus all the rishikumars, brahmacharis and
priests of Parmarth were fed. Nearly 500 people had the
special bhandara in honor of Shri S.P. Hindujaji.
Following that we distributed new blankets to all of the
saints and rishikumars and new sarees to all of the
ladies.
The four Hinduja
brothers perform puja with Pujya Swamiji on the banks of
Ganga
We had a special
Ganesh puja, Navagraha puja, Shanti puja, Ayush puja and
Ganga puja, followed by a Ganesh homa, Navagraha homa,
Shanti homa and Ayush homa. This was followed by the
yagna purnahuti and the divine Ganga aarti and sankirtan.
Purnahuti of the special yagna
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Clockwise from right: Ashokji and
Harshaji Hinduja perform aarti; the entire
family sings kirtan; the entire family
performs aarti
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It was beautiful to
see Shri Hindujaji choosing to celebrate this special
birthday, not in a beachside resort or fancy hotel, with
glasses of champagne, but rather on the banks of Mother
Ganga with puja and prayer. It is, in fact, a tradition
in the family to celebrate special occasions at Parmarth
Niketan. In December 2001 we celebrated the Centenary
Celebration of the Patriarch of the Hinduja family, Shri
Parmanand D. Hinduja (see
www.parmarth.com/updates/novdec2001/index.htm) and
in December 2004 we celebrated the Centenary Celebration
of the divine Mother of the Hinduja family, Smt. Jamuna
P. Hinduja (see
www.parmarth.com/updates/janfeb2005/index.html).
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Clockwise from right: Gopiji and Harshaji
Hinduja sing beautiful bhajans; Vinooji and
Harshaji feed the rishikumars; the family
distributes blankets to the saints
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Parmarth
Niketan
&
present:
CLICK
HERE TO REGISTER
For
assistance in booking plane tickets, hotel
arrangements, tours or transport to Rishikesh,
please contact Mr. Neeraj Gupta at gupta_ng_in@hotmail.com
or
by phone on +91-9811111044
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FILM ON PUJYA
SWAMIJI & HIS TEACHINGS:
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On April 17,
2004 at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood, USA a
film on the life and teachings of Pujya Swamiji
premiered to a sold out audience.
The film, titled, "A Day in the Light" is
produced and directed by Christopher Miglino.
The film has already
been shown to delighted and inspired audiences at the
Sedona Film Festival, the Indian Film Festival in
Los Angeles and several other film festivals in USA
and Europe.
See
www.adayinthelight.com
to order your own copy of the beautiful film.
Or, you can go directly to
www.amazon.com and order it from there
For more information,
email Christopher directly at
chris@yogamates.com
Click on the links
below for previews: |
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Bathing
in Ganga at Parmarth
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Itinerary
for Pujya Swamiji
for December 2005 -
February 2006 |
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December |
January |
February |
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1-10 |
Rishikesh |
1-29 |
Rishikesh** |
1-13 |
Porbandar, Gujarat |
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12-13 |
Tsunami affected area |
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13-14 |
Bodh Gaya |
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14-31 |
Rishikesh |
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17-18 |
Bangalore |
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20-28 |
Rishikesh |
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**Please note that Pujya Swamiji
will be in a silent meditation
from January 5 -
January 25.
He will be giving darshan only for a brief period once
a day.
Email contact for program information:
parmarth@aol.com
*Note: Pujya Swamiji's schedule is always
subject to change at the last minute. Please be sure to
call or email prior to coming to Rishikesh, just to
confirm that He is there. |
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Contact
Information:
Phone: (0135) 2440088,
2440077, 2434301 Fax: (0135)
2440066
From abroad, dial: + (91-135) instead of (0135)
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