Swaminarayan

Swaminarayan under a neem tree in Gadhada

Swaminarayan (born April 3, 1781 in Chhapaiya near Ayodhya ; † June 1, 1830 ), also known under the name Sahajanand Swami , is the founder of a form of Hinduism , also called Swaminarayan Hinduism. After the death of his parents, Swaminarayan began a seven-year pilgrimage across India at the age of eleven . He joined the spiritual teacher Ramanand Swami in Gujarat , West India, at the age of 18 . Ramanand Swami formally initiated him as a sadhu (monk) and appointed him in 1801 at the age of 20 as his successor and thus head of the order.

Swaminarayan built six temples and initiated 500 Paramhansas and 2000 sadhus (monks). He wrote the Shikshapatri , a book of social and spiritual principles. Another book called Vachanamrut contains collected speeches by Swaminarayan. He died on June 1, 1830 at the age of 49. Before that he named his two nephews as Achariyas , who headed the organization after his death.

Swaminarayan is considered a social reformer because he campaigned against the practices of widow burning and the killing of female babies. He initiated feeding the poor and opened poor houses. Furthermore, he carried out aid projects during periods of drought.

His teaching is based on the principles of Hinduism. The goal of life is the liberation of the soul from the lower instincts, from attachments and from the ego and thus from the cycle of birth and death.

There are several organizations that represent the teachings of Swaminarayan today. These include:

• Shri Nar Narayan Dev Gadi (Ahmedabad)
• Shri LaxmiNarayan Dev Vadtal Gadi (Vadtal)
• BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
• Yogi Divine Society (YDS)

The number of followers is estimated at 5 to 20 million worldwide.

childhood

Swaminarayan's father Hariprasad Pande and his mother Premvati Pande gave him the name Ghanshyam . His older brother was called Rampratap and his younger brother Ichcharama. Many stories have been passed down about his childhood, some of them with a miraculous character. It is said that he completed his Sanskrit studies at the age of seven and that his father took him to Varanasi for a philosophical debate when he was ten . Both adherents of the Advaita (non-duality) philosophy of Shankara and adherents of the Dvaita (duality) philosophy of Madhva participated in the debate . When they did not come to a common conclusion, Ghanshyam was able to convince them of his view of the Vishishtadvaita philosophy (modified doctrine of non-duality) of Ramanujan .

Pilgrimage through India

Ghanshyam's parents died in 1792 when he was eleven years old. He then left the family home and went on a seven-year pilgrimage across India as an ascetic . During this trip he took the name Neelkanth Varni . He began his journey in the Himalayas , where he met various spiritual teachers. He visited the places of pilgrimage Mathura , Haridwar , Rishikesh and Badrinath in northern India. He continued the journey to Lake Manasarovar in Tibet. From there he returned to India and came to Nepal. He visited the Muktinath Monastery and then learned yoga from the yoga master Gopal Yogi for a year near Pokhara . He came to Parshuram Kund in Arunachal Pradesh , the easternmost part of India, via Kathmandu , Sherpur in what is now Bangladesh and Assam . From there he continued his journey towards South India and visited the Jaganath Temple in Puri , Kanchipuram , Srirangam , Kumbakonam , Rameswaram , Madurai , Sriperumbudur and reached Kanyakumari on the southern tip of India. Then he walked on to the west side towards Gujarat , where he among other things, Krishna consecrated Dwarkadhish Temple visited.

During his pilgrimage, Neelkanth Varni was extremely ascetic. In the Himalayas he walked barefoot through the snow. His body is completely emaciated in representations and pictures. This is attributed to his extreme fasting. When he finally arrived in Gujarat at the end of his journey, Muktanand Swami wrote to his guru Ramamanand Swami in a letter that Neelkanth Varni was not eating solid food, that the veins in his body were green, and that he appeared to be he has no blood in his body at all.

Arrival in Gujarat

In 1799 Neelkanth reached the ashram (monastery) of Ramanand Swami in Loj in Gujarat. The monks there were so impressed with Neelkanth that they persuaded him to stay with them until Ramanand Swami returned from the journey he was on. Upon his return, Ramanand Swami formally initiated Neelkanth as a sadhu and named him Sahajanand Swami . In 1801 Ramamand Swami named him his successor and gave him the management of the organization. Ramanand Swami died a short time later. At that time, Sahajanand Swami was 20 years old.

Subsequently Sahajanand Swami gave his students the new mantra "Swaminarayan" and was finally called Swaminarayan himself by his students . The entire movement thus became known under the name Swaminarayan Sampradaya (Order).

Work and work

After becoming the leader of the organization, Swaminarayan spent most of his life at Dada Khachhar's house in Gadhada village near Bhavnagar in Gujarat.

According to tradition, in the first phase after Swaminarayan took over the leadership of the organization, there were hundreds of cases of devotees spontaneously falling into a spiritual trance - samadhi . This first phase in particular led his followers to see in Swaminarayan not only their spiritual teacher, but a manifestation of God.

Ascetics and Paramhansas

In the first 15 years in particular, Swaminarayan faced great opposition. His supporters also suffered from this resistance. This particularly affected the sadhus , who because of their rules were not allowed to react with retaliation or anger. In response, Swaminarayan initiated 500 of his sadhus as Paramhansas , the highest form of ascetic. These Paramhansas gave up their monastic clothing and every visible sign of their monasticism, in addition to all worldly things, and were therefore less exposed to attacks.

Gunatitianand Swami and Gopalanand Swami play a prominent role among the Paramhansas, as parts of the Swaminarayan movement see themselves as their successors.

Social projects

Swaminarayan initiated numerous social projects, such as B. building wells and water storage tanks. His ascetics built and repaired roads. They worked as craftsmen building temples and houses. Swaminarayan took part in these activities himself. In times of famine or during the plague, his ascetics opened poor kitchens.

Social reforms

Swaminarayan campaigned for social reforms through education that led to a significant improvement in the position of women in society at that time. He opposed the existing practice in some social classes of killing girls after giving birth. This practice had its cause u. a. in that parents had to pay a high dowry to the groom's family for their daughters at the wedding . Swaminarayan objected and promised parents money for the wedding if they let the girl live. He also campaigned against the widow burning - Sati . After this practice, the widow was burned at the husband's stake . Instead, he gave widows a status through which they were recognized by society.

Temples and scriptures

During the last ten years of his life, Swaminarayan had six temples built in the following locations in Gujarat. The respective date of inauguration is shown in brackets.

• Ahmedabad (February 24, 1822)
• Bhuj (May 15, 1823)
• Vadtal (November 3, 1824)
• Dholera (May 19, 1826)
• Junagadh (May 1, 1828)
• Gadhada (October 9, 1828)

Swaminarayan wrote the Shikshapatri on February 11, 1826 in Vadtal. This is a book of social and spiritual principles. The Shikshapatri consists of 212 verses in Sanskrit . Swaminarayan had it translated into Gujarati by Nityanand Swami, one of his Paramhansas . Today there are translations of Shikshapatri in 29 languages, including 10 Indian and 19 other languages.

Another book, called Vachanamrut, contains spiritual and philosophical lectures that Swaminarayan gave during the last ten years of his life. Four of his disciples (Muktanand Swami, Gopalanand Swami, Nityanand Swami and Shukanand Swami) wrote down Swaminarayan's speeches, presented them to Swaminarayan for review, and published them as a book. Swaminarayan gave his lectures in Gujarati, hence the Vachanamrut was written in Gujarati. It consists of 273 lectures, which are summarized in ten chapters. Each chapter is named after the place where Swaminarayan gave his lecture: Gadhada, Ahmedabad , Sarangpur, Kariyani, Loya, Panchala, Vadtal, Aslali and Jetalpur.

Teaching

Swaminarayan's teaching builds on the teachings of Hinduism. He regularly referred to Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita . According to him, the goal of life is the liberation of the soul from the lower instincts, from attachments to material things and from the ego and thus from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. To achieve this, Swaminarayan taught four principles, which he summarized under the name Ekantik Dharma (supreme spiritual teaching): Dharma , Bhakti , Jnyana and Vairaga .

• Dharma, according to Swaminarayan, means one's own life's work. The Dharma can then be different depending on which position one has in life. A family man has z. B. the task of looking after and protecting his family, while a sadhu has the task of staying away from worldly matters and passing on his spiritual knowledge. Living a righteous life and following certain rules is also part of the Dharma.
• According to Swaminarayan, bhakti means devotion and love for God with a simultaneous understanding of the glory of God.
• According to Swaminarayan, Jnyana means spiritual knowledge and understanding, especially the knowledge and understanding of Jiva (soul), Maya (illusion), and God.
• Vairagya, according to Swaminarayan, is detachment and non-attachment to material things.

Principles for behavior

Swaminarayan taught the first principle of nonviolence - Ahimsa . Therefore, he did not allow animal sacrifices and made a vegetarian diet the rule. An essential principle that Swaminarayan gave his followers was to obey five rules:

1. not to steal
2. not to commit adultery
3. not to eat meat,
4. not to consume alcohol or other intoxicating drugs,
5. not accepting food from anyone lower caste than your own. This is generally replaced today with pure behavior not to stray from the path or not to do immoral things.

philosophy

Swaminarayan based his teaching on the philosophy of Ramanuja . He rejected the Advaita-Vedanta teaching of formlessness from God , which is widespread in India . According to Swaminarayan, God has a form and manifests on earth.

Succession

Swaminarayan died on June 1, 1830 in Gadhada, Gujarat . Before his death he adopted his two nephews Ayodhyaprasad and Raguvir and appointed them Achariyas , who continued to run the organization after his death.

Ahmedabad and Vadtal

Ayodhyaprasad became Achariya of Ahmedabad and Raguvir of Vadtal. With this he established a line for the succession, in which the position of Achariya is passed on to the son.

The northern part of Gujarat was assigned to Ahmedabad. This organization is known to this day under the name Shri Nar Narayan Dev Gadi. Today's Achariya is called Acharya Shree Koshalendraprasadji Maharaj (born October 18, 1971 ) The Ahmedabad lineage included 765 ascetics in 1999.

The southern part of Gujarat was assigned to Vadtal. This organization is called Shri Laxmi Narayan Dev Vadtal Gadi . Today's Acharya is Acharya Shree Rakeshprasad Maharaj (born July 23, 1966 ). In 1999, 1468 ascetics belonged to the Vadtal lineage.

BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha

In 1907 Shastriji Maharaj (Shastri Yagnapurushdas) founded a new organization under the name Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha , known as BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha . In contrast to the original line of the Achariyas, Shastriji Maharaj took the view that together with Swaminarayan as a manifestation of God, his disciple Gunatitanand Swami should also be worshiped as a manifestation of Akshar Brahma . According to this teaching, the guru (spiritual teacher) is of outstanding importance for the spiritual path. In 1907 Shastri Maharaj inaugurated the first temple of the BAPS in Bochasan. In the center of this temple were portraits of Swaminarayan (Purushottam) and Gunatitanand Swami (Akshar). The name of the BAPS is derived from this (Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha). During his lifetime Shastrii Maharaj built five temples: Bochasan, Sarangpur, Gondal , Atladara and Gadhada.

The BAPS sees the following gurus as the spiritual successor to Swaminarayan:

• Gunatitanand Swami ( October 17, 1785 - October 11, 1867 )
• Bhagatji Maharaj (March 20, 1829 - November 7, 1897 )
• Shastriji Maharaj (born January 31, 1865 - † May 10, 1951 )
• Yogiji Maharaj ( 23 May 1892 - 23 January 1971 )
• Pramukh Swami Maharaj ( 7 December 1921 - 13 August 2016 )
• Mahant Swami Maharaj (born September 13, 1933 ), the currently living guru.

Yogiji Maharaj and Pramukh Swami made the BAPS grow strongly. Today there are over 1100 temples, 1000 sadhus, 3850 centers and 55,000 volunteers worldwide.

In 1995 BAPS built the first and largest Hindu temple outside of India in London, Neasden , which was built in the traditional Indian architectural style.

BAPS and its affiliated organizations are, in addition to religious activities, a. Active in the following areas: publications, operation of schools, colleges, student dormitories, hospitals and relief projects for natural disasters.

Yogi Divine Society

The Yogi Divine Society (YDS) was founded in 1974 by Hariprasad Swami, a disciple of Yogiji Maharaj. The YDS sees itself as a spiritual and humanitarian charity. Accordingly, in addition to her spiritual activities, such as regular meetings and the dissemination of human values, she is also active in many social areas such as education, health care, environmental protection.

The Yogi Divine Society has its seat and main temple, Haridham , in the village of Sokhada near Vadodara in Gujarat, where a total of about 700 followers live. Of these, around 150 are male and 200 female sadhus. As a special feature of the Swaminarayan movement, women are also initiated as sadhu in the YDS. A second temple is in Netrang, a third in Aanand. There are other temples in New Jersey, Toronto and London. In addition, there are countless centers across Gujarat, as well as in the USA, Canada, UK, New Zealand, Australia and other countries. In Germany, the YDS is the only Swaminarayan organization represented by the Yogi Divine Society eV with its headquarters in Kleinmachnow near Berlin.

In its teaching, the YDS, like BAPS, represents the principle of Akshar Purushottam, i.e. H. the worship of God - Swaminarayan - along with his ideal disciple - Gunatitanand Swami.

Number of followers

The Swaminarayan movement has grown rapidly over the years. Since there is no membership, it is difficult to accurately estimate the number of followers. It is estimated that there are 5 to 20 million followers worldwide.

Works

• Bhagwan Swaminarayan: The Vachanamrut, Spiritual Discourses of Bhagwan Swaminarayan (An English Translation). Swaminarayan Aksharpith, 1977, ISBN 81-7526-190-0
• Shikshapatri

literature

• HT Dave: Life & Philosophy of Lord Swaminarayan. Swaminarayan Aksharpith, 1996, ISBN 978-8-175-26082-5
• Raymond Williams: Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2001, ISBN 978-0-521-65422-7
• Yogi Trivedi: Bhagwan Swaminarayan, The Story of his Life. Swaminarayan Aksharpith, 2014, ISBN 978-81-7526-594-3

Web links

• [1] Shree LaxmiNarayan Dev Vadtal Gadi
• [2] The Original Shree Swaminarayan Sampraday (Ahmedabad Gadi)
• [3] BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
• [4] Yogi Divine Society
• [5] Swaminarayan Gadi, Maninagar

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 13.
2. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 14.
3. ↑ Trivedi, 2014, p. 32 f
4. ↑ Williams, 2001, pp. 14f.
5. ↑ Trivedi, 2014, pp. 43-106.
6. ^ Dave, 1996, p. 42.
7. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 15.
8. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 16.
9. ↑ Williams, 2001, pp. 16f.
10. ↑ Trivedi, 2014, pp. 108, 126, 130
11. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 19.
12. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 21.
13. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 17.
14. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 22.
15. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 23.
16. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 28.
17. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 29.
18. ↑ Shikshapatri. Retrieved June 11, 2016 . 
19. ^ Enlightening Essay - Shikshapatri. Retrieved June 10, 2016 . 
20. ↑ Williams, 2001, pp. 187-190.
21. ↑ Vachanamrut, Loya. 7
22. ↑ Vachanamrut.
23. ↑ Swaminarayan, Vachanamrut, Vadtal 18.
24. ↑ Swaminarayan, Vachanamrut, Gadhada I 21.
25. ↑ Swaminarayan, Shikshapatri, verse 103.
26. ↑ Swaminarayan, Shikshapatri, verse 103.
27. ↑ Swaminarayan, Shikshapatri, verse 104.
28. ↑ Swaminarayan, Shikshapatri, verse 104.
29. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 24.
30. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 20.
31. ↑ Refers primarily to the opium traded by the British in a monopoly position, cf. Williams, 2001, p. 26
32. ↑ BAPS, FAQs. Retrieved May 28, 2016 . 
33. ↑ Shree Swaminarayan Sampraday. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 28, 2016 ; accessed on May 28, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
34. ↑ Swaminarayan Gadi Philosophy / Vartman. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 31, 2016 ; accessed on May 28, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
35. ↑ Swaminarayan, Vachanamrut, Gadhada I 37
36. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 36.
37. ↑ Shree Nar Narayan Dev Gadi. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 28, 2016 ; Retrieved May 28, 2016 (English, /, Gujarati). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
38. ↑ Acharya Shree Koshalendraprasadji Maharaj. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 28, 2016 ; accessed on May 28, 2016 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
39. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 108.
40. ↑ Shree Laxminarayan Dev Vadtal Gadi. Retrieved May 28, 2016 . 
41. ↑ Rakeshpraprasadji Maharaj. 2001, accessed May 28, 2016 . 
42. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 108.
43. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 56.
44. ↑ BAPS - Shastriji Maharaj. Retrieved June 1, 2016 . 
45. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 60.
46. ↑ BAPS Mandir center of development. Retrieved June 29, 2016 . 
47. ^ BAPS Vision and Mission. Retrieved June 20, 2016 . 
48. ^ BAPS Sadhus and Volunteers. Retrieved June 29, 2016 . 
49. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 219.
50. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 62.
51. ^ YDS (USA). Retrieved June 1, 2016 . 
52. ↑ Williams, 2001, p. 68.
53. ^ Indian Express - Niche Faiths. Retrieved June 1, 2016 .