36 Facts About Swaminarayan Sampradaya

Swaminarayan Sampradaya, known as Swaminarayan Hinduism and Swaminarayan movement, is a Hindu Vaishnava sampradaya rooted in Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita, characterized by the worship of its charismatic founder Sahajanand Swami, better known as Swaminarayan, as an avatar of Krishna or as the highest manifestation of Purushottam, the supreme God.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya constructed six mandirs to facilitate followers' devotional worship of God, and encouraged the creation of a scriptural tradition.

In 1826, in a legal document titled the Lekh, Swaminarayan Sampradaya created two dioceses, including the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi and Nar Narayan Dev Gadi, with a hereditary leadership of acharyas and their wives, who were authorized to install statues of deities in temples and to initiate ascetics.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya developed out of Ramanand Swami's Uddhav Sampraday, a Gujarat-based Sri Vaishnavism teacher rooted in Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita.

The various branches of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya-tradition relate their origin to Sahajanand Swami, but an exact "modern historical account" of his life cannot be reconstructed, given the hagiographic nature of the stories preserved among his followers.

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Swaminarayan Sampradaya was a charismatic personality, and in the early period of the Swaminarayan movement, followers were often induced into a visionary trance state interpreted as samadhi, either by direct contact with Swaminarayan or by chanting the Swaminarayan mantra, in which they had visions of their "chosen deity" .

Swaminarayan Sampradaya was criticized for receiving large gifts from his followers after renouncing the world and assuming leadership of the fellowship.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya responded that he accepts gifts because "it was appropriate for the person to give" and to satisfy the devotion of his followers but he does not seek it out of personal desire.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya accepted people from all castes, undermining caste-based discrimination, which lead to criticism and opposition from high-caste Hindus.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya instituted the mandir tradition of the sampradaya to provide followers a space for devotional worship to God.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya constructed six mandirs in the following locations, housing images of Krishna which are regarded as representations of Swaminarayan by his followers:.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya installed murtis of various manifestations of Krishna in the temples.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya installed his own image in the form of Harikrishna in a sideshrine at the mandir at Vadtal.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya later delegated responsibilities amongst swamis, householders, and the members of his family.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya is restrained from enjoying the rights of acharya during the proceedings.

Followers of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya Gadi accept the Rahasyarth Pradeepika Tika, a five-volume work written by Abji Bapa, as an authentic exegesis of the Vachanamrut.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya incorporated elements of Vallabha's Pushtimarg, which belongs to Shuddhadvaita, to gain recognition.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya explains in the Vachanamrut that ekantik dharma is a means to earn God's grace and attain liberation.

The Swaminarayan Sampradaya Gadi believes that moksha can be attained through the lineage of gurus beginning with Gopalanand Swami.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya Hindus cultivate vairagya through practices like fasting on Ekadashi days, two of which occur every month, and observing extra fasts, during the holy months of Chaturmas Vairagya is realized by adhering to the codes of conduct, inclusive of these practices, serving other devotees physically, listening to discourses, and engaging in devotion.

Out of hundreds of Swaminarayan Sampradaya temples established across world, six temples are considered most significant temples as they were constructed under the direct guidance of Swaminarayan Sampradaya himself.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya is well known for its mandirs, or Hindu places of worship.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya is a bhakti tradition that believes God possesses an eternal, divine, human-like, transcendent form.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya mandirs serve as hubs for congregational worship and theological and cultural education.

The homes of Swaminarayan Sampradaya devotees contain ghar mandirs, or home shrines, which serve as spaces for the daily performance of worship and ritual activities such as arti, thal, and reading sermons or scripture.

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The majority of freestanding public Swaminarayan Sampradaya mandirs are hari mandirs, whose architectural style and consecration rituals are adopted to the means available to the local congregation.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya describes the ultimate goal of life, moksha, a spiritual state of ultimate liberation from the cycle of births and deaths and characterized by eternal bliss and devotion to God.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya was one of Swaminarayan's foremost disciple, and according to the BAPS and some denominations of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, he was the first manifestation of Swaminarayan in a lineage of Aksharbrahman Gurus.

From its early history, the Swaminarayan Sampradaya has been involved in the practice of producing Sanskrit commentarial work as a way of engaging with the broader scholastic community.

The classical Vedanta school of philosophy and theology is of particular import for the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, which has produced exegetical work on the three canonical Vedanta texts—the Upanishads, Brahmasutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.

The earliest Vedanta commentarial literature in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya reflects a heavy dependence on the Vedanta systems of Ramanuja and Vallabha.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya Bhashyam has led to some recognition for Swaminarayan Sampradaya's Akshar-Purushottam distinction as a distinct view within Vedanta.

When given the opportunity to receive two boons from his guru, Swaminarayan Sampradaya asked to receive any miseries destined for followers and to bear any scarcities of food or clothing in place of any followers.

Swaminarayan Sampradaya codified devotees' engagement with humanitarian service in the Shikshapatri, instructing followers to help the poor and those in need during natural disasters, to establish schools, and to serve the ill, according to their ability.

Consequently, various denominations of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya currently engage in humanitarian service at a global scale.

Vibhuti Parikh states Swaminarayan Sampradaya possibly used these instructions to gradually undermine the caste system without "negating it outright".