 Swaminarayan, founder of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya | |
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The Swaminarayan Sampradaya, also known as Swaminarayan Hinduism and Swaminarayan movement, is a Hindu Vaishnava sampradaya rooted in Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita,[note 1][note 2] characterized by the worship of its charismatic[3] founder Sahajanand Swami, better known as Swaminarayan (1781–1830), as an avatar of Krishna[4][5][6] or as the highest manifestation of Purushottam, the supreme God.[5][6][7][8][9] According to the tradition's lore, both the religious group and Sahajanand Swami became known as Swaminarayan after the Swaminarayan mantra, which is a compound of two Sanskrit words, swami ("master, lord"[web 1][web 2]) and Narayan (supreme God, Vishnu).[10][note 3]
During his lifetime, Swaminarayan institutionalized his charisma and beliefs in various ways.[3] He constructed six mandirs to facilitate followers' devotional worship of God,[11][12][13] and encouraged the creation of a scriptural tradition.[14][15][3] In 1826, in a legal document titled the Lekh, Swaminarayan created two dioceses, the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi (Vadtal Gadi) and Nar Narayan Dev Gadi (Ahmedabad Gadi), with a hereditary leadership of acharyas and their wives,[web 3] who were authorized to install statues of deities in temples and to initiate ascetics.[3]
In Swaminarayan's soteriology the ultimate goal of life is to become Brahmarūpa,[16] attaining the form (rūpa) of Aksharbrahman, in which the jiva is liberated from maya and saṃsāra (the cycle of births and deaths), and enjoys eternal bliss, offering sādhya bhakti, continuous and pure devotion to God.[16][17]
While rooted in Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita,[note 1] for which he stated his affinity,[note 4] and incorporating devotional elements of Vallabha's Pushtimarg,[18][19][note 5] Sahajanand Swaminarayan gave his own specific interpretations of the classical Hindu texts.[note 1] As in Vishishtadvaita, God and jiva are forever distinct, but a distinction is also made between Parabrahman (Purushottama, Narayana) and Aksharbrahman as two distinct eternal realities.[20][web 4] This distinction is emphasized by BAPS-swamis as a defining characteristic,[20][21][22] and referred to as Akshar-Purushottam Darshan to distinguish the Swaminarayan Darshana, Swaminarayan's views or teachings, from other Vedanta-traditions.[web 5][20][22]
In the 20th century, due to "different interpretations of authentic successorship,"[23] various denominations split-off from the dioceses.[24] All groups regard Swaminarayan as God, but differ in their theology and the religious leadership they accept.[10][21][25][26][10][27] The BAPS, split-off in 1907 from Vadtal Gadi, venerates "a lineage of akṣaragurus, or living gurus, [which] has been retroactively traced back to Gunatitanand Swami."[24]
Socially, Swaminarayan accepted caste-based discrimination within the religious community, but inspired followers to engage in humanitarian service activities, leading various denominations of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya to currently provide humanitarian service globally.
- ^ Rinehart 2004, p. 215.
- ^ Hardiman, D. (1988). Class Base of Swaminarayan Sect. Economic and Political Weekly, 23(37), 1907–1912. JSTOR.
- ^ a b c d Schreiner 2001.
- ^ Williams 2018, p. 80–90.
- ^ a b Kim 2014, p. 243.
- ^ a b Kim 2010, p. 362.
- ^ Williams 2018, p. 18, 85.
- ^ I.Patel 2018, p. 1.
- ^ Paramtattvadas 2017, p. 1.
- ^ a b c I.Patel 2018, p. 2.
- ^ S.Patel 2017, p. 65.
- ^ Trivedi 2015, p. 353.
- ^ Hatcher 2020.
- ^ Paramtattvadas 2017, p. 64.
- ^ Williams 2018, p. 200.
- ^ a b Kim 2014, p. 240.
- ^ Changela n.d., p. 19.6 Concept of Moksha.
- ^ S.Patel 2017.
- ^ Brahmbhatt 2016b.
- ^ a b c Bhadreshdas & Aksharananddas 2016.
- ^ a b Paramtattvadas 2017.
- ^ a b Paramtattvadas 2019.
- ^ I.Patel 2018.
- ^ a b Kim 2005.
- ^ Warrier 2012, p. 172.
- ^ A.Patel 2018, p. 55, 58.
- ^ Mamtora 2018.
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