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 Religion
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Swaminarayan- Teachings of Lord Swaminarayan
Teachings
The teachings of Lord Swaminarayan draw authority from the sacred Vedic
scriptures by Ved Vyas.
Note : References in brackets are from the Vachanamritam.
1. Universal suffering
'Greed for wealth and other things, the desire to remain in the company of
women, great weakness for tasty foods, ego, a liking for evil company,
attachment for relatives; a person who possesses these six faults will never
experience happiness in life or after death.' (Gadhada III.38)
2. Mundane pleasures
Craving the sense pleasures for fulfillment by enjoying them is akin to pouring
water into a fissure which has opened up in the ground and reaches into the
depths of the earth. It will never be filled. Similarly, the senses will never
be satisfied even with the utmost enjoyment of the sense-objects. ( Gadhada
II.47)
The craving for the objects of sensuous pleasures can be eradicated by making
the senses obey implicitly the rules laid down by God.' (Gadhada II.16)
3. Removal of Desire
'Desire can be eradicated from the roots by firmly imbibing the four attributes
of: Jnan, Atmanishtha, Vairagya, Dharma and the full fledged devotion to God.' (Loya
16)
4. Service to God and His Devotee
'The mind (antahkaran) is purified by engaging the activities of the senses in
the service of God and His devotees.' ( Gadhada I-8)
5. Goal of Human Life
'One should identify one's Atma, beyond the three bodies (gross, subtle and
causal), with Brahman (Aksharbrahman) and offer worship to Parabrahman.' (Shikshapatri
116)
'There is nothing greater than worshipping God.' ( Jetalpur 5)
6. Eternal Happiness
'The devotee who
-
possesses
unshakable detachment (from Maya),
-
strictly
observes Dharma,
-
is
master of his sense organs,
-
has
a deep attachment to God and His Sadhu and has a deep friendship with Them,
-
is
never upset or disappointed with Them,
-
who
remains joyful in Their company, but never keeps the company of those who
denounce God, will remain eternally happy in this world and in the world
hereafter.'
7.
Nature of the Bliss of God
The blissful darshan of Paramatma even in the blink of an eye, is more blessed
than all the happiness offered by the seductive sense-objects of millions of
universes. ( Sarangpur 1)
8. Moksha
'The four Vedas, eighteen Puranas and Itihas (Ramayana and Mahabharat) all
proclaim that only God and His Sadhu can give moksha.' (Gadhada II.59)
'When God incarnates in human form on earth to redeem the Jivas, He does so with
His divine abode Akshardham, the divine muktas (liberated Jivas) and His full
fledged Lordship.' (Gadhada I.71)
'Just as one knows the glory of past incarnations such as Rama and Krishna as
well as the glory of past sadhus, such as: Narad, Sanak rishis, Shukdevji,
Jadbharat, Hanuman, Uddhav and others, similarly, if one realises the glory of
God and His Sadhu present before you, then one has nothing more to realise on
the path to moksha....
'And if you ask Narad, Sanak rishis, Shukdevji, Brahma, Shiva, they will reveal
in infinite ways that only God and His Sadhu can grant moksha. They will reveal
the same glory of God and His sadhu manifesting before you, as the glory of past
incarnations of God and sadhus. One who has a firm conviction of this, has
understood the essence and will never fall from the path of moksha.' (Gadhada
II.21)
9. Endeavours to please God
'The supreme endeavour that pleases God, out of all the endeavours such as:
Ashtang Yoga, Samkhya, tapas, renunciation, pilgrimages, vows, yagnas and
charity is Satsang.'
( Gadhada II.54.)
10. The Means for attaining Moksha
'The Jiva is redeemed by imbibing the four factors: worshipping God, extolling
the episodes of God, chanting His name and observing Dharma.' (Gadhada II.35)
'The Ekantik Sadhu of God, who is singularly devoted to God and who possesses
the attributes of Swadharma, Jnan, Vairagya and Bhakti, is the upholder of
Bhagwata Dharma. The gateway of redemption for the soul is opened only by
associating with such a Sadhu.' (Gadhada I.54)
'Profound love for the Satpurush (God-realised Sadhu) leads one to the path of
Atma-realisation, and inspires in him the knowledge of the glory and greatness
of such a Satpurush and it (love for the Satpurush) is also the only means for
attaining God-realisation.' (Vadtal 11)
'One should offer equal and intensely loving service to God and His Sadhu. Then,
despite being a mediocre devotee who may be destined to become a great (Ekantik)
devotee after either two births, or four births, or ten births or even a hundred
births he can become a great bhakta in this very birth. Such is the fruit of
serving equally God, and His Devotee.' (Vadtal 5)
11. The Gunatit Sadhu
'The scriptures say that nishkam, nirlobh, nirman, niswad and nissneh are
the attributes of a Sadhu. The Sadhu in whom one observes such attributes has a
constant rapport with God.' (Gadhada III.27)
'The Sadhu who is venerable enough to be worshipped on par with God lives in a
way in which he controls his indriyas and antahkaran, but is not subdued by
them. He engages in God-related activities only, strictly observes the Panch
Vartamans, realises himself as being Brahman and worships Purushottam. Such a
Sadhu can be known neither as a human being nor a demi god, since neither man
nor deva possess such attributes. Therefore, such a Sadhu, though he appears to
be a human being, deserves to be worshipped on par with God.' (Gadhada
III.26)
12. Interpretation of Scriptures
'The interpretation of the true scriptures should only be heard from the
Satpurush.'
(Loya 11)
'One who understands the nature of God on the basis of the four scriptures,
namely: Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta and Panchratra is the accomplished Jnani (wise).'
(Gadhada I.52)
13. The Nature of God
'He is one and unparalleled.' (Gadhada III.39)
'He is the all-doer.' (Gadhada II.21)
'God is eternally with divine form.' (Gadhada III.38)
'He has a human form - with two hands, two feet and has a fascinating charm.
He does not possess four hands or eight or a thousand.
He is like a teenager (youthful looking).' (Gadhada II.13)
'He is full of redemptive attributes and devoid of all the inauspicious
ephemeral attributes of Maya.' (Gadhada I.66)
'He is the reservoir of all bliss.' (Gadhada I.66)
14. Lord Swaminarayan
'Lord Purushottam, seated in His Akshardham accepts the worship offered by
the muktas (released souls) out of grace. That Purushottam, having great
compassion on the Jivas, has descended on earth to redeem them from Maya. He is
visible to you and accepts your offerings. The divine form of Lord Purushottam
visible to you and the divine form seated in His divine abode Akshardham are
one. There is absolutely no difference in these twin forms. This Purushottam
visible here is the controller of all, including Akshar. He is the Lord of all
Lords, the ultimate cause of cosmic evolution and transcendentally the supreme
one. All incarnations issue from Him, and in Him they finally merge. He is the
ultimate God, who alone should be offered implicit devotion with Ekantik bhava.'
(Gadhada III.38)
'Millions of universes are evolved, sustained and destroyed only by My power...
I am the transcendental highest and I, with My divine power, can move millions
of universes only by a mere touch. Millions of suns, moons, receive light only
from My divine light. 'Such is the divine power that, I the ultimate God,
possess. I shall transport those Jivas who have sought refuge in Me to the
divine Brahmadham, which transcends all other regions.' (Amdavad 7)
In His own words, written during His lifetime in the khardas (old manuscripts)
He revealed in Hindi: Doosra avatar hai so karya-karan avatar huwa hai, or mera
yaha avatar hai so to jivoku Brahmarup karke atyantik mukti dene ke vaste
Aksharatit Purushottam jo Ham vaha manushya jaisa banya hoon.
i.e. 'The earlier avatars incarnated to serve a specific purpose. But My present
incarnation is to Brahmanise the Jivas and grant them ultimate salvation. For
this mission, I, the Purushottam, transcending Akshar, have assumed human form.'
During His short yet dynamic lifespan of forty-nine years, Lord Swaminarayan
adroitly executed the purpose of his incarnation. Along with His phenomenal
group of Paramhansas, His unflagging travels throughout the land eradicated
ignorance and addiction from the people. He inspired them to live a life
suffused with Ekantik Dharma, of Ahimsa and Brahmacharya, of detachment from
mundane pursuits and, instead offer unalloyed Bhakti to God and the God-realised
Sadhu. This, He ensured, would eradicate their cycles of birth and death,
transcending them to the ultimate goal of human birth; God-realisation. He also
assured them of His constant manifestation on earth through the Gunatit Sadhu.
Fully contented with His mission, He departed for Akshardham on Jeth Sud 10,
Samvat 1886 - 1st June 1830.
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