Narayan swami biography of williams

Ahmedabad: A Swaminarayan sect temple in the Botad district of Gujarat recently replaced two murals depicting Lord Hanuman kneeling before and praying with folded hands to the 19th-century seer Sahajanand Swami and the founder of the Swaminarayan sect, HT reported last week. This move came after a newly-formed Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha — a collection of Hindu seers who call themselves followers of Sanatana dharma — raised a ruckus over the depiction of the Hindu deity.

The sect, however, is hugely influential and popular — it also wields immense economic and political power, particularly among the Patidars and Patels in Gujarat.

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In fact, the murals in question decorated the pedestal of this very statue. We plan to form a committee with representatives from various Sanatana Dharma that will handle such issues in future. It will comprise saints from Swaminarayan, Jain, Buddhist and other such sects and religions that have their roots in Hinduism. Rawal pointed out that the sect's willingness to remove the murals indicated their interest in cooperating with other Sanatana Dharma communities to resolve disputes and maintain harmony within the broader Hindu faith.

However, the sect itself is not a cohesive group and has about six major factions. To understand the controversy, we need to understand the sect. Sahajanand Swami, also known as Swaminarayan, was a revered spiritual leader and founded a sect in the early 19th century, which placed a lot of emphasis on devotion, spirituality, and the teachings of Lord Swaminarayan.

Followers believe he is an avatar of Lord Krishna. The Kashtbhanjan Dev Hanumanji mandir in Salangpur, Botad district, the site of the controversy, is managed by the Vadtal Swaminarayan, one of the factions of the Swaminarayan sect. A few weeks ago, when the mural controversy was brewing, a six-month-old video featuring a saint from this sect did the rounds on social media.

In it, he was heard making remarks about Goddess Sita that were deemed controversial by many Hindu religious leaders. BAPS holds a lot of political, social, and economic influence in Gujarat. Inwhen Pramukh Swami passed away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended his funeral, and said that he felt like he had lost a father figure. The BAPS Swaminarayan faction has built more than 1, temples in India and abroad, renowned for their grand scale and architecture style.

One of their temples in Gandhinagar — the Akshardham Temple — was attacked by terrorists in September In what is being hailed as the first grand Hindu temple in the Middle East, the one coming up in the UAE is expected to be inaugurated in Februaryand is narayan swami biography of williams built on a acre government land in Abu Mureikhah, a BAPS representative said.

Within the sect, Swaminarayan is considered a pioneer of education of females in India. Swaminarayan was against animal sacrifices that used to be carried out by Brahmin priests during Vedic rituals, such as yajnas fire sacrificesinfluenced by the Kaula and Vama Marg cults. To solve this problem, Swaminarayan conducted several large scale yajnas involving priests from Varanasi.

These did not have animal sacrifices and were conducted in strict accordance with Vedic scriptures. Swaminarayan was successful in reinstating ahimsa through several such large scale yajnas. Swaminarayan stressed lacto vegetarianism among his followers and forbade meat consumption. Disciples of Swaminarayan composed devotional poems which are widely sung by the tradition during festivals.

Some suggest that Swaminarayan worked towards ending the caste systemallowing everyone into the Swaminarayan Sampraday. However partaking in the consumption food of lower castes and caste pollution was not supported by him. Williamson, reported to Bishop Herber that Swaminarayan had "Destroyed the yoke of caste. Members of the lower castes were attracted to the movement as it improved their social status.

Swaminarayan ordered the construction of several Hindu temples and installed the images of various deities such as Nara-Narayana, Laxminarayan, Radha Krishna, Radha Ramana and Revati- Baldevji. The images in the temples built by Swaminarayan provide evidence of the priority of Krishna. The first temple Swaminarayan constructed was in Ahmedabad inwith the land for construction gifted by the British Imperial Government.

Following a request of devotees from Bhuj, Swaminarayan asked his follower Vaishnavananand Swami to build a temple there. Following planning, construction commenced inand the temple was built within a year.

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A temple in Vadtal followed ina temple in Dholera ina temple in Junagadh inand a temple in Gadhada, also in By the time of his death, Swaminarayan had also ordered construction of temples in Muli, Dholka, and Jetalpur. Swaminarayan strove to maintain good relationships with people of other religions. His biography is full of constructive encounters with prominent leaders of all traditions.

His followers cut across religious boundaries, including people of Muslim and Parsi backgrounds. Bishop Heber himself had about a hundred horse guards accompanying him fifty horses and fifty muskets and mentioned that it was humiliating for him to see two religious leaders meeting at the head of two small armies, his being the smaller contingent.

Swaminarayan enjoyed a good relationship with the British Imperial Government. The British officers gave it a gun salute when it was opened. According to Malcolm, Swaminarayan had helped bring some stability to a lawless region. InSwaminarayan gathered his followers and announced his departure.

Narayan swami biography of williams: Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanaswami (10 October –

He died on June 1, Jeth sud 10, Samvat[49] and it is believed by followers that, at the time of his death, Swaminarayan left Earth for Akshardham, his abode. Prior to his death, Swaminarayan decided to establish a line of acharyas or preceptors, as his successors. Swaminarayan appointed an acharya to each of these gadis to pass on his message to others and to preserve his fellowship, the Swaminarayan Sampraday.

These acharyas came from his immediate family after sending representatives to search them out in Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhyaprasad, the son of Swaminarayan's elder brother Rampratap and Raghuvira, the son of his younger brother Ichcharam, were appointed acharyas of the Ahmedabad Gadi and the Vadtal Gadi respectively. Decades after his death, several divisions occurred with different understandings of succession.

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Narayan swami biography of williams: Williams, Swaminarayan was criticized because he

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An Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. Williams, Raymond Brady, and Yogi Trivedi, eds. Swaminarayan Hinduism: Tradition, Adaptation and Identity. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, The twenty essays in this volume address themes including the history, theology and literature, arts and globalization of Swaminarayan Hinduism.