Ramanand
Swami was born of Ajay Sharma (father) and
Sumati (mother) in Ayodhya in Vikram Samvat
1795 in a Brahmin family. His child-hood name
was Shri Rama Sharma. Ramanand Swami was considered
to be the incarnation of Uddhavaji and he
resembled Uddhavaji in knowledge and all other
meritorious qualities. As he was inclined
to asceticism from childhood, he decided not
to enter worldly life. He invariably worshipped
the idol of Lord Shri Krishna every day. Leaving
home-life and visiting pilgrim spots he arrived
in Talaja village in Saurashtra and studied
Vedic and Indian Philosophical scriptures
under scholar Kashiram and became the chief
disciple of Atmanand Swami, the great ascetic
at Gopnath. His contact with the Guru (Preceptor)
led him to the Darshan of divine light of
Brahman, considered as the ultimate reality
in the universe. But Ramanandji always cherished
a strong desire to have the Darshan of Lord
Krishna with a form (shape).
His Guru Atmanandji believed in the principle
of non-dualism. So he left that place and
arrived at Sri Rang Kshetra in the south.
There he accepted Bhagawati Diksha (prescribed
procedure to initiate a person into particular
discipline of religion) in meditating state
at the hands of Shri Ramanujacharya and after
attaining the Darshan of Lord Krishna he went
to Prayag, where he happened to meet Dharmadev,
the father of Lord Swaminarayan. Ramanand
Swami first offered Mantra Diksha (to initiate
into Holy Fellowship) to Dharmadev and then
touring through religious places arrived in
to Saurashtra region and set up a hermitage
in Loj village. About fifty sadhus became
his disciples; the chief among them was Muktanandji.
When leaving worldly life Lord Swaminarayan
known as Neelkanth Varni arrived at Loj, He
came in contact with Muktanandji.
Neelkanth
Varni cherished a desire to meet Ramanand
Swami. The meeting between Ramanand Swami
and Neelkanth Varni took place in Piplana
village. As Ramanand Swami asked Him about
His caste and family; from this it was discovered
that His father too, was his disciple. Ramanand
Swami offered Diksha to Neelkanth Varni and
initiated Him and gave Him two names Sahajanand
Swami and Narayan Muni. On the 11th day of
the bright half of Kartik month in Vikram
Samvat 1858 Ramanand Swami assigned religious
responsibility by consecrating Shri Sahajanand
Swami on the High Seat of the Holy Fellowship.
On that occasion Shri Sahajanand Swami asked
for two boons from Ramanand Swami.
If any of your devotee suffers the
pain of one scorpion-bite, let the pain
come to Me in crores of bites (stings).
If any of your devotee is fated to hold
a begging bowl, let it come to Me and
let not any of your devotees should feel
the want of food and clothing.
Even
to day these boons are magical and mysterious
blessings, which bring blissful happy life
to the devotees of Lord Swaminarayan. He left
his material body on this earth in Faneni
village on the 13th day of the bright half
of Margashirsha month of Vikram Samvat 1858
and left for heavenly imperishable abode.
as
Lord
Swaminarayan
By His own grace
and at His own will Lord Swaminarayan manifested
(born) Himself for the protection of religion
and devotion in Kaliyuga for the welfare of
numerous embodied souls. Lord Swaminarayan
is the direct incarnation of Narayan Himself,
at Whose will infinite universes create, sustain
and destroy.
Thus His biological manifestation
(birth) took place on 9th day of bright
half of Chaitra month in V.S. 1837, known
as Ramanavami in Chhapaiya, a village near
Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. His father Dharmadev
was Samavedi scholar Brahmin and mother
was called Bhaktidevi owing to her devotional
virtues and sacred qualities. After the
passing away of His parents, when He was
only eleven, the ascetic minded Neelkanth
Varni later called Lord Swaminarayan, renounced
His home with all its wealth and comforts
and set out as a pedestrian pilgrim visiting
Indian pilgrim spots and holy sites.
For the
period of several years of His pilgrimage
He performed severest penances for His devotees.
As a part of His pilgrimage through Gujarat
He happened to arrive in Loj village, situated
midway between Somnath and Porbunder in Saurashtra.
There He met Muktanandji, the chief disciple
of great master Ramanand Swami; and later
He came to have a face-to-face meeting with
Ramanand Swami in a village called 'Piplana'.
Having taken birth
in material body Lord Swaminarayan, too
accepted Ramanand Swami, as His preceptor
(Guru) and as per set religious rules got
initiated, receiving Diksha at the hands
of the great preceptor. Then the great preceptor
handed over the control and management of
entire Uddhava Religious Discipline to Lord
Swaminarayan, Who inspired people to have
Darshan of their family God instance without
practising the Ashtang Yoga. Many people
became His-words and His disciples after
properly checking and testing the meditation
process by the Lord. Without giving much
importance to mysterious performances and
miracles He engaged Himself in enriching
the society by teaching them purity of thought,
food, conduct by removing bad habits, addiction,
blind faith, suspiciousness, immorality,
corruption, luxury, inertness, theft, dacoity
etc. Some scholars believed that there can
be no incarnation of the God in Kaliyuga,
He convinced them through proofs from the
Geeta, the Bhagawat and other scriptures
that Lord Swaminarayan is the Supreme incarnation
and made them His wards and disciples. Lord
Swaminarayan is the Supreme Brahman and
the proof to this fact is found in ancient
scriptures e.g.,
“Whenever
religion suffers tormented regression I re-create
myself to uproot irreligion and re-establish
good religion to protect the gentle folk and
to destroy the evil ones in every age”.
(Geeta 48-49)
You don't, but
I know them all, for good many a birth yours
and mine, have gone in the past (Geeta 45).
According to the Geeta there is no such rule
that incarnation should take place in Triyuga
having 10 or 24 in number, other scriptures
also offer similar description.
To protect religion
I get another body, to eradicate irreligion
I do manifest when the age demands (Shrimad
Bhagawat) Brahmapurana says:
In Satyuga I
manifest as Dattatreya, as Raghunandana in
Treta Age, as Vasudeva in Dwapara, as Vrishatmaja
(i.e. born of Shri Dharmadev) in Kaliyuga.
Vishwaksena Samhita says :
Among all parts
of universe I take birth on the Earth, I shall
adore Vaikuntha adopting the name Sahajanand.
All these scriptures prove Lord Swaminarayan
as the Vedic acceptance of incarnated Supreme
Reality.
Like the previous incarnations
He did not destroy demons but He removed
the demonic inclinations and turned demonic
persons into divine ones. He uplifted and
elevated the classes like Kathi-koli, Ahir,
Shudra, Bhil, Moslims, illiterate peasantry
etc. Apart from backward classes but great
scholar-poets, officials, rulers and kings
renouncing worldly life joined the Holy
Fellowship, got initiated into asceticism,
became stoics and set out for the spread
of religion. Scholar saints offered valuable
devotional prose-verse literature by offering
volumes written in Sanskrit, Hindi, Brijbhasha
and Gujarati. He opposed violent killing
of animals before deities and in the Yajnas
and offering scholarly counseling, stopped
violence done in the name of religion. He
advocated and popularised non-violent Yajnas.
Lord Swaminarayan did welfare to many humans
and animals by creating free-food centres,
wells, step-wells, tanks and temples. He
declared in Shikshapatri-47,
Both Narayan
and Mahesh (Shiva) should be understood as
one, both are proven forms of Brahman confirmed
by Vedas. Thus he brought an end to the hostility
between the Shaivas and Vaishnavas.
In order to bring complete
chastity of character into the Holy Fellowship,
He ordered that the temples, meeting assemblies
and initiating rites should be quite separate
for male and female followers. So he appointed
married persons as chief of the Fellowship,
from His own family line, and ordered the
saints to observe eight types of aloofness
from females. So that there would remain
no possibility of corruption by crossing
boundaries of self-control.
In order to prevent
any blind tradition in the pure devotion
of the Lord with a form (figure) he got
large and beautiful temples constructed
and wrote a sacred volume called Shikshapatri
for the welfare of many souls even after
His leaving the human body. Having fulfilled
His mission of establishing the Bhagawat
Dharma and the task of rejuvanising and
revitalizing the ancient Vedic path, He
left His mortal coil and assented to His
divine abode Akshardham at Gadhpur (Saurashtra)
on the 10th day of the bright half of Jyestha
month of Vikram Samvat 1886; thenceforward
He has been offering His divine vision in
the form of an idol installed by Him in
various temples in Holy Fellowship.
