What are the main Swaminarayan beliefs?

Answer 1

Swaminarayan was born Ghanshyam Pande in Chhapaiya, Uttar Pradesh, India in 1781. In 1792, he began a seven year pilgrimage across India, adopting the name Nilkanth Varni. He settled in the state ofGujarat around 1799. In 1800, he was initiated into theUddhav Sampraday by his guru, Ramanand Swami, and was given the name Sahajanand Swami. In 1802, his guru handed over the leadership of the Uddhav Sampraday to him and died. Sahajanand Swami held a gathering and taught the Swaminarayan mantra. From this point onwards, he was known as Swaminarayanand regarded as an incarnation of God by his followers. The Uddhav Sampraday became known as theSwaminarayan Sampraday.

The Swaminarayan Sampraday with its roots in theVedas was founded by Swaminarayan. It follows theVaishnava tradition and to its followers represents the form of Hinduism.[4][5] The faith focusses on salvation through total devotion or bhakti to the God developed through dharma (virtues), gnana (spiritual wisdom) andvairagya (detachment).

The basic Vaishnava Vedanta categories:

What is Jiva? What is Ishvara? What is Maya? What is Brahman? What is Para Brahman?

1. Jiva - sentient, living beings which have been shrouded in the cycle of birth and death by the accumulation of Karma due to an eternal ignorance of the true Self (Atman). Jivas are infinite in number throughout infinite parallel universes. Comparable to the soul.

2. Ishwar - the collective realm of deities who govern the metaphysical foundations of different aspects of material nature, i.e. earth, wind, water, fire, and space. Ishwars are also infinite in number.

3. Maya - illusion of material nature essentially "blinding" one from recognizing the inherent truth of Brahman - the highest state of spiritual enlightenment. The source of pain and suffering is caused by desire for sensory objects, which appear enticing due to the attraction for Mayic pleasure. It is here where Swaminarayan and Buddhist ideas of material illusion are in agreement.

4. Brahman - the highest state of enlightenment upon which an individual Jiva essentially becomes one and inseparable from Godhead. The method of accomplishing this, according to Swaminarayan, is by developing a profound ability to conquer the senses and mental cognition through an intense love for God and His divine form and a realized Guru who teaches his disciples with unbroken humility and genuine altruism.

5. Parabrahman - Supreme Godhead. The ultimate creator, sustainer, and destroyer of infinite universes. He is non-dual and can only be characterized by Sat-Chit-Ananda, or Truth-Existence-Bliss. He is the ultimate intelligence behind the laws of nature and is the root cause of all effects. Swaminarayan's philosophy was based upon that of Ramanuja, and he emphasized that this Parabrahman, who eternally resides in an abode composed of brilliant divine light, eternally possesses a divine, heavenly form and is not an abstract, formless being.

In order to escape the binding nature of karma, Swaminarayan's philosophy can be summarized inShikshapatri Verse 116,

Nijātmānam brahmaroopam, dehatraya vilakshanam; Vibhāvya tena kartavya, bhakti hi Krushnasya sarvadā.

Understanding the Self