Bhaktimal | Shastriji Maharaj
Real name - Dungar Patel
Other Name - Maharaj Ji, Swami Yagnapurushdas
Guru - Bhagatji Maharaj
Disciple - Yogiji Maharaj, Pramukh Swami Maharaj
Aradhya - Bhgawan Swaminarayan
Birth - 31 January 1865
Place of Birth - Mahelav, Gujarat, India
Marital Status - Unmarried
Died - 10 May 1951 (aged 86), Sarangpur, Gujarat, India
Language - Gujarati, Sanskrit
Father - Dhoribhai
Mother - Hetba Patel
Famous - Swami of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya and founder of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS)
Shastriji Maharaj, known as Shastri Yagyapurushdas, was the master of the Swaminarayan sect and the founder of Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). Many branches accept him as the third spiritual successor of Swaminarayan in the lineage of Aksharbrahma gurus through whom Swaminarayan manifests, which began with Gunatitananda Swami.
Shastriji Maharaj is credited with founding BAPS in Bochasan, Gujarat on 5 June 1907 AD to propagate the Akshar-Purushottam Upasana (philosophy) which, he explained, was revealed by Swaminarayan. A staunch supporter of this philosophy, he worshiped Swaminarayan (as a manifestation of Purushottam) and Gunatitananda Swami (as a manifestation of Akshara) in the central temples of the major temples of Bochasan, Sarangpur, Atladra, Gondal towns and at Gadhada in Gujarat, India of the veneration of sacred images.
In the early 1950s, after successfully laying the foundation of BAPS, he appointed Pramukh Swami Maharaj as its administrative head to work under Yogiji Maharaj, whom he appointed as his spiritual successor.