Bhaktmal: Swaminarayan
Real name - Ghanshyam Pande
Other Names - Swamiji, Sahajanand Swami
Aradhya - Bhagwan Krishna
Guru - Swami Ramanand
Born - 3 April 1781
Place - Chhapaiya, Kingdom of Oudh (present-day Uttar Pradesh, India)
Marital Status - Unmarried
Father - Hariprasad Pande
Mother - Premvati Pande
Language - Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, Vraj, Urdu and Punjabi
Founder -
Swaminarayan SampradaySwaminarayan, was a yogi and ascetic who developed the Swaminarayan sect, and whose life and teachings revived the central Hindu practices of dharma, non-violence and celibacy. The followers of Swaminarayan consider him to be a form of God.
The Swaminarayan Sampradaya is a devotional tradition that holds that God has an eternal, divine, human-like, transcendental form. Thus, Swaminarayan temples facilitate devotion to the Lord by placing idols, which are believed to resemble the divine form of the Lord.
The ninth lunar day of the Shukla Paksha in the month of Chaitra is celebrated by Swaminarayan followers as both
Ram Navami and
Swaminarayan Jayanti. This festival also marks the beginning of a ritual calendar for the followers.
The Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) is a prominent branch of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, a Hindu sect that is world-famous for its religious work and temples.