Oaths of a Swaminarayan Devotee

[celina12]

Oaths of a Swaminarayan Devotee

 

 

Following strict daily disciplines reaps rewards of guru's grace and spiritual progress

 

According to the basic philosophy of the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), the purpose of all sadhanas (spiritual disciplines) is striving to please and receive the grace of the guru, for only by the grace of the guru can one attain liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

 

All the practices of BAPS members are aimed at expressing the Hindu ideals of satya (truth), daya (compassion), ahimsa (nonviolence), brahmacharya (celibacy) and asteya (nonstealing), which are five of the Vedic yamas and niyamas, Hinduism's code of conduct. When they are initiated, members take an oath to abide by eleven disciplines: 1. No violence: not to abuse, hurt or kill anyone, not even an insect; 2. No adultery: not to commit adultery, or associate overmuch with the opposite sex; 3. No meat: not to eat meat or take medicines derived from animal products; 4. No alcohol: not to consume alcoholic drinks or take medicines containing alcohol; 5. No suppression: not to suppress or take advantage of helpless people, such as widows; 6. No suicide: not to commit or even contemplate suicide; 7. No theft: not to steal, or even pick a flower without the owner's permission; 8. No slander: not to backbite or malign the character or life of another; 9. No vilification: not to speak against other Deities or religions, but to respect all faiths; 10. No impurity: not to take food which is impure, not prepared with filtered water or prepared by unknown hands (all Swaminarayan devotees also avoid eating onions and garlic); 11. No atheistic association: not to keep the company of atheists or lend one's ears to lectures given by nonbelievers.

 

In order to progress on the path, BAPS devotees also engage in spiritual practices that express the higher ideals of dharma (righteousness), jnana (wisdom), vairagya (detachment) and bhakti (devotion). These include: refraining from addiction to nicotine, marijuana and other drugs and intoxicating substances; maintaining a sense of respect for parents and elders; donating one-tenth or one-twentieth of their earnings to the organization; reading the scriptures of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya daily; attending weekly spiritual discourses and assemblies; fasting on Ekadashi, the eleventh day of each half of each lunar month; striving to develop attachment only to God and not to material things; personally performing puja every morning after bathing and before eating or drinking anything; attending daily arati in the mandir or at home; offering food to God before eating; chanting the Swaminarayan mantra daily; performing mental worship of God and the guru; singing devotional songs regularly; going regularly to the nearby mandir for darshan of the Deities; performing regular seva, selfless service, in the organization's activities; getting together with the entire family daily for a half-hour of prayer, scriptural reading and personal discussion; and observing Hindu festival days.

 

 

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/archives/2005/1-3/30-37_houston_temple.shtml

[Guest]

Bhagwan Swaminarayan has stated that those who know me to be their choicest deity and wish to achieve moksha(Salvation) shall follow only the Swaminarayan Sampraday under the leadership of the Dharmavanshi Acharyas. (Vachanamrut Vadtal 18, Nishkulanand Kavya - Purushottam Prakash).

 

The panch vartman (basic vows)are :

 

No stealing, no adultery, non-consumption of intoxicants, vegetarianism, and non-conversion are the 'panch vartman' or the five principal vows, that act as prerequisites for being considered as part of the Sampraday which Bhagwan Himself created. Such mortal purity and spiritual surety add a deeper brilliance to all the hundreds of social services performed for better life.

 

There are 11 Niyams that each Satsangi of Shree Swaminarayan Sampraday has to follow :

 

 

1. <LI class=maintext>Hinsa na karvi (Be non-violentby any means) <LI class=maintext>Parstri no sang na karvo (Do not have any kind of relationship with other woman other than your wife) <LI class=maintext>Mansh na khavu (Do not eat meat, i.e. including seafood, poultry products, eggs) <LI class=maintext>Daru na pivo (Do not drink products that contain alcohol, i.e. wine, beer, medicine that contains alcohol) <LI class=maintext>Vidhva stri no sparsh na karvo (Never touch widow woman whom you do not know) <LI class=maintext>Atmaghat na karvo (Never commit a suicide in any circumstances) <LI class=maintext>Chori na karvi (Do not steal things that belong to others) <LI class=maintext>Koi ne kalank na devu (Never blame others for something that you may not know about) <LI class=maintext>Devo ni ninda na karvi (Never bad mouth about God, Goddesses, or any religion) <LI class=maintext>Jenu na khaptu hoy tenu na khavu (Never eat someone's food who does not follow these eleven rules established by Lord Shree Swaminarayan in Shikshapatri)
   
2. Bhagwan thi vimukh hoy tena thaki katha na sabhalavi (Never listen holy stories from a person who does not believe in the existence of God , i.e. a person who is an atheist or those that have been excommunicated like BAPS or Maninagar cults existed today)

[Sephiroth]

daas ka daas :<!-- v3 Arcade --><!-- /v3 Arcade -->........ type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_1073794", true); .........>

 

 

 

 

Bhagwan thi vimukh hoy tena thaki katha na sabhalavi (Never listen holy stories from a person who does not believe in the existence of God , i.e. a person who is an atheist or those that have been excommunicated like BAPS or Maninagar cults existed today)

 

 

Now this is something which should be extended to include ppl who does not believe in Hindusm (Hindu Gods) as well. Because nowadays, there are many form of Atheism. Many pray with an empty heart, pray only because someone like Jesus or Muhammad had told them to pray.

[Guest]

You have a very valid point. But let them be. We do our thing and leave this material world never to return unless God wills.

[Sephiroth]

 

You have a very valid point. But let them be. We do our thing and leave this material world never to return unless God wills.

 

Don't behave so selfishly.

 

You know, that is the one thing I dislike very much about Hindus. They are so damn selfish, probably learnt from Muslims and Christians.

 

Whenever I have speak to Hindus regarding Worldly affairs like Politics, Terrorist problems etc, they could say the say thing - we will leave this "materialistic world and not return back here again" bla bla bla.

 

Two things Hindus have to remember :

 

1. Where you are going depends on God, and if God choose you to come back here, YOU WILL.

 

2. Even if you leave this materialistic world today, YOUR CHILDREN will be right here and they have to deal with this parasites.

 

So, don't shy away from Materialistic problems of the World by giving such excuses.

[Guest]

Let them be. Let all be as tehy are. Dont disturb their minds. If they want to pray to jesus or whoever let them. Praying is done in two forms. Sakaam and Nishkaam.

 

Sakaam is selfish praying. praying for selfish reasons.

 

Nishkaam is selfless praying. Asking God for nothing but His happiness.

[Sephiroth]

 

Let them be. Let all be as tehy are. Dont disturb their minds. If they want to pray to jesus or whoever let them. Praying is done in two forms. Sakaam and Nishkaam.

 

Sakaam is selfish praying. praying for selfish reasons.

 

Nishkaam is selfless praying. Asking God for nothing but His happiness.

 

Problem here is, they won't stop disturbing us. To them, anyone who is non-Muslim or non-Christian are living in sin and needs to be saved. In short, you and your loved one have already booked a place in hell, according to their beliefs.

[Guest]

I dont think we canchange the way they think. What we have to do is always defend our faith but those that care for our faith or do not hate what we do, we should teach them. But we cant do it by force brother. out of love is better than force. What they think about us is their opinion. We cant do much. As if we state that we will go heaven if we follow sanatan dharma as it should be followed, they will not have it.

[naazsakhi]

Thanks to Das ka Das for all ur info.

[bharatm6]

daas na daas -you have got it badly wrong.

Who has been excommunicated by whom?Yagnapurushdas was forced to leave Vartal for his personal safety.How can you call these Gunatit, Brahmaswarup Saints Vimukh?Maharaj will not be pleased if you insult his nearest devotee-Gunatit saints.

[Guest]

Jai Swaminarayan..

Sorry for late reply. Just got back from India today after a fruitive yatra to Pulah Ashram, Jomsom, Butolpur, Kashi, gangotri, Yamnotri etc. I urge anybody who hasn’t yet gone to such places to go.

Fisrtsly where is such a Gunatit Parampara mentioned in the scriptures? Shriji Maharaj according to the Purshottam Prakash and many other scri[ptures I could quote from declares that Shriji Maharaj decided to establish the Murtis, Acharya Dikshit saints, Scriptures and Acharyas all the way from Akshardahm. No such Gunatit Parampara is mentioned.

Secondly there is nothing higher than a bhakt whether gruhi or tyaagi to uphold and follow the Agna and Upasna of Shriji Maharaj. These are the two wings of the siddhants of Shriji Maharaj. Every scripture including the Vachnamrut declares such. Do let me know if you need scriptural references or quotes.

Can you clearly state that the followers of BAPS follow the agna of the Sikshapatri alone? Also a true saint..is looked after by God no matter where he may reside.

This is one great test..