The Swaminarayan Sampraday is bhakti-focussed and advocates God within the disciplines of dharma. The faith focusses on salvation through total devotion or bhakti to the God developed through dharma (virtues), gnana (spiritual wisdom) and vairagya (detachment). It follows the Vaishnava tradition and to its followers represents the form of Hinduism. The Swaminarayan Sampraday with its roots in the Vedas was founded by Swaminarayan. Thereafter the name Swaminarayan Sampraday came into existence. The name refers wholly and solely to one entity, Swaminarayan. It should be noted that there was no Swami who he had appointed his successor or as an ideal devotee, at that time. It was during this meeting, while explaining that God is one that Swaminarayan introduced what he termed "the father of all Mantras", Swaminarayan (the name Sahajanand Swami then became known by). Fourteen days after Ramanand Swami left for his mortal body, Sahajanand Swami held a large gathering of followers at the town of Faneni. At the age of 21, he was given the headship of the sect known as Uddhav Sampraday with the blessings of his guru Ramanand Swami, who handed over the reins of the Religious diocese to him and left his mortal body. In 1799, Swaminarayan (as Neelkanth Varni) was initiated into the Uddhav Sampraday as an ascetic ( Sadhu) by Ramanand Swami and given the name Sahajanand Swami. The Swaminarayan Sampraday was earlier known as the Uddhav Sampraday and was headed by Ramanand Swami. The original movement, however remains the largest group within the Swaminarayan faith. Multiple organisations have been formed by people who split from the Swaminarayan Sampraday as a result of differences in philosophy, such as BAPS and Swaminarayan Gadi. The Swaminarayan Sampraday has encountered a problem of off-shoots in the last century. Six temples that Swaminarayan built during his lifetime are considered to be the most important within the faith. The Swaminarayan Sampraday has temples spread across five continents. These ascetics wear orange robes and lead a strict life refraining from worldly pleasures and devoting their life to the service of the fellowship. They have a special responsibility that of taking care of images in temples. The sect also has a huge number of ascetics, who since inception of the organisation contribute towards growth and development of the movement and towards salvation of its members. This was done by means of a legal document, called the Desh Vibhag Lekh.įollowers of the faith are called Satsangis, are expected to follow certain basic rules set forth by Swaminarayan. Before Swaminarayan died, he split the administration of the Swaminarayan Sampraday into two seats of power ( gadi meaning seat): the Nar Narayan Dev Gadi headquartered in Ahmedabad and the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi headquartered in Vadtal. The Shikshapatri was written by Swaminarayan in 1826, is described as a book of social principles by the Bombay Gazetteer. The most important are the Shikshapatri and the Vachanamrut. Apart from traditional Hindu scriptures, the sect has more than three thousand works by its members. The organisation is based on vedic and puritic Hinduism. Under the leadership of Swaminarayan, the movement gained strength and at the time of his death, there were 1.8 million followers. Swaminarayan was handed the leadership of the Uddhav Sampraday by his guru, Ramanand Swami, to continue to propagate the teachings and philosophy of Vishishtadvaita, which originates from the Sri Sampradaya. Swaminarayan Sampraday ( Devnagari: स्वामीनारायण सम्प्रदाय, Gujarati: સ્વમિનારાયણ સમ્પ્રદય, IAST: Svāmīnārāyaṇa sampradāya), known previously as the Uddhav Sampraday, is a Hindu sect established by Swaminarayan (or Sahajanand Swami) (Ap-June 1, 1830).