page_title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya
section_title: Sacred biographies
hierarchical_section_title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya / Scriptural tradition / Sacred biographies
context_page_description: The Swaminarayan Sampradaya is a Hindu sampradaya which was founded in 1801 by Sahajanand Swami, who is worshipped as Swaminarayan, the supreme manifestation of God, by his followers. Under Swaminarayan’s leadership the sampradaya grew to more than 100,000 followers and 3,000 swamis by the time of his death in 1830.
  In the 20th century, due to "different interpretations of authentic successorship," the sampradaya split-up into various denominations, the largest being the BAPS. All groups regard Swaminarayan as God but differ in their theology and the religious leadership they accept. The Vadtal Gadi and Ahmedabad Gadi are the oldest institutions, with a hereditary leadership which appoints acharyas, as prescribed in a document titled the ‘Lekh’. The BAPS venerates "a lineage of akṣaragurus, or living gurus, [which] has been retroactively traced back to Gunatitanand Swami."
  In the Vachanamrut, the principal theological text of the sampradaya, Swaminarayan identifies five eternal and distinct entities: Parabrahman, Aksharbrahman, maya, ishwar, and jiva.
context_section_description: The Swaminarayan Sampradaya has produced voluminous biographical literature on Swaminarayan. The Bhaktachintamani is a sacred biography of Swaminarayan composed by one of his prominent disciples, Nishkulanand Swami. Consisting of 8,536 couplets, this biography serves as a record of Swaminarayan’s life and teachings. The Harililamrut is a longer biographical text in verse written by Dalpatram and published in 1907. Satsangi Jeevan, a Sanskrit text of 17,627 verses was written by Shatanand Swami, while the Harilila Kalpataru, a 33,000-verse Sanskrit biographical text was written by Achintyananda Brahmchari at the suggestion of Gunatitanand Swami. The sacred biographies complement the theological texts, insofar as their incidents serve as practical applications of the theology.
caption: Swaminarayan Bhashyam
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