page_title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya
section_title: Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS)
hierarchical_section_title: Swaminarayan Sampradaya / Major branches / Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS)
caption_attribution_description: English: Mahant Swami Maharaj is the sixth spiritual successor in Swaminarayan's lineage of Gunatit Gurus
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 Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) was formed in 1907, by Shastriji Maharaj (Shastri Yagnapurushdas). Shastriji Maharaj's primary reason for separation from the Vadtal diocese and creation of BAPS had been due to doctrinal differences in the interpretation of Akshar (Aksharbrahma) and Purushottam, regarding Gunatitanand Swami, the guru of his own guru Bhagatji Maharaj, as the manifestation of Aksharbrahm, 
  As articulated in the theology of Akshar-Purushottam Darshan, followers believe Swaminarayan manifests through a lineage of Aksharbrahma Gurus, beginning with Gunatitanand Swami followed by Bhagatji Maharaj, Shastriji Maharaj, Yogiji Maharaj, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, and currently Mahant Swami Maharaj.
caption: Mahant Swami Maharaj, current guru and president of BAPS
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