The Swaminarayan Faith (priests, ritual, moral, Earth, Kingdom)

[celina]

Divinity of Akshar Deri

Holy charanarvind of Bhagwan Swaminarayan and Shri Akshar Purushottam Maharaj and Guru Parampara in Akshar Deri

A poor Patel in Gondal earned his living by selling lemons. In the afternoon he would walk one mile from the town to rest in the serenity of the riverbank by the Akshar Deri. He was aware of the sanctity of Akshar Deri. The fact that the old Swaminarayan School had given it on hire to a person of the Khoja community who grew onions on it worried him. He wondered when would the divine place be developed. Once, while he was going towards Akshar Deri he saw a radiant 16-year-old ascetic. The Patel bowed at his feet and asked, "When will this place get developed?" The ascetic, who was Shriji Maharaj himself, replied, "Patel, don't worry. In a few years time there will be a three-shikhar mandir here. Thakorji will be offered thal and the mandir will have golden kalashas. This place will become divine and will inspire miracles." Then the ascetic disappeared. Patel was amazed and pacified by the incident.
A couple of years later when Shastriji Maharaj had started building the mandir the Patel narrated the incident of the divine ascetic.
There was a blacksmith in Gondal who went every evening for darshan at the Ashapuri Mata mandir. On returning home he would always see three balls of light descend upon Akshar Deri. A few years later when the excavation work for the mandir pillars was going on he told Shastriji Maharaj about his experience and asked him as to what the three balls of light were. Shastriji Maharaj replied that Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh came in the form of light to have darshan of Akshar Deri.
One night, during the mandir construction project in Gondal, Yogiji Maharaj was sleeping near Shastriji Maharaj. In the middle of the night a black cobra bit Yogiji Maharaj on his left index finger. Everybody in the room got up. Shastriji Maharaj immediately instructed, "Take Jogi to the Akshar Deri and chant the dhun." Yogiji Maharaj had become unconscious because of the powerful venom. While the dhun was being chanted Shastriji Maharaj placed his hand on Yogiji Maharaj's head. At 4.00 a.m. Gunatitanand Swami appeared to Mohan Bhagat, who got up from his sleep, and told him that nothing would happen to Jogi. Mohan Bhagat then went to Shastriji Maharaj and narrated what Gunatitanand Swami had told him.
When Bhagvatsinhji Maharaj came to know of this he sent word to Shastriji Maharaj that he was sending a doctor. Shastriji Maharaj said that there was no need because Jogi would get well by the power of the Swaminarayan dhun. After 12 hours Yogiji Maharaj became conscious. Yogiji Maharaj was saved by the divine power of Akshar Deri and blessings of Shastriji Maharaj.
http://www.swaminarayan.org/aksharde...y.htm#divinity

[Hema]

Namaste and welcome to RF dear Celina Ji,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. There used to be someone on this forum who attends the Swaminarayan Mandir in London. I'm not sure if you live in London and attend that Mandir but if you do, he is a young boy named Raghav. The mandirs are so beautiful! I especailly enjoyed reading about young Ghanshyam and his impact on the king who was slaughtering the goats. The practices of the Swaminarayans sound similar to my own beliefs and practices. I am vegetarian also. I commend you for your explanation of Hinduism as being monotheistic and for stressing that the caste system is based on profession, without one being higher than the other. Even Shri Ram ate food from Shabri who was considered an outcaste. If he is an avatar of God and he openly accepts all as equal, why do human beings look down on others. They fail to realize that Divinity is equally present in all of us. Oh yeah, you made tears come to my eyes with the beautiful pictures of Shri Ram, Shri Krishna, Hanumanji etc.

[Hema]

By the way, if you want you can introduce yourself to the other members under the "Introductions" section, just go to the sub-forum - Are you new to religiousforums.com?

[Hema]

I just want to add another lovely picture to your thread. The one where we are compared to a chariot with five horses. "The Bhagavad Gita describes the mind as turbulent and obstinate. 'The Chariot of the Body': The five horses represent the five senses (tongue, eyes, nose, ears and skin). The rein symbolises the mind, the driver is the intelligence while the passenger is the spirit soul." Ref: http://www.search.com/reference/Bhagavad_Gita



There is a different sense organ depicted on each of the horses.

[celina]

Originally Posted by Hema

Namaste and welcome to RF dear Celina Ji,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. There used to be someone on this forum who attends the Swaminarayan Mandir in London. I'm not sure if you live in London and attend that Mandir but if you do, he is a young boy named Raghav. The mandirs are so beautiful! I especailly enjoyed reading about young Ghanshyam and his impact on the king who was slaughtering the goats. The practices of the Swaminarayans sound similar to my own beliefs and practices. I am vegetarian also. I commend you for your explanation of Hinduism as being monotheistic and for stressing that the caste system is based on profession, without one being higher than the other. Even Shri Ram ate food from Shabri who was considered an outcaste. If he is an avatar of God and he openly accepts all as equal, why do human beings look down on others. They fail to realize that Divinity is equally present in all of us. Oh yeah, you made tears come to my eyes with the beautiful pictures of Shri Ram, Shri Krishna, Hanumanji etc.

Thank you, Hema for your lovely post. I live in Chicago and attend the BAPS mandir in my area. I'm glad my posts were informative. I'm new to the swaminarayan sect myself. Just beginning to practive vegetarianism correctly, it's hard.

Glad you enjoyed the pics, I'll post more later. They are so beautiful and inspiring.

[celina]

Originally Posted by Hema

By the way, if you want you can introduce yourself to the other members under the "Introductions" section, just go to the sub-forum - Are you new to religiousforums.com?

Thanx I'll make sure to do that.

[celina]

Originally Posted by Hema

I just want to add another lovely picture to your thread. The one where we are compared to a chariot with five horses. "The Bhagavad Gita describes the mind as turbulent and obstinate. 'The Chariot of the Body': The five horses represent the five senses (tongue, eyes, nose, ears and skin). The rein symbolises the mind, the driver is the intelligence while the passenger is the spirit soul." Ref: http://www.search.com/reference/Bhagavad_Gita



There is a different sense organ depicted on each of the horses.

Thanx for the beautiful addition, I'll add on to this thread later today.

[Hema]

Originally Posted by celina

Thank you, Hema for your lovely post. I live in Chicago and attend the BAPS mandir in my area. I'm glad my posts were informative. I'm new to the swaminarayan sect myself. Just beginning to practive vegetarianism correctly, it's hard.

Glad you enjoyed the pics, I'll post more later. They are so beautiful and inspiring.

Oh Chicago! My fiance was over there for work last year. He stayed in Schaumburg. He said it was really nice and the people were really friendly. Do you know if there are any Hindu Temples in that area?

[Seyorni]

Namaste Celina. Welcome to RF. Very interesting posts.