Lord Swaminarayan's Philosophy: Five Eternal Realities (ritual, Earth, salvation, soul)

[Pariah]

Originally Posted by mahesh

By the way i wasnt born into the Swaminarayan Faith. I have accepted it. My parents still do not follow the faith yet they are happy in allowing me to follow it.

What faith do your parents follow, if you don't mind my asking?

[Aupmanyav]

Originally Posted by Guitar's Cry

Nobody because we may well be the result of deterministic forces that is overall beyond our control (except subjectively), and everybody because we all attribute to the deterministic web of existence.

Care to explain it in a layman's language?

[Aupmanyav]

Originally Posted by celina

Swaminarayan Bhagawan is God. Lord Swaminarayan has propagated a philosophy where He says that God is Supreme, has a divine form, is the all doer and always present on earth. He simply states that jivas never merge or dissolve into God and neither are they part of God but always subservient to God. The Jiva, through absolute surrender and attachment toward the Guru, attains the realized state and becomes eligible to offer pure worship to God.

Parabrahman or Purushottam is the highest reality, the supreme Godhead, one and unique. He is, at once, transcendent to everything and immanent in everything. He is the concrete reality with divine form and perfect personality who is the controller and supporter of everything. Jiva, Ishwar, Maya and Aksharbrahman constitute the body of Parabrahman who is their soul. And Lord Swaminarayan Himself is Parabrahman or Purushottam.

http://www.swaminarayan.org/philosophy/index.htm

Who put the demonic tendencies in humans?

[mahesh]

Originally Posted by Pariah

What faith do your parents follow, if you don't mind my asking?

They follow Shri Ram Chandar. This is their Istadev which is great. My IStadev is Shri Swaminarayan

[mahesh]

Originally Posted by Aupmanyav

Who put the demonic tendencies in humans?

Their Karmas did.

[celina]

Originally Posted by Aupmanyav

Who put the demonic tendencies in humans?

Humans corrupted themselves. Free will. Lord Swaminarayan showed us the right path, but yet some men reject it(LIKE YOU!)Lord Swaminarayan told men not to drink, smoke, gamble, kill-commit crime, eat meat, smoke, do drugs or commit any other vices . Yet asuric people like you try to demonize his words, to lead people astray! Lord Swaminarayan told of men like you, who would openly promote vices and take the Lord's name in vain. You are nothing new or shocking. You are the typical new age atheist, pretending you have some "divine" understanding of Hindu philosophy. But yet trying to extract God from the equation. But your attempts are fruitless, you can not extract GOD from anything.


God

The divine form of Lord Purushottam visible here before you and the divine form seated in His divine abode Akshardham are one, and there is absolutely no difference in these twin forms. They are one. This Purushottam visible here is the controller of all, including Akshar, is the Lord of all Lords, the ultimate cause of cosmic evolution, and is transcendentally the Supreme One. From Him all incarnations emanate and in Him finally they merge. He is the ultimate God who only should be offered implicit devotion with Ekantik bhav. The previous incarnations who have emanated from this divine form by His will are also to be honoured with due worship.(Gad. III-38)

God is one and unparalleled. Many released souls have attained the redemptive virtues of God, yet they cannot attain that transcendental status of God. He is unparalleled as He is God sui generis. (Gad. III-39)

When God descends on earth for the redemption of the Jivas and assumes human form, His divine abode Akshardham, the released Jivas and His full-fledged Lordship, all descend on earth. (Gad. I-71)


Svabhav (Evil Instinct)
Those who seek emancipation should realise that the evil instincts of passion, anger and the like are enemies within. (Gad. II-15)

Finding Faults
One who regards himself as full of all virtues and finds faults with others, even though he is considered to be an outstanding devotee, he is sure to fall from the path of devotion. (Gad. II-26)

Redemption
One who desires to redeem himself should feel that the transcendental bliss which emanates from the divine person of God and His brahmanised saint is the only bliss to be enjoyed in life. One should therefore be attached to God and His brahmanised saint with as deep affection as one bears towards one's own body. Their glory should be upheld at the cost of one's own reputation, honour or even life. (Gad. III-7)

Offering dedicated devotion to God manifesting on earth, singing His praises, chanting His name and observing the rules prescribed for everyone according to the stage of his life, these four would ensure one an easy redemption. It is as easy as crossing an ocean with the help of a ship. Whereas, to attain redemption by endeavouring to realise one's own Atman is as difficult as crossing the ocean by swimming. (Gad. II-35)

One who desires to be redeemed should cultivate animosity with his mind. (Vartal -1)

The knowledge of the divine form of God and also of His infinite powers and Lordship is the only supreme sadhana by which one can attain moksha. (Gad. I-57)

One who has fully known the manifest human form of God is said to have attained ultimate salvation. (Kar.-7)

http://www.swaminarayan.org/scriptur...amrut/gems.htm

[celina]

Originally Posted by mahesh

im 22.

19

Happiness

Covetousness, wealth, attachment to women, excessive love of taste, egoity, attachment to vicious persons and relations, these six evils would always bring misery either in this birth or in other births. One who desires happiness should totally eradicate such vicious instincts.
(Gad. III-38)



Way to Secure Eternal Bliss

A devotee who possesses the attributes of perfect vairagya, absolute swadharma, and has thus through the perfection of these two attributes attained control over all his indriyas, and has a deep attachment towards God and His brahmanised saint, and loves them with the common ties of friendship which knows no barriers, and remains happy only when in association with them and never likes the company of those who denounce God; such a devotee enjoys the bliss of God unhampered, both here and in the divine abode of God. (Gad. III-8)

[Aupmanyav]

Originally Posted by mahesh

Their Karmas did.

How come evil even exists in the world, does it exist without your Parabrahman's permission?

[vandervalley]

How come evil even exists in the world, does it exist without your Parabrahman's permission?

In Buddhism we say evils and sufferings comes from desires. Some people commit crimes and evil deeds because they couldn't get what they desired.

Therefore evil does not need any god's permission; it is created by living beings' never ending desires/cravings

[Don Penguinoini]

Experiences give humans their bad ways.