Dedicated to ...
H.D.H Narayanswarup das (Pramukh Swami) ...
The childhood days ...
Pramukh Swami Maharaj was born in a very small village called Chansad on 7 December 1921 (Magshar sud 8, Vikram Samvat 1978). His father’s name was Motilal Prabhudas Patel, and his mother’s name was Diwaliba Patel, who came from the village of Menpur. Motibhai was in regular contact with Shastriji Maharaj, while Diwaliba’s family had been satsangis since the time of Bhagatji Maharaj. Motibhai and Diwaliba decided to name their child Shantilal, meaning peace. Shantilal had nine siblings, of whom four passed away at a young age. Shantilal was the youngest. Shantilal started doing
daily puja from the age of seven. His first puja was presented to him by Nana Akshar Swami. As a child, young Shantilal excelled in his studies. When he began studying in Padra, a village 6 km from Chansad, he would insist on getting there early. His childhood friend, Ambalalbhai, recalls, "I used to be lazy, but Shantilal would always insist that we left on time. We would both take a long time in cycling but when it came to hills I would stop cycling and let Shantilal pull me uphill. He would happily cycle away without a single complaint." After some time Motibhai bought Shantilal a secondhand ‘
Hercules’ cycle for Rs. 16. Shantilal daily cycled to school, carrying his lunchbox and water bottle. Shantilal’s lunch was a humble one.
Dhebra, vada, gadipuri and pickles was the daily menu. This simple menu meant that less time was spent in eating and thinking of food and more time was spent studying.
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| With Shashtriji maharaj |
TRANSITION INTO SADHU LIFE
At the age of 18 Shantilal embarked on a new chapter in his life.
Shantilal joined Nilkanth Swami and Ghanshyam Swami, two of Shastriji Maharaj’s sadhus, and accompanied them to the village of Sakarada and then to Bochasan. After a few days of travelling with Nirgundas Swami, Shantilal met Shastriji Maharaj in Ahmedabad. Shastriji expressed his wish, "In the morning, I want to initiate you as a parshad." Thus, on the auspicious day of 22 November 1939 (Kartik sud 11, V.S. 1996) Shantilal became Shanti Bhagat. Shanti Bhagat had one wish
– to learn English. Initially, Shastriji Maharaj had said that he could learn from Khengarjibhai, a learned devotee in Ahmedabad. However, Shastriji Maharaj changed his mind and told Shanti Bhagat that for a sadhu it is better to learn Sanskrit rather than English. Shanti Bhagat accepted his guru’s wish straight away and went to Bochasan to study.
As the years passed, under the guidance of Shastriji Maharaj, Narayanswarup Swami earned the respect of all through his saintliness and skills. His adherence to niyams was par excellence. Thus, Shastriji Maharaj decided to appoint the 28-year-old Narayanswarup Swami as President of BAPS in his place. However, Narayanswarup Swami did not wish for such honour, but, because it was his guru’s wish he reluctantly accepted the responsibility. Others felt that he was too young for such a post, but Shastriji Maharaj boldly stated, "I have never taken a decision in my life that I have regretted." So, on 21 May 1950, at Amli Vali Pol in Ahmedabad, Shastriji Maharaj draped Narayanswarup Swami in a chadar
– a symbol of his appointment as President (Pramukh) of BAPS. On this occasion Pramukh Swami pledged, "Today, before my guru and this whole gathering, I promise that I will fulfil my responsibility properly. Without caring for myself, I will remain loyal to this Sanstha and fulfil my duty to you."
PRAMUKH SWAMI MAHARAJ – PRAGAT BRAHMASWARUP
From the time he had become a sadhu, till the passing away of Yogiji Maharaj, Pramukh Swami had always lived in the footsteps of his gurus and served under them devotedly. Yogiji Maharaj had often indicated that Pramukh Swami would be his successor as guru of BAPS. Sadguru Santvallabh Swami, a loyal disciple of Shastriji Maharaj and beloved of Yogiji Maharaj, was the first to proclaim Pramukh Swami Maharaj as the new guru. To please his gurus and continue the work they had begun, he engaged in intense, tireless vicharan.
So intense, that just reading about it makes one breathless. For ten years, Swamishri, as everyone respectfully called him, followed a schedule full of exertion and difficulties. There were problems with transportation, and other logistics, yet he still travelled to see every devotee he could and sanctify their home. The following was the typical daily schedule for Swamishri:
5.30 a.m.
– wake up, bathe, etc.
6.30 a.m.
– puja, daily reading, arti, katha
7.30 a.m.
– breakfast, 8.00 a.m.
– padhramanis begin
Lunch would be at anytime after 12.30 p.m.
3.00 p.m.
– rest and bathe 3.30 p.m.
– move to a new village
4.00 p.m.
– welcome sabha 5.00 p.m.
– padhramanis
7.00 p.m.
– evening arti 9.00 p.m.
– sabha 12.00 midnight
– chesta,
meet devotees 12.30 to 1.00 a.m.
– sleep.
This was the schedule he followed for 10 years, during which he made a total of 6,464 village, town and city visits
– an average of 2 villages a day. He accomplished such hectic vicharan in bullock-carts, rickety cars and hazardous rickshaws! Even when observing a nirjala fast or suffering from fever, he would complete the padhramanis arranged. Upto 2007, Pramukh Swami Maharaj has travelled all through India and completed 27 overseas satsang tours (including three with Yogiji Maharaj, in 1955, 1960 and 1970). Swamishri has visited over 45 countries, including: UK, USA, Canada, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Dubai, Abu Dabhi, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Israel, Egypt and others. As a result of his constant travels there has been a tremendous increase in the number of BAPS satsang centres and mandirs. Since 1971, Swamishri has consecrated 30 shikharbaddh mandirs and over 1000 hari mandirs in India, England, USA, Canada, East Africa, South Africa and other countries.
SWAMISHRI’S TRUE IDENTITY
Pramukh Swami Maharaj isn’t like us, although he may seem so. He isn’t human, but divine. He guides us on how to thoroughly practice satsang into our lives. Swamishri’s life is an example of how an ideal devotee of God should live. Pramukh Swami Maharaj has built more than
1,100 mandirs, initiated over
900 sadhus, made over
17,000 city, town and village visits in India and overseas, replied to over
760,000 letters and personally counselled over
810,000 people. His social work is extensive, yet there is more to Pramukh Swami Maharaj.
The more one realizes his works, the more one discovers that his true identity is still beyond that. Swamishri has a constant rapport with Bhagwan Swaminarayan, and he can free us of all faults and worldly attachments and bless us with the divine happiness of Akshardham. So, who is Pramukh Swami Maharaj? Pramukh Swami Maharaj is the Ekantik Satpurush, the manifest form of Aksharbrahman and a key to attaining liberation. No human language can do the fullest justice while praising the greatness of this divine entity. The more one tries to describe his immensely noble character the more one feels that it is not enough.
Akshardham, Delhi
In November 6, at 6:15 pm, his divine Holiness, Pramukhswami Mararaj--in the presence of the President of India, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam; the Prime Minister of India, Shri Manmohan Singh; the Leader of Opposition in the Indian Parliament, Shri L. K. Advani; and 25,000 guests--opened Swaminarayan Akshardham Delhi. At the center of this immense hundred-acre religious and cultural complex is a
141-foot-tall, 110,000-square-foot, nine-domed monument enshrining an 11-foot gold plated murti of Lord Swaminarayan. As President Kalam entered it for the first time, he clasped the hand of the sadhu guiding him and said, "Today I feel proud being the first citizen of India." Indeed, the complex inspires awe even from a distance, and will surely leave every Indian visitor with that same sense of pride Dr. Kalam felt. The monument is one of the most extraordinary architectural creations of the last thousand years, in India and anywhere else. Already it is Delhi's prime tourist attraction, with tens of thousands visiting daily, and it will likely come to be regarded as a wonder of the modern world.
The simultaneous presence of India's three top political leaders--a Muslim, a Sikh and a Hindu--was a sign of the country's high regard for this new creation. Each lavishly praised the project. In his speech,Dr. Kalam said, "Akshardham creativelyblends the traditional stone art and architecture, Indian culture and civilization, ancient values and wisdom and the best of modern media and technology. Multiple
layers of this complex express the strength of the mind, willpower of the human being, indomitable spirit, flowering kindness, fusion of scientific and medical talent, myriad colors of varied cultures and, ultimately, the power of knowledge." Prime Minister Singh hopes the inauguration of the temple would mark a beginning of a new era in religious tolerance and "spread the message of peace and communal harmony throughout the world." Shri L.K. Advani declared Akshardham "the most unique monument of the world."
Sri Pramukh Swami in his speech modestly redirected their praise. He offered, "We have a tradition of humility and humbleness. We are the servants of even those who are the servants of the God. Our purpose in building
this monument was to fulfill the dream of my guru, Shri Yogiji Maharaj. It has taken 35 years to translate his dream into reality." "The message of Lord Swaminarayan, " Pramukh Swami went on, "was to work for the welfare of the whole of humanity. Lord Swaminarayan said that only through love and bhakti can we change the hearts of the people. He did not just say this, but he put this philosophy in practice and transformed the lives of all those who came in touch with him. He freed them from the clutches of vices such as drinking, smoking and meat eating." Pramukh Swami expressed the hope that all those who visit would also have their lives transformed by understanding the
teachings of Bhagwan Swaminarayan.
The Swaminarayan Akshardham Cultural Complex occupies
105 acres on the banks of holy river Yamuna in the heart of India's capital, New Delhi. The US$44 million project was built in just five years with the help and support of 11,000 craftsmen and volunteers of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminaryan Sanstha (BAPS) who devoted millions of man hours to complete the project. BAPS, one of
Hinduism's foremost organizations, traces its roots to the life and teachings of Lord Swaminarayan (1781-1830), a great saint of the Vaishnava tradition who lived in Gujarat.
Our sadhus worked very hard on this project. They supervised the finer carving work on the Deities, based on their research on India craftsmanship from the 8th to 12 century. They even went to Cambodia and visited the ancient temples of Angkor Wat. They visited Jodhpur, Jagannath Puri, Konark and temples in South India. Two of our saints, Shriti Swami and Parampurush Swami, are scholars of the Pancharatra Shastra which lays down many of the architectural rules of temples and the carving
of Deities, such as the twenty-four forms of Vasudeva. Like this, we worked together with our guru, our fellow sadhus and the many devotees. We believe that this project was completed only due to Pramukh Swami's inspiration and guidance and the blessings of the saints of our lineage.
(
Narendra Modi before taking pledge for Chief Minister of Gujarat)
For three weeks prior to the opening, thousands of BAPS devotees and spiritual, political and business leaders visited the site. They included leading saints of India,such as Sri Satyamitranand Giriji of Bharat Mata Mandir of Haridwar, Sri Balagangadharanatha Swami of Adichunchunagiri Mutt in Karnataka, Swami Chidananda Saraswati (Muniji) of Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh and Sri Rameshbhai Oza, to name just a few. Satish Gujral, one of India's foremost architects, observed after his visit, "I have seen great monuments, and I am speechless. Every pillar, every canopy is a masterpiece and made with incomparable craftsmanship. Normally, it would have taken 50 years to build such a thing. It is a very beautiful place, very well planned, and can make a non-believer become a believer. "
( For more information, visit
http:/www.akshardham.com )
Now a days, Bapa is at BAPS Mandir, Sarangpur(Gujarat). Every day thousands of people came out there for Bapa's blessing and incredible darshan. Former President of India who is popularly known as Missile man of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam today presented his book ‘
Transcendence: My spiritual experiences with Pramukh Swamiji’ to Pramukh Swami Maharaj at Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha(BAPS) hall in Sarangpur near Ahmedabad in Gujarat. The book is co-authored by Arun Tiwari who was also present in the function.
Kalam knows Pramukh Swami since year 2001. Dr Kalam today in his speech at BAPS hall called Pramukh Swami(Chief saint in English) as Maha Pramukh Swami. Dr Kalam also answered the questions by students and young assembly.
Dr Kalam said, "this was my very dear project for many years. The day I saw Pramukh Swamiji in Akshardham inauguration in Delhi, I made a promise to Pramukh Swami that I would write a book on his great spiritual life. Today I have fulfilled my promise."
Dr Kalam said, "yesterday I was asked what made me to write this book and what incident inspired me. I said Pramukh Swamiji inspired me from the day I met him on 30th June 2001. But one incident deeply touched me. That is on the next day of terrorist attack in Akshardham, Gandhinagar. On 25th September 2002, there were many bodies of devotees and also terrorists who were killed at that time. Pramukh Swamiji comes with Ganga Jal in his kamandal and offered it to each of bodies without discrimination be it devotee or security person or those terrorists. He displayed to the world that every human life is sacred. Life comes from God and returns only to God."
Speaking about the relations between Dr Kalam and Pramukh Swami, Sant Shri Brahmvihari said, "Dr Kalam doesn’t know Gujarati and Pramukh Swami doesn’t know English, there’s something beyond language and conversation between two personalities."
References :
1) Portrait of Inspiration : Pramukh Swami Maharaj By Sadhu VivekjivanDas
2) Wikipedia
3) http://www.baps.org
Pramukh swami (Satsang Exam’s book)
http://www.akshardham.com
ત્યાર બાદ ઢોળ મંજીરા અને દિવ્ય આરતી ના સંગમે મેં આરતી પ્રગટાવી.અદભુત રાગ અને ઢોલ નગર વગાડ્યા, મારા ડાબા હાથ માં ઘંટડી અને જમના હાથ માં આરતી લઈને પૂર્ણ પુરુષોત્તમ સ્વામી નારાયણ, અક્ષરબ્રહ્મ ગુણાતિતાનંદ સ્વામી, ભગતજી મહારાજ, શાસ્ત્રીજી મહારાજ, યોગીજી મહારાજ , પ્રમુખ સ્વામી મહારાજ ની આત્મીય ભાવે આરતી ઉતારી. જે ચંચલ મન મને રાત્રે સુવા નતું દેતું એ હવે શાંત થાય હતું. ("પ્રમુખ સ્વામી ના પગલે પગલે દીપ શાંતિ ના પ્રગટે ") મગજ પણ એના પ્રશ્નો ને ત્યાગી ને આંખો દ્વારા મૂર્તિ ને નિહાળતું હતું। આ Feeling માટે આપના પૂર્વજો અને અત્યારે Oxford University વાળા એ પણ શબ્દો શોધ્યા નથી." અવર્ણનીય " આ અનુભવ પહેલી વખત ભગવાન ની આવી રીતે નજીક થી (સિહાશન આગળ )આરતી ઉતારી એટલે ખુબ જ આનંદ અને ખુશ હતો પણ સાથે કોઈ ભૂલ ના થાય જાય એના માટે ચિંતા પણ થતી હતી. Bike પર જતા હોય અને સ્પીડ માં bridge ઉતારીએ તો પેટ માં કેવું થાય એવું થતું હતું. આરતી પૂર્ણ થઇ. Asttak અને જયનાદ પૂર્ણ થયો. હવે થાળ ધરાવાનો હતો. કેરી, બટાકા પૌંવા અને સાકાર વાળું દૂધ તૈયાર કર્યા હતા. ભગવાન જમે છે તે ભાવ થી થાળ ધરાયો અને સવારની આરતી ની વિધિ પૂરી થઈ। ત્યારે અમે ત્રણેય ને Behind the scene શું થાય છે એ ખબર પડી. અને સોમભાઈ કે જે 16 વર્ષ થી આ ધન્ય થઇ જાય તેવી સેવા માં હતા. સોમભાઈ ,જસપાલ, જયમીન, હર્ષ પ્રત્યે ની ઇજ્જત વધતી જતી હતી.
11:30 થયા એટલે હર્ષિલ સાથે મંદિર ના ટીફીન માં જ થાળ લઈને અમે બધા જ મંદિર ગયા. હું સ્નાન કરી ને થાળ ની તૈયારી માં લાગી ગયો. 12:00 સુધી માં થાળ અને બીજી તૈયારી કરી આ બાજુ ફરીથી મને થોડી ચિંતા થાય કે કોઈ કચાસ તો ની રહી જાય ને. જસપાલ (યાત્રા પર જવાની બસ ચુકી ગયો હતો) પણ આવી ગયો હતો. બંને એ થાળ ચાલુ કર્યો અને એ પણ કોઈ જ મુશ્કેલી વગર પૂરો થયો. ભગવાન ને સુવડાવી ને મંદિર બંધ કરી ઘરે ગયા. સાંજે 4:00 વાગે મંદિરે આવીને ભગવાન ને જગાડી ફળ અને જળ અર્પણ કર્યું. ત્યારે એ પલ યાદ આવ્યા જયારે મૂર્તિ પ્રતિષ્ઠા વખતે કાચ તૂટી ગયો હતો એજ મૂર્તિ માં રહેલા ભગવાન ની સેવા કરવાનો લાભ મળ્યો.
શરીર ની અંદર એક જુદા જ પ્રકાર ની ઉર્જા નો સંચાર થતો હતો. સ્થિરતા આવી ગયી હતી. ખુબ જ ઉત્સાહ વધી ગયો હતો અને Dr. સ્વામી નું એક વાક્ય યાદ આવ્યું કે "BAPS ના યુવક માટે આ ભણતર અને શિક્ષણ ના કોઈ રેકોર્ડ નહી હોતા બધા રેકોર્ડ તોડી ફોડી નાખવા ના " ત્યારે જ મેં સંકલ્પ કર્યો સત્સંગ Exam માં ગુજરાત માં નંબર લઈશ. કદાચ આંખ માંથી આંસુ પણ પરવાનગી વગર બહાર આવાના હતા પણ પરિસ્થિતિનું જ્ઞાન થયું અને સ્થાયી દુનિયા માં સ્થૂળ દુનિયા નો અનુભવ થયો. આં અનુભવ ને કોઈ કલમ વડે લખી સકાય તેમ નથી અને મને લાગે છે કે બાપા એ પણ જયારે પેહલી વખત સ્વામીનારાયણ ભગવાન પ્રત્યે હેતભાવ, ભક્તીપણા ની લાગણી થય ત્યારે કદાચ આવું જ થયું હશે. 
