The only two scriptures that explain Lord Shree Swaminarayan’s Greatness and Glory with so much certainty and clarity are Vachanamrut Rahasyarth Pradeepika Tika and the discourses of Jeevanpran Shree Abji Bapashree parts one and two. The two Sadgurus sacrificed their entire life in compiling and preaching the divine teachings of Jeevanpran Shree Abji Bapashree. It took Sadguru Shree Ishwarcharandasji Swamibapa 15 years to complete the Vachanamrut Rahasyarth Pradeepika Tika.

When several people started to claim the assets of the Lord to be their own personal property, Jeevanpran Bapashree established the Satsang Mahasabha and appointed Sadguru Shree Ishwarcharandasji Swamibapa as its head. Sadguru Swamishree undertook this responsibility with great skill and bravery and attained the goal for which Satsang Mahasabha was established. Jeevanpran Shree Abji Bapashree and His teachings on the Lord’s Greatness were both very dear to Sadguru Shree Ishwarcharandasji Swamibapa, therefore in remembrance of Sadgurubapa and to pay homage to Him, Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa started these festivals of spiritual knowledge explaining the  Lord’s greatness and meditation every Amavasya (Shree Sadgurudin). He instilled this divine knowledge into our souls, so as to attain the Lord’s Murti through contemplating on His Murti. It is now our duty to maintain and grow this satsang just as Muktajeevan Swamibapa and Ved Ratna Acharya Swamishree have done. It is through this knowledge that one understands the Glory and Greatness of Lord Swaminarayan, and a person realises and also understands that his true identity is the soul, which is separate and distinct from all the 57 Aspects. To maintain a firm determination on this knowledge, one has to maintain a constant practice of reading and understanding the Vachanamrut Rahasyarth Pradeepika Tika and the discourses of Jeevanpran Shree Abji Bapashree.

The soul is very subtle, it is eternal, it is lustrous and it is also wise, but due to its union with the body it tends to fall in the real and unreal world and ends up getting tied to the 57 Aspects of the body/Maya and this leads to us to forgetting the facts about our souls. The Lord explains in Vachanamrut that the deep sleep state (sushupti) is the Maya of the soul. This deep sleep state assumes the form of the sthool, sookshma and karan bodies. Therefore these three bodies, i.e. sthool, sookshma and karan, are the Maya of the soul. The Maya of the soul, in the form of the karan body, is difficult to separate from the soul. It is through the association with the Lord and/or His Sants and Muktas , and by their grace, that the soul comes to recognise the Murti of Lord Swaminarayan; meditates on His Murti; and contemplates about the  Lord’s words within his heart for its karan body to burn away separate from the soul. Apart from this, any other means may be performed, but ignorance (Maya), in the form of the karan body, is not destroyed. Once a soul is able to attain this state, it no longer has to go through the cycle of life and death.

God, through His Grace, has kept our souls in His Murti. This is the knowledge of Karan Satsang and the only way to gratify this is by meditating on the Lord’s Murti. One has to perform their activities whilst remaining engrossed in the Murti of the Lord. Doing this will further help in diverting the mind’s bad habits into good and divert its inclination towards God. A soul attains the Lord’s grace through constant devotion and faith.

Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa says that we as disciples of Lord Shree Swaminarayan are all travellers to the Lord’s divine Abode, Akshardham. To attain this, we have to meditate on the Lord’s Murti, and to meditate we have to sit in a Swastikasana position with our eyes focusing on the tip of the nose (nasikagra),forget about the arrogance of the body and simply consider oneself as Purushottamroop, and maintain a constant chant with every breath of the Lord’s Name (Swaminarayan) from the navel. Meditate on the Murti of the Lord in such a manner and get  engrossed and merged into His Murti. Acharya Shree Jitendriyapriyadasji Swamiji Maharaj says that for one to destroy and completely get rid of bad/ill thoughts, one should replace them with divine spiritual good. By practicing this continuously, one is able to completely devoid himself of all bad thoughts.

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Shree Sadguru Din- Acharya Jitendriyapriyadasji Swamiji Maharaj's Ashirwad 2nd January 2022 - Mombasa