Gunatitanand Swami As Akshar
Considerable dissent exists among various Swaminarayan groups regarding Gunatitanand Swami’s status as Akshar, with BAPS being one of the foremost, though not only, groups propagating this principle as a foundation of their Akshar Purushottam philosophy, or Upasana. The Akshar-Purushottam Upasana is the central theological tenet upon which the BAPS denomination of Swaminarayan Hinduism is based. Proponents of this philosophy believe that of the five eternal entities (Jiva, Ishwar, Maya, Brahman and Parabrahman), Akshar(Brahman) and Purushottam (Parabrahman) eternally transcend the illusion of maya. While both BAPS and certain sections of the dioceses of Ahmedabad and Vadtal accept Purushottam as God and the cause of all the avatars, the concept of Akshar has led to much debate and is one of the primary causes of the schism between the denominations. Yajnavalkya’s Smruti was authorized as a sacred text by Swaminarayan and it contains the following proof-text of Akshar, explaining that, “If one does not know Akshar, then one’s oblations, sacrifices and austerities for many thousands of years in this world will come to an end; and when one departs from this world without knowing Akshar, one is miserable.” The Vadtal and Ahmedabad dioceses believe this Akshar to be the divine abode of the supreme entity Purushottam. The BAPS denomination concurs that Akshar is the divine abode of Purushottam, but they further understand Akshar as “an eternally existing spiritual reality having two forms, the impersonal and the personal”. The impersonal form is the divine abode of Purushottam while the personal form is described as the perfect devotee of Purushottam through whom this ultimate reality can be reached. Members of the BAPS branch support the ontology of Akshar through various accounts from Swaminarayan’s time and importantly by pointing to the words of Swaminarayan in the Vachanamrut, specifically in the chapters of Gadhada I-21, Gadhada I-71, Gadhada III-26, Vadtal 5 and others. In Vachanamrut Gadhada I-21, Swaminarayan states that “Akshar has two forms”; one is impersonal, known as “Brahmamahol” or Akshardham, and “in its other form, that Akshar remains in the service of Purushottam Nãrãyan.” The personal form of Akshar is understood to serve Purushottam within his divine abode and also when God incarnates on earth. Swaminarayan clarifies this in Vachanamrut Gadhada I-71 stating that “when God incarnates on earth… he is always accompanied by his Akshardham. ”Swaminarayan further instructs devotees of God to “realize that the form of God along with his Akshardhãm is present on this earth” and to “explain this fact to others.”. In Vachanamrut Gadhada I-64, Bhagwan Swaminarayan goes on to declare that Akshar is the greatest, ideal devotee of God (Purushottam), and as such, according to Vachanamrut Vartal 5, Akshar should be offered devotional service together with God in the same way that one offers devotional service to God. Pointing to these and many other statements by Bhagwan Swaminarayan in the Vachanamrut, the BAPS denomination of Swaminarayan Hinduism supports the Akshar doctrine within the Akshar Purushottam Upasana. To explain their understanding that this Akshar first incarnated on earth as Gunatitanand Swami, they point to evidence from other scriptures and authoritative sources in which Bhagwan Swaminarayan and others revealed Gunatitanand Swami as Akshar.
In addition to a multitude of sources within their oral tradition, followers of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, point to several references of Gunatitanand Swami as Akshar occurring in scriptures and texts published by the acharyas of the Vartal or Ahmedavad dioceses. One revelation of Gunatitanand Swami as Akshar occurred in 1810 at the conclusion of the grand yagna of Dabhan where Bhagwan Swaminarayan initiated Gunatitanand Swami as a sadhu. On this occasion, Swaminarayan publically confirmed that Gunatitanand Swami was the incarnation of Akshar, declaring, “Today, I am extremely happy to initiate Mulji Sharma. He is my divine abode – Akshardham, which is infinite and endless.” The first Acharya of the Vartal diocese, Raghuvirji Maharaj, recorded this declaration in the Harililakalpataru (7.17.49-50), a scripture that he had composed. His second successor as the Acharya of the Vartal diocese, Shri Acharya Viharilalji Maharaj, composed a series of verses in a text titled Shri Kirtan Kaustubhamala where he states, “Aksharmurti Gunatitanand Swami initiated me and guided me to practice the religious vows”. Thus, it appears that while the leaders of the Vartal diocese historically understood Gunatitanand Swami to be Akshar, over time their position on the issue has been reversed and currently they do not accept Gunatitanand Swami as Akshar. However, while the leadership of the Vartal and Ahmedabad dioceses currently repudiate Gunatitanand Swami as Akshar, various groups within the Vartal and Ahmedabad dioceses continue to understand Gunatitanand Swami to be Akshar. This is also confirmed by images of Gunatitanand Swami installed in many of the mandirs of the Vartal diocese, with the inscription of Mul Aksharmurti Gunatitanand Swami underneath them. So, while this doctrinal understanding of Gunatitanand Swami as Akshar had been present from the time of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, and it was explained as such by Gunatitanand Swami and later Bhagatji Maharaj, it was not until the time of Shastriji Maharaj that an institutional separation mirroring these two different schools of thought occurred. Matters came to a head when a majority of the sadhus in Vadtal opposed Shastriji Maharaj’s propagation of this teaching, and after numerous attempts on his life had failed, eventually forced him to leave. Shastriji Maharaj subsequently established BAPS as a separate entity from the Vartal and Ahmedabad dioceses of the Swaminarayan Sampraday. Shastriji Maharaj, a devotee of Gunatitanand Swami and revered as a manifestation of Akshar, explained that Swaminarayan’s teaching in the Vachanamrut and other scriptures showed that there exists at all times a perfect devotee, Akshar Brahman, through whom Bhagwan Swaminarayan manifests on earth. He identified Gunatitanand Swami and Bhagatji Maharaj as the first two embodiments of Akshar. Furthermore, he explained that those who wish to come close to Purushottam should imbibe the qualities of his perfect devotee, i.e. Akshar, in order to achieve liberation.
Thus according to Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s statements in the Vachnamrut, there is an Akshar present on earth with Purushottam and as described previously, Gunatitanand Swami is believed by BAPS followers to be the first personal manifestation of Akshar in the Guruparampara, an unbroken line of “perfect devotees” who provide “authentication of office through Gunatitanand Swami and back to Swaminarayan himself”. As a consequence, the prefix Aksharbrahma is often added to this name. The word Swaminarayan itself, according to advocates of the Akshar-Purushottam upasana, succinctly expounds this doctrine in that the word Swami represents Akshar and Narayan represents Purushottam. Members of the Vadtal and Ahmedabad dioceses maintain that Swaminarayan only represents Purushottam rather than two separate entities. However, both sects chant the name Swaminarayan with each sect understanding it according to their respective theological adherence.
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