Gunatitanand Swami - Legacy

Legacy

Gunatitanand Swami was instrumental in the early administration of the Swaminarayan fellowship after the death of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. Devotees and sadhus alike looked up to him for leadership and direction. He encouraged Raghuvirji Maharaj to give up the pomp and splendor of his position and nurtured both his spiritual and administrative traits. However, Gunatitanand Swami’s most important contributions were in the propagation of the spiritual metaphysics revealed by Bhagwan Swaminarayan. Williams explains that “Gunatitanand Swami established a line of spiritual authorities…who have continued in a line of succession from Gunatitanand Swami” himself. While this identification of Akshar as having both a personal and impersonal form, and an incarnation on earth as specified by Bhagwan Swaminarayan in Vachanamruts Gadhada I-21 and Gadhada I-71 was not accepted by certain sections of the Swaminarayan Sampraday, it was this principle that would lead to the eventual formation of the BAPS branch of the Swaminarayan Sampraday. Similar to Swaminarayan before him, Gunatitanand Swami also instituted various social projects, from building wells and educating villagers to establishing guidelines for social behavior and preventing practices such as sati and infanticide. In a hitherto unheard of practice, he installed Bhagatji Maharaj, a common householder of a so-called lower caste, as his spiritual successor and transcended the caste system that was prevalent during that time in India. Inspired by the teachings of Bhagwan Swaminarayan and Gunatitanand Swami, Shastriji Maharaj left from the Vartal diocese and formed BAPS as a separate entity. Gunatitanand Swami’s murti is always seen in the central shrine alongside Bhagwan Swaminarayan in all BAPS mandirs, as they embody the central principle of Akshar and Purushottam.