Swaminarayan Sampraday

Swaminarayan Sampraday (Devnagari: स्वामीनारायण सम्प्रदाय, Gujarati: સ્વામિનારાયણ સંપ્રદાય, IAST: Svāmīnārāyaṇa sampradāya), known previously as the Uddhav Sampraday, is a Hindu sect established by Swaminarayan (or Sahajanand Swami) (April 3, 1781 – June 1, 1830). Swaminarayan was handed the leadership of the Uddhav Sampraday by his guru Ramanand Swami to continue to propagate the teachings and philosophy of Vishishtadvaita, which originates from the Sri Sampradaya.

Under the leadership of Swaminarayan, the movement gained strength, and at the time of his death it had 1.8 million followers. The organisation is based on vedic and puritic Hinduism. Apart from traditional Hindu scriptures, the sect has more than three thousand works written by its members. The most important are the Shikshapatri and the Vachanamrut. The Shikshapatri, which the Bombay Gazetteer described as a book of social principles, was written by Swaminarayan in 1826. Before Swaminarayan died, he split the administration of the Swaminarayan Sampraday into two seats of power: the Nar Narayan Dev Gadi (gadi means seat) is headquartered in Ahmedabad and the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi is headquartered in Vadtal. This was done by means of a legal document, called the Desh Vibhag Lekh.

Followers of the faith are called Satsangis, are expected to follow certain basic rules set forth by Swaminarayan. Since its inception, the sect has had a huge number of ascetics, who contribute towards growth and development of the movement and the salvation of its members. They have a special responsibility to take care of images in temples. These ascetics wear orange robes and lead a strict life, refraining from worldly pleasures and devoting their lives to the service of the fellowship. The Swaminarayan Sampraday has temples on five continents. Six temples that Swaminarayan built during his lifetime are considered to be the most important within the faith.

In the last century, several organizations, such as BAPS and Swaminarayan Gadi, have been formed by former Swaminarayan Sampraday members who left because of differences in philosophy.