4.6. Sādhus of Svāminārāyaṇa

[Full title: Bhagavān Svāminārāyaṇa and His Tradition (6): Sādhus of Svāminārāyaṇa]

He created a unique order of three thousand ascetics to aid Him to establish Ekāntika Dharma. The majority of these ascetics were known as Paramahaṃsas. For all the ascetics, He advocated five vows: eight-fold Brahmacārya (niṣkāma), non-attachment (nissneha), non-ego (nirmāna), non-taste (nisvāda) and non-avariciousness (nirlobha). They lived frugally by begging alms, walked barefoot, and continually traveled throughout the land to uplift people. The Paramahaṃsa lived a very pure and pious life. By observing their life, people began to disregard the false ascetics, who therefore mercilessly persecuted and inhumanly beat the Svāminārāyaṇa ascetics. Nevertheless, the Paramahaṃsa’ ‘romance of discipleship’, as Pārekha observed in Śrī Svāminārāyaṇa,^[1] blossomed to ever greater loftiness. On one occasion, a group of envious people, resenting a sādhu’s chanting of the Svāminārāyaṇa mantra, impaled and burned him with red hot pincers which left pieces of burnt flesh hanging grotesquely from his body. The half-dead sādhu remained dauntless and, after recovering, resumed his touring. Śrījī Mahārāja Himself was persecuted on several occasions.^[2]

The Paramahaṃsas traveled throughout Gujarat and emphasized devotion to one God; then manifesting as Bhagavān Svāminārāyaṇa They enlightened ignorant peasants about the all-doer ship of God and thus freed them from the fear of superstitious elements, witchcraft, and sorcery. Śrījī Mahārāja’s fundamental teaching was based on living a life of the character as upheld by dharma; defined by Him as sadācāra–righteous living. By such living, even a notorious looter like Jobana Pagī of Vartāla, and Nāthibhāī of Jetalpur–the prostitute–renounced their sinful existence and became ideal devotees.

As Pryns Hopkins noted in the Psychology and the Social Worker,^[3]

“Yet, his message had a revolutionary effect on the personal lives and character of thousands of people in a very lawless period. Members of martial tribes gave up meat and drink, they renounced the use of opium and tobacco, to both of which most of them were very much addicted.”

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Pārekha Maṇilāla, Śrī Svāmīnarayan, Bhāratīya Vidyā Bhavana, Bombey, 1980 p.132.

[2]:

Ādarśajīvanadāsa Sādhu, Ibid, p.104

[3]:

Hopkins Pryns, Character and Personality Journal, Volume:3, Issue:1, 1939, p.77