dna

This is a question that raises a lot of debate, which it shouldn't, at least not after all the years that have passed since the establishment of the Swaminarayan Sampraday. Once in the presence of Lord Swaminarayan, a debate took place as to how to describe Lord Swaminarayan. Some saints insisted that He is equal to Lord Krishna, whereas Nityanand Swami insisted He was the Supreme, and the cause of all incarnations. Lord Swaminarayan however described Himself as equal to Lord Krishna ! (......yeah, but read on) Maharaj tried to convince Nityanand Swami but Nityanand Swami wouldn't give up his belief. So Maharaj became angry with him and excommunicated Nityanand Swami. Nityanand Swami had to fast for days but wouldn't give up his belief that Lord Swaminarayan was the Supreme Lord, the cause of all incarnations. Lord Swaminarayan would send a messenger to ask the excommunicated saint if he had changed his mind, but Nityanand Swami hadn't. Finally Maharaj called him back and GARLANDED Nityanand Swami and PRAISED HIM FOR HIS UNDERSTANDING OF HIS STATUS and said that a true faithful devotee is like this Nityanand Swami. "Even though i sided with the other saints and humiliated him, he did not change his true belief", said Maharaj. Lord Swaminarayan reveals that He is the Highest Supreme Lord and that He shall be compared to none, in His own words in the scripture 'Vachanamrit'. There are many other examples from His life that add to this evidence. And if after all these years we are still embarrassed to say that He IS the greatest, then we should be ashamed However all that is not to say that we are not supposed to respect Lord Krishna or Lord Ram or any other incarnation. All the incarnations emanate from Lord Swaminarayan and are His forms, so there is no question of disregarding them. But the single minded devotion should be to one God, the 'Ishtadev' (favourite God). Lord Swaminarayan even installed idols of Lord Krishna and other incarnations in His temples. ..ABOVE ALL, BUT REGARD FOR ALL.... In the Shikshapatri, Lord Swaminarayan meditates on His ishtadev (favourite God), Lord Krishna, to set us an example of how we should start off reading a scripture or any other activity and so how we too should offer our prayers to our ishtadev, which is Lord Swaminarayan. Many scriptures start off with prayers by the author to the Lord Ganesh or to their Guru. And that is what Lord Swaminarayan did. When Lord Krishna took up illness, He asked for the dust of the feet of the 'Gopis'. Does that mean He was lower than the female devotees, the Gopis? NO!. He was teaching us the significance of great devotees. Similarly in the incarnation of Lord Ram, Lord Ram constantly prayed to Lord Shiv, does that mean He was lower in status? NO! Again He was teaching us by example. Lord Swaminarayan in the Shikshapatri asks His devotees to refer to the other scriptures in the Sampraday for reference. If one took the time to study other scriptures and brace themselves for the truth they will realize Lord Swaminarayan's greatness and that of His incarnations in His own words ...ABOVE ALL, BUT REGARD FOR ALL.... source: http://www.swaminarayan.ws/issues.htm ******************************************** Did you know that the manifestation of Swaminarayan Bhagwan on this earth was predicted about tens of thousands of years ago in Skand Purana's Vasudev Mahatmya? The scripture predicted Swaminarayan Bhagwan's arrival with the exact place and family in which Swaminarayan Bhagwan was to be 'born'. This foreseeing was made even before the incarnation of Rama and Krishna! Reference Adhyay 18 shlok 42-44 Even though the Swaminarayan faith was established only a couple of centuries ago, it is by no means an unauthenticated movement and has strong foundations in authenticated scriptures. source: http://www.swaminarayan.ws/facts.htm ******************************************** I find it interesting that they believe that Lord Swaminarayan is the source of all incarnations like Krishna and Ram. Doesn't this contradict the Gita and Srimad Bhagavatam, where it is said that Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead? Can anyone here explain this contradiction? [This message has been edited by dna (edited 07-13-2002).]

In words like "Sampradaya", "Arjuna", and "Rama", is the last "a" considered silent? Arjuna for example, sometimes I hear it pronounced Arjun-a and sometimes Arjun. [This message has been edited by dna (edited 07-13-2002).]

Have any of the spiritual teachers in the Brahma Madhava Gaudiya Sampradaya been able to "tune" into those dimensions?

I have some questions and would like to know if there is any type of source, maybe on the internet, that can answer them? One question that I have is about Vedic vs. Darwinian evolutionary process. According to the Vedas, man orginated from a super intelligent humanoid. If there are fossils of dinosaurs, which lived on this earth until 65 million years ago, certainly several yugas have passed between that time and today. Therefore, there should be fossil or archaelogical evidence of advanced civilizations and beings. Also, if species evolve from complex to simple structures, opposite to what Darwin claimed, how do you explain the Neanderthals and primitive humans compared to humans today? Another, it seems that most demigods are portrayed as humanoid. Does this mean that man was created in the image of God? Also, there are supposed to be around 400,000 human species, what do they look like and where do they live? in alternate dimensions? edit: fixed line wrap [This message has been edited by dna (edited 07-09-2002).]