Bhagwan Swaminarayan strived to reinstate the values rooted in the Vedas which had been lost over generations. He was a strong proponent of religious tolerance, respect, niyams and self restraint, faith in God, and detachment. He taught these universal principles to people through analogies and metaphors that they could relate to, such as farming, digging wells, the outer shell of a seed, and other everyday items with which they were familiar. He emphasized the importance of imbibing these universal ideals in order to gain happiness in this world and eternally thereafter. The following are lessons He imparted to His disciples in the Vachanamrut :
1. Universal Suffering:
“Greed for wealth and other things, the desire to remain in the company of women, great weakness for tasty foods, ego, a liking for evil company, attachment for relatives; a person who possesses these six faults will never experience happiness in life or after death.” (Gadhada III-38)
2. Worldly Pleasures:
“Craving the sense pleasures for fulfillment by enjoying them is akin to pouring water into a fissure which has opened up in the ground and reaches into the depths of the earth. It will never be filled. Similarly, the senses will never be satisfied even with the utmost enjoyment of the sense-objects.” (Gadhada II-47)
“The craving for the objects of sensuous pleasures can be eradicated by making the senses obey implicitly the rules laid down by God.” (Gadhada II-16)
3. Eradicating Desire:
“Desire can be eradicated from the roots by firmly imbibing the four attributes of: jnan, atmanishtha, vairagya, dharma and the full fledged devotion to God.” (Loya 16)
4. Serving God and His Devotee:
“The mind (antahkaran) is purified by engaging the activities of the senses in the service of God and His devotees.” (Gadhada I-8)
5. The Ultimate Goal:
“There is nothing greater than worshipping God.” (Jetalpur 5)
6. Eternal Happiness:
“The devotee who
o possesses unshakable detachment (from maya),
o strictly observes dharma,
o is master of his sense organs,
o has a deep attachment to God and His Sadhu and has a deep friendship with Them,
o is never upset or disappointed with Them,
o who remains joyful in Their company, but never keeps the company of those who denounce God, will remain eternally happy in this world and in the world hereafter .” (Gadhada III-8)
7. God’s Bliss:
“The blissful darshan of Paramatma, even in the blink of an eye, is more blessed than all the happiness offered by the seductive sense-objects of millions of universes.” (Sarangpur 1)
8. Moksha or Spiritual Redemption:
“The four Vedas, eighteen Puranas, and Itihas (Ramayana and Mahabharata) all proclaim that only God and His Sadhu can give moksha.” (Gadhada II-59)
“When God incarnates in human form on Earth to redeem the jivas, He does so with His divine abode Akshardham, the divine muktas (liberated jivas), and all of His divine powers.” (Gadhada I-71)
“Just as one knows the glory of past incarnations, such as Rama and Krishna, as well as the glory of past sadhus, such as Narad, Sanak rishis, Shukdevji, Jadbharat, Hanuman, Uddhav and others, similarly, if one realises the glory of God and His Sadhu present before you, then one has nothing more to realise on the path to moksha.... And if you ask Narad, Sanak rishis, Shukdevji, Brahma, and Shiva, they will reveal in infinite ways that only God and His Sadhu can grant moksha. They will reveal the same glory of God and His sadhu manifesting before you, as the glory of past incarnations of God and sadhus. One who has a firm conviction of this has understood the essence and will never fall from the path of moksha.” (Gadhada II-21)
9. Pleasing God:
“The supreme endeavour that pleases God, out of all the endeavours, such as ashtanga yoga, samkhya, tapas, renunciation, pilgrimages, vows, yagnas, and charity, is Satsang.” (Gadhada II-54)
10. How to Attain Moksha:
“The jiva is redeemed by imbibing the four factors: worshipping God, extolling the episodes of God, chanting His name, and observing dharma.” (Gadhada II-35)
“The Ekantik Sadhu of God, who is singularly devoted to God and who possesses the attributes of swadharma, jnan, vairagya, and bhakti, is the upholder of bhagavata dharma. The gateway of redemption for the soul is opened only by associating with such a Sadhu.” (Gadhada I-54)
“Profound love for the Satpurush (God-realized Sadhu) leads one to the path of atma-realisation and inspires in him the knowledge of the glory and greatness of such a Satpurush, and it (love for the Satpurush) is also the only means for attaining God-realization.” (Vadtal 11)
“One should offer equal and intensely loving service to God and His Sadhu. Then, despite being a mediocre devotee who may be destined to become a great (ekantik) devotee after either two births, or four births, or ten births, or even a hundred births, he can become a great bhakta in this very birth. Such is the fruit of serving equally God and His Devotee.” (Vadtal 5)
11. The Gunatit Sadhu:
“The scriptures say that nishkam, nirlobh, nirman, niswad, and nissneh are the attributes of a Sadhu. The Sadhu in whom one observes such attributes has a constant rapport with God.” (Gadhada III-27)
“The Sadhu who is venerable enough to be worshipped on par with God lives in a way in which he controls his indriyas and antahkaran but is not subdued by them. He engages in God-related activities only, strictly observes the panch vartamans, realises himself as being Brahma, and worships Purushottam. Such a Sadhu can be known neither as a human being nor a demi god since neither man nor deva possess such attributes. Therefore, such a Sadhu, though he appears to be a human being, deserves to be worshipped on par with God.” (Gadhada III-26)
12. Reading, Analyzing, and Interpreting Scriptures:
“The interpretation of the true scriptures should only be heard from the Satpurush.” (Loya 11)
“One who understands the nature of God on the basis of the four scriptures, namely Samkhya, Yoga, Vedanta and Panchratra, is the accomplished jnani (wise).” (Gadhada I-52)
13. God and His Divine Characteristics:
“He is one and unparalleled.” (Gadhada III-39)
“He is the all-doer.” (Gadhada II-21)
“God is eternally with a divine form.” (Gadhada III-38)
“He has a human form, with two hands, two feet, and fascinating charm. He does not possess four hands or eight or a thousand. He is like a teenager (youthful looking).” (Gadhada II-13)
“He is full of redemptive attributes and devoid of all the inauspicious ephemeral attributes of maya.” (Gadhada I-66)
“He is the reservoir of all bliss.” (Gadhada I-66)
14. Bhagwan Swaminarayan:
“Bhagwan Purushottam, seated in His Akshardham, accepts the worship offered by the muktas (released souls) out of grace. That Purushottam, having great compassion on the jivas, has descended on Earth to redeem them from maya. He is visible to you and accepts your offerings. The divine form of Bhagwan Purushottam visible to you and the divine form seated in His divine abode Akshardham are one. There is absolutely no difference in these twin forms. This Purushottam visible here is the controller of all, including Akshar. He is the Bhagwan of all Bhagwans, the ultimate cause of cosmic evolution and transcendentally the supreme one. All incarnations issue from Him, and in Him, they finally merge. He is the ultimate God, who alone should be offered implicit devotion with ekantik bhava.” (Gadhada III-38)
“Millions of universes are evolved, sustained, and destroyed only by My power... I am the transcendental highest, and I, with My divine power, can move millions of universes only by a mere touch. Millions of suns and moons receive light only from My divine light. Such is the divine power that I, the ultimate God, possess. I shall transport those jivas who have sought refuge in Me to the divine Brahmadham, which transcends all other regions.” (Amdavad 7)
In Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s own words, written during His lifetime in the khardas, or manuscripts, He revealed in Hindi:
“Doosra avatar hai so karya-karan avatar huwa hai, or mera yaha avatar hai so to jivoku Brahmarup karke atyantik mukti dene ke vaste Aksharatit Purushottam jo Ham vaha manushya jaisa banya hoon.”
“The earlier avatars incarnated to serve a specific purpose. But I have incarnated to Brahmanize the jivas and grant them ultimate salvation. For this mission, I, the Purushottam, transcending Akshar, have assumed human form.” (Dave, K.M., Akshar Purushottam Upasana, Amdavad: Swaminarayan Aksharpith, 4th. ed., 1992, p.33.)