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A portrait of
Ramanand Swami
Swami Ramanand
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ramanand Swami (born Shri Rama Sharma) to a Brahmin family in Ayodhya in
1738. His parents were Ajay Sharma (father) and Sumati (mother). He was
considered to be the incarnation of Uddhavaji, a close friend of Krishna. Ramanand
Swami was the founder and head of the Uddhav Sampraday.
[1][2]
Ramanand
Swami adopted of the Vishishtadvaita doctrine of the Vaishnava which was first
propounded by Ramanuja several centuries earlier. In his travels to Srirangam in
southern India in his early life, Ramanuja is said to have given Ramanand Swami
diksha, or initiation, in a dream and appointed him in his line as an acharya.
[3]
Ramanand Swami then travelled north to Kathiyavad to spread his philosophy. In
1802, Ramanand Swami passed the reins of the Uddhav Sampraday to
Swaminarayan before his death.
[4]
Swaminarayan and initiation
Ramanand Swami was the guru of Swaminarayan.
[1]
Swaminarayan (then Ghanshyam Pande) left his home at age 11 on 29 June 1792 after the death of both his
parents and undertook a 7 years 1 month and 11 day journey across India.
[5]
He took the name Nilkanth
Varni while on his journey. Nilkanth Varni traveled across India and parts of Nepal in search of an ashram
or sampradaya that practiced what he considered a correct understanding of Vedanta, Samkhya, Yoga, and
Pancaratra (the four primary schools of Hinduism).
[4]
To find an ashram that correctly practiced the meaning of these four primary schools of Hinduism, he asked
the following five questions on the basic Vaishnava Vedanta categories:
What is j!va?
What is "#vara?
What is Maya?
What is Brahman?
What is Par$ brahman?
While on his journey, Nilkanth Varni mastered ashtanga yoga or eightfold yoga. In the year 1799, Nilkanth
Varni's journey as a yogi eventually concluded in Loj, a village in the Junagadh district of Gujarat. In Loj,
Nilkanth Varni was introduced to Muktanand Swami, a senior disciple of Ramanand Swami who answered
the five questions satisfactorily. He then persuaded Nilkanth Varni to stay to get an opportunity to meet
Ramanand Swami, whose disciple Nilkanth Varni later became.
[4]
References
1. ^
a

b
"About the Swaminarayan Sampraday" (http://vadtal.com/about-sampraday.html).
8/28/14 7:52 PM Swami Ramanand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Page 2 of 2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swami_Ramanand
2. ^ J. J. Roy Burman (2005). Gujarat Unknown (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VemsIky3QzEC&client=firefox-
a). Mittal Publications. Retrieved June 13, 2009. Page 17
3. ^ Williams, Raymond (2001). Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism. New York: Cambridge University Press.
p. 16. ISBN 0 521 65279 0.
4. ^
a

b

c
Raymond Brady Williams (2001). An introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism
(http://books.google.co.uk/books?
id=tPkexi2EhAIC&dq=Swaminarayan+temple+Cardiff&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0). Cambridge University
Press. Retrieved April 19, 2009. Page 17
5. ^ "Nilkanth Varni" (http://www.sksst.org/sampraday/index.asp).
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swami_Ramanand&oldid=613741907"
Categories: Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism 1738 births Hindu gurus Hinduism stubs
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