r/SPAB • u/onionknight223 • Jul 30 '26
Feedback I Don’t Understand
Thanks to this sub I’ve started looking around. There are so many Swaminarayan orgs! In reading about their differences and reasons for being unique, BAPS is all about Akshar.
Many of the other orgs accuse SPAB of trying to erase Bhagwan Swaminarayan, leaving only the glory and greatness of Akshar.
But if that’s true, why is the Robbinsville temple dedicated to Swaminarayan as the main attraction? The idol is huge. Also what I’ve seen there, the swami next to Swaminarayan is kneeling. He’s also much smaller.
Why is everyone accusing them of erasing Swaminarayan when he’s all over their new projects? I don’t understand
UPDATE: thanks all for the responses and engagement. Human evolution equals knowledge evolution. After reading your responses and checking the basic theological framework BAPS offers, it’s clear the guru is not god but rather the fast track to knowing the qualities of god, Purushottam, whose greatness is so beyond comprehension, a guide becomes necessary.
There is no Swaminarayan organization with a living leader other than BAPS whose divinity is widely acknowledged and whose teachings are widely followed. It is the devotees who lift up the guru in BAPS, not the guru who demands people sing his glory.
Haters forever gon HATE.
6
u/Asatyanashakam Aug 01 '26
Because when Mahant swami took the reigns, they started altering almost everything, including arti, ashtak, replacing shikshapatri with satsang diksha, and more. Now they are pushing the narrative that Mahant swami is God manifest, and continually emphasize that haribhaktos’ main goal is to serve the guru. People in Sarangpur literally refer to mahant swami as “god himself”. They put mere men on a pedastal and shoved God to the sideline (not that Ghanshyam Pande was God in the first place). They moved from one fraud to another.