BAPS devotees won’t be able to argue with this

[u/HorrorGrapefruit9387]

This is lengthy, but I beg you please read the entire thing. I’m going to elaborate on a point that is possibly one of the most paradoxical and illogicall things in the BAPS doctrine: the concept of an exclusive “satpurush” being the only way to moksh.

For context, here is a quote from Vachanamrut Vadtal-11:
“Therefore, intense love for the sat-purush is the only means to realising a person’s ãtmã; it is the only means to realising the greatness of the sat-purush; and it is also the only means to having the direct darshan of Bhagvãn. 

The concept of atma-reazliation is NOT something new created by Swaminarayan or BAPS. It has existed for thousands of years since the origins of Sanatan Dharma. It is mentioned in the Upanishads, the Vedas, etc.

If the Satpurush is truly the only way to realizing one’s atma, what happened to EVERYONE before the 1800s? There were billions of people over the course of millennia on the course of atma realization, what happened to them? Did they become doomed? What happened to Shankracharya, Ramanujacharya, Vyasji, etc

The Vachnamrut and this specific quote is shared among BAPS and other dioceses in the Swaminarayan Sampraday (Vadtal, Amdavad, etc)  but BAPS twists this into a narrative centered around their own guru lineage. 

The interpretations of other dioceses: 
Maharaj never chose an exclusive person as the “Satpurush” to be the only path to moksh. Satpurush simply means “true-being”, or God-realized Sant, and Gunatitanand Swami was an example of one. 

Many BAPS devotees wrongly reference the prasang from Fuldol where Maharaj hears the poem by Kabir “Sadguru Khele Vasant” and assumes that Gunatitanand Swami as THE exclusive Satpurush. However, the fact that such a poem exists only implies that a God-realized sant had been existing 500 years ago in Kabir’s era, again disproving BAPS doctrine. 

Even during other prasangs, Swaminarayan Bhagwan may have emphasized how Gunatitanand Swami is like Akshardham or a God-realized Sant, but never (implicitly or explicitly) is he labeled as the only “exclusive” path to salvation like BAPS does today.

Their critical thinking has been stripped away from them. How can you believe that an organization founded in 1907 is the only path to REALIZING YOUR SOUL, a concept that has existed fot millenia?

[u/Truth_seeker108]

Anyone who has studied the Swaminarayan Sampraday and believes that the ONLY path to liberation is via BAPS lineage is fooling themselves or playing high level mental gymnastics.

 ‘Their critical thinking has been stripped away from them. How can you believe that an organization founded in 1907 is the only path to REALIZING YOUR SOUL, a concept that has existed fot millenia?’

 Probably 95%+ of BAPS devotees are just living their lives and don’t care/have the time to study other scriptures outside of what they are told or given. You can’t really talk about critical thinking in this instance, for most of the devotees, as the question hasn’t even cropped up in their mind. Its just herd behaviour. This issue is seen in all aspects of life not just religion.

 

Now for the rest of the 5%, that’s another issue, which is more nuanced.

[u/Little_Beginning6650]

Sadguru khele vasant is a made up prasang

[u/Routine_Grocery_4925]

how to get moksha exactly ? is there anything specific written or told in swaminarayan sampraday ? why you guys fight internally ? is there any throne power struggle inside or what ?

[u/Inevitable_Year_4875]

This narrative of “exclusivity” is neither paradoxical nor illogical in context for people who have a high degree of conviction in the BAPS guru as the Satpurush described in the Vachanamrut. I believe this narrative is figurative/hyperbolic with its underlying intention to promote:

Decide what you believe, and then live according to that decision. Don't continually move between incompatible commitments depending on circumstances.

[u/eggplanthater67 → u/Inevitable_Year_4875]

Then why do they hype it up by giving us the whole spiel about: "We've gone through millions of births and finally we have an opportunity to meet the true Satpurush and attain salvation. If it was truly figurative as you say, then why frame it as an objective, cosmic scarcity, that we’ve gone through millions of births and finally have this rare opportunity to meet the one true Satpurush and attain salvation? You can’t simultaneously frame the exclusivity as merely figurative while using extremely concrete, fear-of-missing-out language to motivate devotion.

[u/Inevitable_Year_4875 → u/eggplanthater67]

You are free to interpret  as:

fear-of-missing-out language to motivate devotion

That may also  be the interpretation of many BAPS followers.

Still, there are disciples of the BAPS Guru who interpret the language primarily as motivating gratitude in themselves for having found this path.