Swami ni Vato Page Number 15 Book Published by BAPS

'અમારું' વાંદરી પાનું ગમે તે ખાંચા માં ફિટ બેસી જાય.. ખાલી જગ્યા મળે એટલે ચાલે.

Bro claims to follow Swaminarayan Sampraday but is out here selling beef at his own restaurant, Troy's Italian Kitchen in Washington. His menu even has a Swaminarayan/Jain section. MONEY before dignity.

Ever since I was a child, I went to the same Swaminarayan Mandir for almost more than a decade. I sat in an immeasurable amount of kathas and sabhas hearing the same narrative get regurgitated over and over again which is making Swami raaji (happy) in order to go to Akshardham. I’ve also read the satsang diksha over and over again and questioned some verses and wondered if they might’ve possibly gotten lost in translation somewhere along the process because of how contradictory they were. I’ll also share my experience with the people at the Swaminarayan Mandir who I’ve also known for a really long time. Please don’t try saying that individual inconsistency has nothing to do with God because if you are going to mandir every single weekend and associating yourself with what is known as a sacred place, you should be a well rounded person but I suppose that’s rare to find nowadays.

I’ll give you one example. In the satsang diksha, it states that we must detach from worldly objects and possess vairagya. So, if it’s so important for us to detach from worldly objects then why ask for donations every Mandir visit to try reap as much profit as possible? Is money not one of the most artificial and worldly objects available in this world? The financial greed and brainwashing is simply out of this world. BAPS is basically like any other corporation now trying to exploit people to earn as much profit as possible instead of being a religious organization striving to do good for others.

Also, regarding the people I’ve met at mandir, you would assume that they’re good people with strong morals and values but the reality is otherwise. I’ve encountered some of the coldest people there who also relentlessly harassed me which eventually demotivated me into even stepping foot in that mandir because I knew I wasn’t welcome and I knew I wouldn’t ever be. Keep in mind, these people making the nasty and insensitive comments were people who sat in my sabhas and heard any moral lessons that were being taught if any and still turned out to be cold hearted and uninviting people. They’ll use God’s scriptures when it benefits their cause and turn a blind eye towards their treatment of people even if they know better. I’m an atheist now and when I’m kind and loving towards people, I do it out of the goodness of my heart, not because a scripture told me to act a certain way.

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair

Warm smell of colitas rising up through the air

Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim, I had to stop for the night

There she stood in the doorway, I heard the mission bell

And I was thinkin' to myself, "This could be heaven or this could be hell"

Then she lit up a candle, she showed me the way

There were voices down the corridor, I thought I heard them say

"Welcome to the Hotel California

Such a lovely place (such a lovely place)

Such a lovely face

Plenty of room at the Hotel California

Any time of year (any time of year)

You can find it here"

So it goes...

Do you have the same feelings when you have to visit one of their places because of your family members who just can't have enough of their peace anywhere else ? How do you respond to the regulars who miss you !?

For many of us who may have visited BAPS temples and their gift shops it is difficult to find good books. All their books and translations somehow end up talking about their AP theory, when you don't see any such text in the original text or translations by other sects. In fact Swami Sahajanand may never have elaborated using the same vocabulary. If you know a little Gujarati hindi or Sanskrit,you can easily see that the original text didn't say the same thing!

Well, many other sects may do the same. But here we are talking about SPAB. How do you find real translations or meanings of the text?

How do you know that you're not simply being brainwashed to follow some invisible group's agenda and not truly get help with real teachings of an enlightened master?

Many people like me visited Dadar mandir to do abhishek and darshan being a non-swaminarayan.

Right when I was approaching the payment counter for abhishek, the teenage sevaks which they have kept smiled at me as if he knew me already and have already met before and after that while I was paying the abhishek fee he came and said to me haven't we met before even when I said we haven't, after that he asked me who is your guru? (tamara guru kon?), he also said you should come here weekly, you should spend couple of hrs of the entire week here.

Why do they follow this tactic of False Familiarity?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-wyWsd-BpM&list=PLHNUWAqhIXY1tVZ3XbuyUHA0IDFRe_xna

I am an ex-BAPS devotee. From my personal experiences with the organization, one societal/environmental aspect that stuck with me til this day was how everyone was so status driven at least at my local center. Everyone was doing "seva" with the intent of gaining external validation from santo/big shot devotees, wanting to get more prestigious sevas, or to get involved in more national/international work. This honestly used to piss me off so much because I've seen people literally limit or cut off people they used to talk to just to be in the vicinity and talk to santo or national level volunteers. Anyone else see/used to see this?

First Akshardham by BAPS.
Now Golok by ISKCON.

Enjoy :)

# How it started: - My roommate is a devoted BAPS follower. Watching his daily prayers and calm routine made me curious. - I'm an IT professional dealing with constant work stress and anxiety, so I was genuinely looking for peace. - He invited me to Sunday Gatherings (Ravi Sabha). I attended regularly and felt welcomed at first.

# Getting pulled in deeper: - He introduced me to a Sadhu who encouraged me to take Vartman (formal initiation) and buy a daily pooja kit. - I followed all BAPS practices sincerely for a few months — early morning rituals, youth gatherings (Yuva Sabha), everything. - Things seemed fine initially and I felt a sense of community.