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1. GOVERMENT ENGINEERING COLLEGE,
BHAVNAGAR


 Name :- Gadhiya Sumit P.

 Branch :- Mechanical

 Sem :- 1

 En.no :- 160210119041

 Sub :- Communication Skill

 Topic :- Book review

 Year :- 2016-17

 Faculty :- Himanshu shrivastav

2. Gunatitanand Swami:-



Gunatitanand Swami (17 October 1785 – 11 October 1867; born Mulji Sharma) was a
prominent paramhansa of the Swaminarayan Sampraday who was ordained by Swaminarayan
and is accepted as the first spiritual successor of Swam (Placeholder1)inarayan by the
Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) sect. Born into a religious
family in Bhadra, a small farming community in the state of Gujarat, India, he first received
religious education under his father’s guru, Ramanand Swami before encountering
Swaminarayan and becoming a sadhu under him at the age of 25.He was revered for his spiritual
discourses and divine service.
For BAPS Devotees, he embodies an essential element of the doctrine of Akshar and
Purushottam.They believe based on interpretation from the Vachanamrut (scripture containing
discourses by Swaminarayan) that “Akshar is an eternally-existing spiritual reality having two
forms, the impersonal and the personal.” Furthermore, BAPS claims that Gunatitanand Swami
was believed to be the first personal manifestation of Akshar in the Guru Parampara, an
unbroken line of “perfect devotees” who provide “authentication of office through Gunatitanand
Swami and back to Swaminarayan himself.” The Vadtal and Ahmedabad dioceses of the
Swaminarayan Sampraday do not subscribe to this theory.

Early life:-
Born
Mulji Sharma
17 October 1785
Bhadra village, Maratha Empire
(present-day Gujarat, India)
Died
11 October 1867 (aged 81)
Gondal, British India (present-
day Gujarat, India)
Guru Swaminarayan
Notable
disciple(s)
Bhagatji Maharaj, Jaga Swami,
Krishnaji Ada

3. Gunatitanand Swami was born on 17 October 1785 (Aso Sud Punam, Vikram Samvat
1841) to Bholanath and Sakarba Jani in the village of Bhadra, situated near the river Und in what
is now Gujarat, India. His father’s guru, Ramanand Swami, named him Mulji.Even from a young
age, it was evident that Mulji had a “disinclination towards material objects” and would exhibit a
perspicacity that was rare for a child of his age, often claiming while playing with his younger
brother Sundarji that he would become a sadhu and inspire Sundarji to become one.Various
accounts indicate a close association between Mulji and Swaminarayan, who was born four years
before Mulji. One such incident details how a thin line of milk appeared on the lips of a murti of
“Thakorji,” a small metal idol of Swaminarayan, while Mulji was himself drinking a glass of
milk. In response to his mother’s surprise at this, Mulji had explained, “Mother! Thakorji is
always present in my heart. When I eat, Thakorji eats with me.”


Meeting With Swaminarayan:-
Mulji’s first meeting with Swaminarayan occurred in the village of Piplana. Ramanand
Swami invited Mulji and Lalji Suthar amongst others to the Bhagvati Diksha ceremony of
Neelkanth Varni (Swaminarayan) to be held on 28 October 1800. Upon seeing Mulji, Neelkanth
Varni had remarked, “This Mulji (Gunatitanand Swami) is the incarnation of Akshar Brahman,
my abode, and will in the future profusely display by his talk and discourses the greatness of my
form."

On subsequent visits to Bhadra(Gunatitanand Swami’s hometown) and throughout his
association with Gunatitanand Swami, Swaminarayan had alluded to the former’s standing as
Akshar in the theology of the sect. One such revelation was made to Gunatitanand Swami’s
mother, Sakarba. Swaminarayan arrived at Mulji’s house along with a slew of prominent
devotees including Vashrambhai, Dosabhai and Ratnabhai.While speaking about how Mulji had
once predicted that Swaminarayan would come to eat at Sakarba’s house, Swaminarayan
remarked to Sakarba, “Mother you may not be able to understand, but your son Mulji is my
divine abode, Akshardham.”




As a Sadhu:-

4. By 1809, Mulji had been in contact with Swaminarayan for many years yet his goal of
becoming a sadhu still remained unfulfilled. Mulji continued working on his farm in the hope
that he would be initiated into the Sadhu fold at the earliest. On 21 November 1809, Mulji had a
vision that Swaminarayan wanted to meet him. Once while he was digging channels in his sugar
cane fields he had a vision of Swaminarayan. Swaminarayan asked him " what have you come to
do and what and what are you doing?" thus asking him to visit Gadhada Mulji immediately left
for Gadhada and learnt of Swaminarayan’s desire to initiate him as a sadhu. On 20 January 1810,
at a grand yagna in the village of Dabhan, Swaminarayan initiated Mulji as a sadhu and named
him Gunatitanand Swami.On this occasion, Swaminarayan again publicly confirmed that
Gunatitanand Swami was the incarnation of Akshar, declaring, “Today, I am extremely happy to
initiate Mulji Sharma. He is my divine abode – Akshardham, which is infinite and endless.”
Over the next few years, Gunatitanand Swami continued serving under Swaminarayan
and became a core member of the 500 Paramhansas, a group of sadhus respected for their
spiritual enlightenment and renunciation of worldly pleasures. He further gained renown as a
preacher and a summary of his teachings would later be published under the title Swamini Vato.
One of his legacies was the famous temple at Junagadh. He played a prominent role in its
construction, served as the mahant for forty years and provided a template for the administrative
development of future religious establishments in the Swaminarayan Sampraday.Gunatitanand
Swami also had a central role in propagating the tenets of the Akshar Purushottam Upasana,
which included the identification of Swaminarayan as Purushottam firstly through various
discourses and spiritual teachings and secondly through his identification of Bhagatji Maharaj as
the next personal form of Akshar.
Swamini Vato:-
Literally meaning “Swami’s talks,” the Swamini Vato is a condensation of the numerous
discourses given by Gunatitanand Swami over the course of his life. “The importance of
Swadharma, Atmagnana, futility of sensual pleasures and detachment and devotion with the
knowledge of the glory of God” form an integral part of this scripture. It has also been referred to
as a “comprehensive commentary” on the Vachnamrut. The original set of Vatos has 5 prakrans
(chapters) and was written by Sadhu Balmukund Dasji, who was a disciple of Gunatitanand
Swami.
The BAPS sect has published a new edition of the Vatos which includes the addition of two
more prakrans compiled by Krishnaji Ada, another disciple of Gunatitanand Swami based on
claims of the latest research and critical study of the original text