There was an occasion once when Shreeji Maharaj was very ill and was bedridden with a severe fever. Muktanand Swami, who was practiced in Ayurveda medicines, came to check Maharaj’s pulse. Whilst he was doing this, Swami became upset and a tear fell on Maharaj’s hand. Shreeji Maharaj immediately asked what was wrong.
Swami replied, “Maharaj you are so ill, what would we do if you were no longer with us?” Maharaj reassured him that He would not be departing for some time, but when He does return to Akshardham, He would forever be manifest on Earth through His writings and teachings, His murtis in the mandirs and most importantly He would be fully manifest through His Gunatit saints; this is why Mul Aksharbrahm Gunatitanand Swami is so significant in our religion.
Aksharbrahm, otherwise known as Akshardham, is the abode of Shreeji Maharaj. In order to fulfil Maharaj’s promise to His devotees that He Himself will remain manifest in human form through His Gunatit saints, it was absolutely necessary for Him to bring His Akshardham with Him on this Earth in the manifest human form. This human form of Akshardham was Gunatitanand Swami, and within Gunatitanand Swami, Swaminarayan Bhagwan was fully manifest with all of His divinity and all of His powers. Hence, this incarnation was completely pure and divine, above the material world. Indeed this is what the word Gunatit means – above the crude forces of the material world.
The reason why Shreeji Maharaj promised to remain manifest on Earth was to fulfil the wish of His devotees to have God’s darshan in human form (Vach Kariyani 5) but also to ensure that each soul would reach the highest level God realisation and purification known as Atyantik Kalyan. He has stated that God can only be known through God. This can only be achieved by association with the manifest form of God because only when our antahkaran (composite of mind, emotive mind, intelligence and ego) and our indriyo (senses) are filled with God can we attain Atyantik Kalyan. This is where our whole being is saturated with the presence of God and we have complete God consciousness. In addition, in order to start the lineage of Gunatit saints, it was absolutely essential that the first in that lineage was indeed Gunatit; someone who was completely pure and faultless.
Guruhari Pappaji described the difference between a normal saint and the Gunatit saint by the analogy that even though natural spring water is pure enough to drink straight from a stream, it cannot be used medically for injections – this is the ordinary saint. Only distilled water, which is high purity, can be used for injections – this is the Gunatit saint. It is only through the Gunatit saint that God is fully manifest and it is only through such a saint that Shreeji Maharaj will redeem us, this is the reason why it is said that the attainment of such a saint is the pinnacle of our spiritual endeavours.
It is through the Gunatit saint such as our Guruhari Pappaji that we have truly attained the supreme God, Bhagwan Swaminarayan, here and now in the manner that Maharaj explained in Vachanamrut G III 2. That is to say, that which we would had hoped to attain after death, we have attained right now.
The glory of the saint is captured beautifully in a poem by Nishkulanand Swami, who was a senior Paramhansa during the time of Shreeji Maharaj:
The saint is Me, and I am my beloved saint,
So says God Himself,
Believe the saint to be My murti,
There is not even an iota of difference.
Therefore by making the Gunatit saint our soul, by living each moment to please Guruhari Pappaji believing Him to be the manifest murti of Shreeji Maharaj, only then will we become purified. When we attain that purification through Pappaji Maharaj we will have become Brahmrup. This is when Maharaj will dwell within us permanently and we will be in constant communion with Him. What’s more He will then use us as an instrument to carry on His work.
This constant awareness and revelation that we have truly attained the supreme God, Bhagwan Swaminarayan, that we have personal contact with Him even today in the form of Pappaji Maharaj and that He is granting us the highest emancipation, is what will make us feel as if every day is New Year’s Day. Every moment we will delight in the thought, ‘Ahoho Aa prapti?’
Author: Sunil Gandhi