Lord Swaminarayan

Life Span
49 years (1781 - 1830 CE)
From 3rd April 1781 CE 
(Chaitra Sud 9, Samvat 1837 ) to 
1st June 1830 CE 
( Jeth Sud 10, Samvat 1886 )

Birth Place
Chhapaiya, near Ayodhya,
North India

The Swaminarayan Sampraday is a Bhakti Sampraday founded by Lord Swaminarayan 
on 31 December 1801 CE. It belongs to the Vaishnav tradition and represents the purest form of the Hindu religion. It focuses its faith on salvation through total devotion - bhakti - to the Supreme God developed through dharma, 
jnan and vairagya 
(righteousness, knowledge and detachment).

Lord Swaminarayan, the founder of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, was born on 3 April 1781, in the village of Chhapiya, near Ayodhya, North India. Having mastered the scriptures by the age of 7, He renounced home at 11 to embark upon a 7 year spiritual pilgrimage on foot across the length and breadth of India. Eventually settling in Gujarat, He spent the next 30 years spearheading a socio-spiritual revolution. With a faithful following of 500 Paramhansas, He established the Swaminarayan Sampradaya, introducing social reforms, serving the poor and the needy, challenging superstition, addictions and blind faith. His work concentrated on  promoting personal morality and moulding spiritual character. In a life span of 49 years, He enriched humanity with six majestic mandirs, revealed the Vedic philosophy of Akshar Purushottam worship, and imparted deep spiritual wisdom in the sacred scripture - Vachanamrut. In His own lifetime, He was worshipped as the supreme God by hundreds of  thousands of devotees. And He promised to remain ever present on earth through a succession of spiritual Gurus- 

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