About Us

Vadtaldham Canada

Vadtaldham Canada is a dedicated organization committed to promoting and preserving the original teachings of the Swaminarayan Sect of the Hindu religion, as articulated in the Shikshapatri by Lord Shree Swaminarayan Himself. With a strong spiritual connection to Shree Laxminarayan Dev Gadi, the central authority of the Swaminarayan Sect based in Vadtal, Gujarat, India, Vadtaldham Canada's primary goal is to foster unity among temples and chapters in Canada associated with Shree Laxminarayan Dev Gadi Vadtaldham, India.

Under the guidance of the current Acharya Maharaj of Vadtal Gadi, H.H.D.D. 1008 Acharya Shree Rakeshprasadji Maharaj, Vadtaldham Canada endeavors to promote collaboration and cohesion among its affiliated temples and chapters. Additionally, the organization is dedicated to preserving and practicing the rich cultural heritage of Sanatan Dharma, the timeless principles of Hinduism, while also encouraging dialogue and idea exchange with religious institutions of diverse faiths.

Through its various activities and initiatives, Vadtaldham Canada aims to uphold the spiritual legacy of the Swaminarayan Sect, foster unity among its followers, and make positive contributions to the broader religious and cultural landscape.

In a world filled with those seeking spiritual fulfillment, there are countless faiths and deities being worshiped by their respective devotees. It is said that in Hinduism alone, there are roughly 33 million demigods, each with a vast following of devout disciples. Despite this magnitude of spirituality, corruption and impurity by evil persons have continually plagued religious worship throughout mankind's history. In 1781 AD, however, devotees became unimaginably blessed. The supreme God from which each of these deities emanate—Swaminarayan Bhagwan—had finally arrived to Earth to abolish immorality and spread joy.

Many times, throughout human history, evil has intermittently run rampant threatening the welfare of good, principled people. In order to support His devotees and vanquish these threats, Swaminarayan Bhagwan had to incarnate infinite times in various capacities. Swaminarayan Bhagwan has taken many forms and identities to support devout worshippers. However, He had never visited Earth in His original, unaltered form—not until April 2nd, 1781 AD.

Vedic Evidence Behind the Swaminarayan Bhagwan

Skeptics may question the validity of these truths and doubt the supremeness of Swaminarayan Bhagwan. However, long before His arrival, the most ancient and revered Vedic scriptures foretold of His arrival. The Skanda Purana, as compiled by Vyasa Bhagwan, foretells that Swaminarayan Bhagwan would come to this Earth during the age of Kali, between the avatars of Buddha and Kalki to protect dharma and those who follow it. It is further described in the Vasudev Mahatmya scripture that He would be born to Dharma and Bhakti as a brahmin after being cursed by Durvasa Rishi and be given the name Narayan Muni. Similar references to the legitimacy of Swaminarayan faith as a Vedic Sect can be found in Brahmanda Purana, Padma Purana, and Vishnudharmottara Purana.

Swaminarayan Sampraday

The Swaminarayan Sampraday began as the Uddhav Sampraday and was led by Ramanand Swami. In 1799, Swaminarayan, then known as Neelkanth Varni, was initiated into the Uddhav Sampraday as an ascetic (Sadhu) by his guru, Ramanand Swami, and given the name “Sahajanand Swami”. At the age of 21, Neelkanth Varni was given the leadership of the sect known as Uddhav Sampraday with the blessings of Ramanand Swami, who handed him control of the religious diocese shortly before his death. Fourteen days after Ramanand Swami died, Neelkanth Varni, now known as Sahajanand Swami, held a large gathering of followers at the town of Faneni. It was during this meeting that Swaminarayan introduced what he termed “the father of all Mantras”, and then he was known as Swaminarayan. It should be noted that there was no swami who he had appointed his successor or as an ideal devotee at that time. The name refers wholly and solely to one entity, Swaminarayan. Thereafter the name “Swaminarayan Sampraday” came into existence.

Swaminarayan (3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, is the central figure in a modern sect of Hinduism known as the Swaminarayan Faith. Swaminarayan Hinduism, also known as the Swaminarayan faith or the Swaminarayan sect, is a modern tradition in the Vaishnava denomination of Hinduism, in which followers offer devotion to and worship Swaminarayan as the Supreme manifestation of God.

Since its origin, Swaminarayan Hinduism has been noted by its preservation of Gujarati cultural and linguistic traditions, devotion to the personality of Swaminarayan as supreme god, dedication to social service and a strict ethical code including uncompromising segregation of the genders.

The Swaminarayan Sampraday has its roots in the Vedas. It follows the Vaishnava tradition and to its followers represents a form of Hinduism. The faith focuses on salvation through total devotion (or bhakti) to the God developed through virtues (dharma), spiritual wisdom (gnana) and detachment (vairagya). The Swaminarayan Sampraday is devotion-focused and advocates God within the disciplines of virtues. Swaminarayan propagated a philosophy called Vishistadvaita, which says that God is supreme, has a divine form, is the all-doer and is completely independent. He simply stated that souls (jiva) never merge or dissolve into God and neither are they part of God, but are always subservient to God. Redemption consists in the realisation of ekantik dharma, comprising righteousness, right knowledge, detachment and devotion to that God.

Shri Sahajanand Swami also accepted Vishishtadvaita philosophy as the principle ideology of Swaminarayan Sect. The ideology states that there are 3 ultimate realities, Jiva (the souls), Ishwar (the Supreme Lord) and Maya (the matter). Accepting this ideology Swaminarayan Bhagwan revealed 5 divisions of these elements:

• Jiva: the soul entranced by Maya
• Ishwar: souls that are omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent for their respective universes only
• Maya: the nescience eternal power of the Lord that makes up the 24 elements by its 3 qualities, Satva, Rajas and Tamas
• Brahm: the pure, changeless and limitless form of soul that has attained ultimate salvation
• Parabrahm: One and only one Purushottam Narayan himself, the controller of all, superior to whom is none

The Swaminarayan Sampraday aims to consolidate characters in society, families and individuals by mass motivation and individual attention, through elevating projects for all, irrespective of class, creed, color and country. The organization believes that the hallmark of the Swaminarayan devotee is that he or she devoutly begins the day with pooja and meditation, works or studies honestly, and donates regular hours in serving others. Swaminarayan's lifetime objective for the organisation was to establish a permanent system of achieving the ultimate redemption from the cycle of life and death (aatyantik kalyaan).

In 1826 at Vadtal on Prabodhini Ekadashi of Vikram Samvat 1882, Swaminarayan established the dual Acharyaship in Dharmavanshi Acharyas, whom he intended as his successor. “Dharmavanshi” means “belonging to the lineage of Dharmadev” – the father of Swaminarayan.

Swaminarayan enthroned his two adopted sons, Acharya Maharajshree Ayodhyaprasad Pande and Acharya Maharajshree Raghuvir Pande, who were the sons of his brothers Rampratapji and Ichcharamji, as the spiritual leaders of the Nar Narayan Dev Gadi headquartered at Ahmedabad and the Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi headquartered at Vadtal respectively. He installed them as the Acharyas for all followers, including householders and ascetics. Swaminarayan gave sole authority to these two individuals to install murtis in temples and to initiate sadhus and householders into the Sampraday. He did this using a legal document known as “Desh Vibhag no Lekh”, which he dictated and was written by Shukanand Swami. Learned saints and elder satsangis witnessed this document.

The Acharyas of the Sampraday are administrative heads, spiritual leaders and the gurus of their followers. Since the acharyas are supposed to refrain from contact with the opposite sex, except close relations, the acharyas' wives are the gurus for female members of the sect, and must avoid contact with unfamiliar men.

The Acharyas are responsible for:

• Initiating followers into the organization with a Samanya Diksha by giving the guru-mantra
• Initiating monks-sadhus by giving them the Maha-Bhagwadi Diksha
• Performing murti-pratishtha, installing deities in the temples
• Authenticating scriptures of the Sampraday
• Acting as the Guru and leader of the entire Sampraday

Lineage of Acharyas (Laxmi Narayan Dev Gadi — Vadtal)

Each soul on the path of spiritual salvation starts his journey lost in this material world. When Swaminarayan Bhagwan arrived on this Earth, His goal was to free as many souls as possible and guide them to His divine abode Akshardham. To assist in this mission, Swaminarayan Bhagwan ordained nearly 3,000 ascetic saints, collectively known as the Nand saints. They withstood an insurmountable amount of hardship in order to lay the foundations of Swaminarayan Sampraday and spread Swaminarayan Bhagwan's principles throughout India.

These Nand saints were from all walks of life—many were accomplished scholars, while others were ordinary farmers. Some were young bachelors, while some were already settled with families. However, once their paths crossed with Swaminarayan Bhagwan, their devotion awoke and became fully enamored with Him. All saints had to renounce the material world and strictly abide by the five vows—known as the panch vartman:

• Nishkam: They were to maintain complete abstinence from women
• Nirlobh: They were to free themselves of all wealth and possessions
• Niswad: They were to transcend their desire for all taste
• Nis-sneh: They were to detach themselves of all relationships with birth relatives and materialistic possessions

Though these monumental vows seem impossible, all Nand saints abided by them strictly. And in turn, Swaminarayan Bhagwan gave them everlasting, divine sukh in Akshardham.

Nand saints' devotion to God and their renouncement of the materialistic world led them to an incredible power and ability. It was through their resolute faith that the foundations of the Swaminarayan sect were established. They ventured to the most remote villages in order to ensure that all salvation-seeking souls received the knowledge and grace of Swaminarayan Bhagwan, and despite all of this, they had to suffer violence from jealous bigots. Their sacrifice in all facets of life is truly the reason why the Swaminarayan sect shines amongst all religions today.

Today, we are endowed with a flourishing sect due to the infinite sacrifices and wisdom of Nand saints. We are also blessed to have saints today that descend from the disciple lineage of Nand saints and possess similar caliber in guiding millions of devotees towards supreme Swaminarayan Bhagwan.