Vachanamrut

The Vachanamrut (Gujarati: વચનામૃત) of Swaminarayan is the most sacred and foundational scripture of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya. It contains the profound wisdom of the Vedas, Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, Bhagvad Gita, Bhagavata Purana, dharma shastras like Yājñavalkya Smṛti, Vidurniti, and epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata (Vachanamrut Gadhadha II-28). Swaminarayan says in Gadhadha II-28, "What is this discourse which I have delivered before you like? Well, I have delivered it having heard and having extracted the essence from the Vedas, the shastras, the Purans and all other words on this earth pertaining to liberation."

The Vachanamrut is the essence of ancient Indian wisdom as told by Swaminarayan and compiled by his five contemporary scholarly-sadhus who were known for their asceticism and scholarship in Sanskrit, besides their devotion to him. In fact every statement of the Master is packed with and based on His in-depth religious knowledge, spiritual insights and practical experience. It contains practical and philosophical answers to the sincere enquiries of all types of aspirants regarding life in this world and the life hereafter.

The Vachanamrut is not only a sacred shastra in the Swaminarayan faith, but a shastra of every day study. All the literate followers read it daily and the illiterate listen to at least a page every day. It is read and elaborated upon daily in the Swaminarayan mandirs the world over. It is a landmark shastra, philosophically and in all other aspects. It is the first modern Gujarati prose work which the noted Gujarati critic and poet, Shri Uma Shankar Joshi, acclaimed as the very pinnacle of Gujarati prose. The Vachanamrut, a compilation of 273 spiritual discourses, is divided into 10 sections. The discourses were delivered by Swaminarayan in the last decade of his life, between 1819 and 1829 CE in Gujarati. They were mostly delivered in ashram-like ambience in secluded places like Ahmedabad, Gadhada, Sarangpur, Kariyani, Loya, Panchala, Vadtal, Aslali, and Jetalpur.

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