https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=123.201.90.6Bharatpedia - User contributions [en]2026-08-19T10:30:16ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Swami_Ramanand&diff=326111Swami Ramanand2021-12-15T13:11:00Z<p>123.201.90.6: robot: Update article (please report if you notice any mistake or error in this edit)</p>
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<div>{{EngvarB|date=May 2015}} <br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}<br />
{{distinguish|text=[[Ramananda]], who propagated [[Ramanandi Sampradaya]]}}<br />
[[Image:Ramanandswami.jpg|thumb|A portrait of Ramanand Swami]]<br />
{{Vaishnavism}}<br />
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'''Ramanand Swami''' (born ''Rama Sharma'') to a [[Brahmin]] family in [[Ayodhya]] in Vikram Samvat 1795 (1738 AD). His parents were Ajay Sharma (father) and Sumati (mother). He was considered to be the incarnation of [[Uddhava]], a close friend of [[Krishna]].{{citation needed|date=August 2015}} Ramanand was the founder and head of the [[Uddhav Sampraday]].<ref name="isbn8183240526">{{cite book | author=J. J. Roy Burman | title=Gujarat Unknown | publisher=Mittal Publications | year=2005 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VemsIky3QzEC | isbn=9788183240529 |access-date=June 13, 2009}} Page 17</ref> Ramanand Swami adopted the [[Vishishtadvaita]] doctrine of the [[Vaishnava]] which was first propounded by [[Ramanuja]] several centuries earlier. In his travels to [[Srirangam]] in southern India in his early life, Ramanand Swami said that Ramanuja gave him [[diksha]] (initiation) in a dream and appointed him in his line as an [[acharya]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Raymond|title=Introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism|url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontosw0000will|url-access=registration|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=New York|isbn=0-521-65279-0|pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontosw0000will/page/16 16]}}</ref> Ramanand Swami then travelled West to [[Saurashtra (region)|Saurastra]] to spread the philosophy of Ramanuja. Before dying in 1858, Ramanand Swami passed the reins of the Uddhav Sampraday to [[Swaminarayan]].<br />
<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|2001|pp=17}}</ref><br />
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==Swaminarayan and initiation==<br />
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Ramanand Swami was the guru of [[Swaminarayan]].{{citation needed|date=August 2015}}<br />
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Swaminarayan (then Ghanshyam Pande) left his home at age 11 on 28 June 1792 after the death of both his parents. He began a journey across [[Indian subcontinent|India]] that took 7 years 1 month and 11 days.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.sksst.org/sampraday/index.asp | title=Nilkanth Varni | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090630090513/http://www.sksst.org/sampraday/index.asp | archive-date=30 June 2009 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> He took the name [[Nilkanth Varni]] while on his journey. Nilkanth Varni traveled across India and parts of [[Nepal]] in search of an [[ashram]] or [[sampradaya]] that practiced what he considered a correct understanding of [[Vedanta]], [[Samkhya]], [[Yoga]], and [[Pancaratra]] (the four primary schools of Hinduism).<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|2001|pp=15}}</ref><br />
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To find an ashram that correctly practiced the meaning of these four primary schools of Hinduism, he asked the following five questions on the basic [[Vaishnava]] [[Vedanta]] categories:<br />
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* What is ''{{IAST|[[Jiva|jīva]]}}''?<br />
* What is ''{{IAST|[[Ishvara|Īśvara]]}}''?<br />
* What is ''{{IAST|[[Maya (illusion)|Maya]]}}''?<br />
* What is ''{{IAST|[[Brahman]]}}''?<br />
* What is ''{{IAST|[[Para Brahman|Parā brahman]]}}''?<br />
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While on his journey, Nilkanth Varni mastered [[yoga|ashtanga yoga]] or eightfold yoga. In the year 1799, Nilkanth Varni's journey as a [[yogi]] eventually concluded in Loj, a village in the [[Junagadh district]] of Gujarat. In Loj, Nilkanth Varni was introduced to [[Muktanand Swami]], a senior disciple of [[Ramanand Swami]] who answered the five questions satisfactorily. He then persuaded Nilkanth Varni to stay to get an opportunity to meet Ramanand Swami, whose disciple Nilkanth Varni later became.<ref>{{Harvnb|Williams|2001|pp=75}}</ref><br />
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== References ==<br />
;Footnotes<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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;Bibliography<br />
{{cite book | author=Raymond Brady Williams | title=An introduction to Swaminarayan Hinduism | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2001 | url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontosw0000will | url-access=registration | quote=Swaminarayan temple Cardiff. |access-date=April 19, 2009}}<br />
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{{Swaminarayan Sampraday}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramanand}}<br />
[[Category:Swaminarayan Sampradaya]]<br />
[[Category:1738 births]]<br />
[[Category:18th-century Hindu religious leaders]]<br />
[[Category:Vaishnava saints]]<br />
[[Category:Scholars from Uttar Pradesh]]<br />
[[Category:1802 deaths]]<br />
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