Muktanand Swami
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Muktanand Swami (Devnagari: मुक्त्तान्द स्वामी) was a sant and paramahansa of the Swaminarayan Sampraday.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
He was born Mukund Das to Anandram and Radhabai in Amareli, Gujarat in Vikram Samvat 1814.
At the time of his birth, the child Mukund Das impressed everybody by his spiritually wisdom and was therefore named 'Mukund Das'. In his childhood, he was quite different than the rest of the children in his age group. When children of his age group were indulging in sports, and games Mukund was sitting quietly in seclusion with the closed eyes. Mukunddas learnt Vedas, scriptures and music from his two teachers - Jaduram and Hathiram. Both of whom were scholars in literature and fine arts. The disciple - Mukunddas was a genius, within a few years he mastered the art of music and the knowledge of religious scriptures.
Muktanand Swami was considered the principal disciple of Ramanand Swami. He mastered the eight folded yogic state.
[edit] Swaminarayan and Muktanand Swami
In Loj, Sadhu Sukhanand a fellow saint and devotee residing at the hermitage found a young saint with divine aura bathing by a well near the village. Impressed by the sight of the divine attributes he took the young brahmchari to hermitage and introduced him to Muktanand Swami on the auspicious 6th day of the bright half of Shravan in Vikram Samvat 1856. Muktanand Swami found himself drawn towards the divine presence of the youthful saint and coming forward offered pranams. On a mutual introduction, Muktanand Swami gathered that the visitor was the son of DharmaDev and BhaktiDevi, and had spent seven years in the seclusion of the mountains and forests. His present name was Varniraj (forestdweller) Nilkanth Varni (Lord Swaminarayan). Nilkanth Varni stayed on in Loj to meet Ramanand Swami who was in Bhuj at that time.
Satsang gives great importance to Muktanand Swami, because the foundation of this great sect was laid by him by closing interactive window between hermitage and neighbour, and separated women from the gents in Satsang Sabha on instance from Nilkanth Varni.
He, though in age was senior to Nilkanth Varni (Renamed Sahajanand Swami by Ramanand Swami), but in succession to Ramanand Swami he proposed Sahajanand Swami as the successive preceptor and head of the sect. Thus Muktanand Swami lived under the auspices of Sahajanand Swami who always respected him like a Guru.
[edit] Works
Muktanand Swami was instrumentalist and vocalist besides being a saint. He was equally at ease in dancing. Swaminarayan called him 'The mother of Satsang' because of his motherly love, tolerance and smooth interaction. He chose Muktanand Swami to represent the Swaminarayan Sampraday at the Gathering of Vadodara, where the latter was victorious.
Muktanand Swami was very good at poetry. He composed poems spontaneously. 'Mukund Bavani' is a collection of his devotional poetry. 'Muktanand Kavya' is the collection of his works. The Aarti that is sung in all Shri Swaminarayan Temple's, Jay Sadguru Swami was written by Muktanand Swami in praise of Shri Hari or Swaminarayan. His creations are abstract and meaningful. He has also written books on several subjects.
[edit] References
[edit] External Links
|
||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
