Ahmedabad: Pramukh Swami Maharaj of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha connected devotion and service, realising the Vedic principle of seeing God in man, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said here on Sunday.
In his address at Pramukh Varni Amrut Mahotsav organised by BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, Shah said Pramukh Swami Maharaj
broadened and made spirituality and Vaishnava philosophy practical.
“He connected devotion and service, realising the Vedic principle of seeing God in man (nar mein narayan) without explicitly stating it. Through action and compassion, Pramukh Swami Maharaj revived the ancient Rishi culture of uplifting other’s lives. Along with this, he accomplished a great task for the entire Sanatana Dharma. Without giving any specific teachings,
he instilled the essence of sainthood in the various sects of Sanatana Dharma,” Shah said.
The three-day event has been organised along the Sabarmati Riverfront here to mark 75 years of Pramukh Swami Maharaj’s appointment as President of Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha (BAPS) in 2025. Apart from Shah, BAPS chief Mahant Swami Maharaj and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, among others, were present at the event.
“Through their exemplary conduct, Pramukh Swami Maharaj and thousands of other saints revived the respect for the monastic order and the system of renunciation, which had been gradually declining in society. While Sanatana Dharma faced many crises in its journey of thousands of years, the biggest after Independence was the declining faith in the monastic order and the institution of sanyasis,” Shah asserted.
“Pramukh Swami Maharaj, without any conflict with any sect, demonstrated through his conduct what pure life a saint should lead, how the foundation of that life can be built upon the knowledge of Sanatana Dharma, and how the nectar of that knowledge can be shared so effortlessly with millions of people in society,” Shah said.
He dedicated his entire life to this work, the Union minister emphasised.