Ahmedabad and Gandhi Nagar- Cities in Contrast

Akshardham

Akshardham houses the Swaminarayan Temple. The Swaminarayan Temple of Gandhi Nagar is a modern complex built in traditional Indian architectural style using pink sand stone from Rajasthan. The temple is set in a multi acre, beautifully landscaped garden with intricate sculptures of Gods. The interiors have beautiful columns and rise up to a high dome. The temple has a museum depicting the life, temporal and spiritual, of Lord Swaminarayan. These are depicted in the form of Murals and audio-visuals. The concept of Akshardham movement was founded in 1907 to promote the teachings of Lord Swaminarayan and a number of charitable causes.
Who is Lord Swaminarayan and how and when did he start functioning as a preacher? In fact, his followers consider him as the incarnation of God himself.
He was born as Ghanshyam on 3rd Apr 1781 in the rustic village of Chapaya in Uttar Pradesh. He was the second of three sons to his parents. Even as a child, he exhibited the virtues of austerity, detachment, yoga, dharma, leadership, truth and power of discrimination. People started calling him as Neelakanth. He lived for a short but dynamic life span of forty-nine years. From 1792 to 1799, he traveled throughout the country, from Himalayas to Rameshwaram, Manasarovar, Katmandu, Kamakya, Puri, and Kanyakumari and finally landed at Loj, near Mangrol in southern Kathiawar of Gujarat. Though his life and travels closely resembles that of Adi Sankara, he favoured the Visishtadvaita philosophy of Sri Ramanujacharya. Far from being an aimless wandering, Neelakanth’s sojourn was a planned pilgrimage to most important and sacred shrines of India.
At Loj, he was at the ashram of Sri Ramanand Swami whose disciple he became in 1800 at Paplana village. He was renamed as Swami Sahajanand. In 1801, at Jetpur, he was ceremoniously appointed as successor to Ramanand Swami. On the passing away of his Guru, Swami Sahajanand presented the Swaminarayan Mantra to his followers and came to be known as Swaminarayan to his followers. He created a band of disciples called Paramahamsas to serve the society. He set up almshouses during the great famine of 1813 in Kathiawar. He abolished animal sacrifices in yagnas. He introduced Bhajans in the conduct of festivals. He allowed entry to members of lower caste in to the Fellowship and instructed the Paramhansas to beg alms from the lower sections of the society and also visit their homes.
The teachings of Lord Swaminarayan incorporate the
essence contained in the Vedas. The moral teachings of Lord Swaminarayan are found in his Shikshapatri, which contains distilled truths propagated by Hindu Dharma Shastras. In this, he laid down codes of non-violence, tolerance, atonement, continence, devotion, philosophy, diet, hygiene, ecology, social and professional ethics etc.

The Sabarmati Ashram

Formerly known as Harijan Ashram/Satyagraha Ashram, Gandhi’s first ashram in India, was set up in Kochrab area of Ahmedabad in 1915 and was later shifted to the west bank of Sabarmati river in 1917. This was Gandhi’s home till 12th March 1930 when he left for his famous Dandi March, vowing not to return until India became independent.
Hriday Kunj is the cottage where the Mahatma lived. What strikes the visitor most is the simplicity of the entire place. Bapu used to say, " This is a good spot for my ashram. On one side is the cremation ground. On the other is the prison. The people in my ashram should have no fear of death nor should they be strangers to imprisonment."
The ashram has a museum called Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalay. This museum is a story of Mahatma’s life in commentary, photographs and personal effects. Mahatma Gandhi was a man of wisdom and humility, armed with resolve and inflexible consistency, who had devoted all his strength to the uplifting of his people and the betterment of their lot; a man who had confronted the brutality of Europe with the dignity of an ordinary but simple human being. Albert Einstein remarked, " Generations to come, it may be, will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth. "
Two of his commentaries struck me as relevant to the present day conditions in India. Without commenting upon them, I am just reproducing them for the readers to make their own judgment.
1. Our Culture
" It is my firm opinion that no
culture has treasures so rich
as ours has. We have not
recognized its value… If we do
not follow our culture, we
would be committing suicide
as a people."
2. Social Sins
􀂙 Politics without Principle
􀂙 Wealth without Work
􀂙 Pleasure without Conscience
􀂙 Knowledge without Character
􀂙 Commerce without Morality
􀂙 Science without Humanity
􀂙 Worship without Sacrifice
…. Continued…