अक्षरपुरुषोत्तमदर्शनकारिकासच्चय: - Aksara-Purusottama-Darsana-Karika-Sancaya (Explanation, Translation and Notes)

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It is indeed a matter of great pleasure and pride for Kavikulaguru Kalidas Sanskrit University, Ramtek to have this rarest opportunity of hosting the 50th session of All India Oriental Conference at Nagpur. This AIOC-50th session at Nagpur will be forever remembered by all as the year 2019 also happens to be the year of Centenary Celebration of AIOC. The premier objective with which the great scholars of yester years had contemplated and established this national academic event called All India Oriental Conference has been achieved through these years with scores of young scholars contributing significantly to the treasure house of knowledge through their valuable research work.

The research of yore and of the present should be properly recorded so as to make it easily available to all lovers of knowledge and wisdom in the years to come. With this objective, we have contemplated to commemorate the 100th year of this grand event of 50th session of AIOC by way of publishing 100 monographs on different subjects in four languages viz., Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi and English. It is no doubt a herculean task but still worth of it, for the reason that these 100 monographs will inspire many young scholars to take upon a fresh study and research of the oriental subjects with more vigor and zeal.

The AIOC Centenary Publication Series includes wide variety of subjects like Literature, Language, Veda, Indian Philosophy, Sanskrit Grammar, Law, Children Literature, Yoga, Astronomy and Astrology, Ayurveda, Pali, Prakrit, Jain, Buddhism, Education, Library Science, Poetics, Aesthetics, and Indology. It also includes reprint of some rare texts of academic importance which have gone out of print are not easily available. We wish to mark these centenary celebrations with this series that connects the glory of the past and aspirations of future. I place on record my sincere gratitude to all the authors of these monographs who have kindly contributed to the richness of this series.

I am confident that the books published in these series will definitely inspire the lovers of Oriental Learning in general and of Sanskrit Language and Literature in particular.

On this occasion, we have published a memorable book of all the speeches of Section-Presidents of all previous sessions of AIOC. It is indeed a very capacious addition to any collection. I with all respect thank two eminent scholars of our times - Prof. Gautam Patel, President and Prof. Saroj a Bhate, General Secretary, the torch bearers of AIOC who have not only encouraged us in this venture but also made all efforts to provide these valuable historical speeches for us. I thank all executive members of AIOC and my colleagues of the varsity for making this event a grand success. My words fall short in describing the painstaking efforts and scholarly commitment of my esteemed colleague Prof. Madhusudan Penna, local secretary of this session in bringing out this series.

I also take this opportunity to profusely thank Shri. Subhash Jain and Shri Deepak Jain, the proprietors of New Bharatiya Book Corporation, New Delhi for their enthusiastic approach and timely work with all precision and grace.

Let us all sanctify ourselves in the eternal flow of wisdom by reading these books and recommending these to others also!

Indian philosophy has been blessed with the advent of various schools of thought over the ages. Most recently, the Vedanta school has seen the introduction of a significant new stream, Parabrahman Swaminarayan's Aksara-Purusottama Darsana. Many of India's foremost scholars have lauded this new darsana as a unique and authentic Vedantic school. They have also praised Mahamahopadhyaya Bhadreshdas Swami's comprehensive, Samskrta texts elucidating this philosophy, the Prasthanatrayi-svaminarayana-bhasyam (2009-12) and the Svaminarayana-siddhanta-sudha (2017), as seminal contributions to the Vedantic heritage.

I, too, have read Bhadreshdas Swami's texts myself and have been overwhelmed to see their unique principles, novel reflections, exceptional literary style, and lucid language. Certainly, Bhadreshdas Swami has revived the centuries-old bhasya and vada-grantha tradition by producing these magnanimous works.

Along with this acceptance and praise, however, a need has arisen for these texts to be presentable in a format that can be accessed widely, particularly by beginners. The Svaminarayana-siddhanta-sudha appeared to me as the best place to start. Indeed, this literary masterpiece thoroughly establishes the Aksara-Purusottama Darsana's primary tenets in the classical style of polemics, while also summarising these principles through 548 concise yet engaging verses. I felt that producing a work that deconstructs the most important of these verses would be a noteworthy academic contribution.

I approached Bhadreshdas Swami with my idea two years ago. Bhadreshdas Swami readily agreed and asked Acharya Brahmasetudas Swami to undertake this task. Thereafter, Bhadreshdas Swami, Brahmasetudas Swami, and I worked together to envision this project.

Acarya Brahmasetudas Swami has traditionally studied Nyaya, Vyakarana, and the Aksara-Purusottama Darsana's Samskrta and vernacular texts for the past fifteen years. Moreover, he has closely worked with Bhadreshdas Swami through-out this time. I have also had the opportunity to engage with him over the past several years and can testify to his academic rigour. As an expert scholar and an authority in the field of the Aksara-Purusottama Darsana, he is uniquely positioned to undertake this project.

I am happy to see that this endeavour has come to fruition in the form of the present work. This text will indeed be a useful addition to university courses on Indian philosophy and the Aksara-Purusottama Darsana.

I express my sincere gratitude to Bhadreshdas Swami and Brahmasetudas Swami. I genuinely hope to see more such scholarship produced in the coming years. I pray to Bhagwan Swaminarayan that he blesses us so that we may further understand his visionary teachings and help others do the same.