Nilkanth Varni: An Epic Pilgrimage of A Child-Yogi

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About the Book

The intrepid story of an ll-year-old child-yogi who single-handedly accomplished an epic pilgrimage across the length and breadth of India. His spiritual adventures reflect an amazing story of determination, fearlessness, austerity, service, faith and compassion.

The travels of Nilkanth Varni are briefly portrayed in a DVD called Mystic India. A similar version, Neelkanth Yatra, in large format, is shown on a giant screen at Swaminarayan Akshardham, New Delhi.

Preface

As a child, he was called Ghanshyam. As a teenager, he was known as Nilkanth Varni. And, when he launched his mission to establish Ekantik Dharma (dharma, jnan, vairagya and bhakti) in Gujarat, he was popularly hailed as Bhagwan Swaminarayan (1781-1830 CE).

During his childhood years in Chhapaiya and Ayodhya, Ghanshyam revealed his divinity to his parents, friends and many others.

As Nilkanth Varni, he renounced home and undertook a pilgrimage throughout India for seven years, travelling 12,000 km barefoot from Ayodhya in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, and then up northwards towards Gujarat. His spiritual adventures reflect an amazing story of determination, fearlessness, austerity, service and compassion. The fundamental purpose of Nilkanth Varni's travel was to liberate countless people and to revive the sanctity of our holy pilgrim places.

As Bhagwan Swaminarayan, he ushered in a moral and spiritual renaissance in Gujarat and resuscitated the glorious bhakti tradition.

Nilkanth Varni, is a translation of its original version in Gujarati, Bhagwan Swaminarayan by Shri H.T. Dave.

We thank the translators, Shri Varanasi Rama Murthy and Sadhu Vivekjivandas, for their effort and devotion. We sincerely appreciate Sadhu Amrutvijaydas, Sadhu Jnanpurushdas, Sadhu Shrijiswarupdas and others who have helped in reviewing and making this publication possible.

Introduction

This is a true story of an 11-year-old boy called Nilkanth Varni, who undertook an epic pilgrimage of India. The pilgrimage lasted 7 years, one month and 11 days, covering 12,000 km by foot. His purpose was to guide, encourage and help people realize the path of righteousness. By the time Nilkanth concluded his pilgrimage in Gujarat he was a youth of 18.

He began his journey with meagre possessions - the most precious object he carried with him was a Shaligram, a hand-rest, a deerskin, a kamandal and a piece of cloth to filter water. He was wearing a kanthi around his neck and was carrying a mala in his right hand. He also possessed a mini-book, which he had prepared himself, containing the essence of the Hindu shastras. Nilkanth walked barefoot wearing only a loin-cloth even in the bone-chilling snows of the Himalayas! He descended into deep valleys and ascended peaks that jutted out of unmarked territory. He plunged into roaring torrents unmindful of the horrified protests of onlookers. Fearlessness was a hallmark of this spiritual adventurer. He carried no map or chart.

His spiritual travels took him from Kailas-Mansarovar in the Himalayas to Rameshwar in the south, and Dwarika and Somnath in the west to Kamakshi Mandir and Gangasagar in the east. At the time of Nilkanth's spiritual travels Sanatan Dharma was facing assaults from many imposters who posed as spiritual leaders. He was dissatisfied with the ignorance and malpractices of some priests who he came across his journey. Nilkanth encountered these practitioners of black magic at several places. At Kamakshi in Assam, Pibek evoked all his tantric powers to destroy Nilkanth; but he failed and was transformed. At Jagannath Puri the chief of the fake sadhus very nearly killed him. Nilkanth's intention was to make people lead virtuous and purposeful lives according to the tenets of dharma, by freeing them from the clutches of these charlatans.

But what were the resources the young Brahmachari had at his command? His chief asset was his pure, supreme divinity that reflected his resplendent personality and serene face to the wide range of people he met during his pilgrimage.

Maharaja Ranjit Sinh, the doughty Sikh ruler who carved a niche for himself in the annals of Punjab, was impressed with Nilkanth and took his refuge on meeting him at Badrinath and Haridwar. The king and queen of Butolnagar in Nepal offered their daughters and their kingdom. The mahant of Shripur proposed that he become the head of the mandir and manage its hefty annual income. He was greatly impressed by Nilkanth's feat when he tamed a ferocious lion. The young Brahmachari declined all these offers with a smile. His mission was not to rule kingdoms, ashrams or be honoured with fame and riches.

He disapproved of dissolute ways even when he saw them in high places. Once he ticked off a Vaishnav Acharya at Ramanuj's birthplace. The acharya felt annoyed that one so young as Nilkanth should preach to a distinguished sadhu like himself to observe brahmacharya. He spoke angrily to Nilkanth and had him ejected from the ashram. Nilkanth left, politely saying that such ill behaviour did not suit an ascetic. Wherever he travelled Nilkanth asked five questions regarding the nature of jiva, ishwar; maya, Brahman and Parabrahman. He did not get satisfactory replies to these questions till he reached Ramanand Swami's ashram at Loj in Saurashtra (Gujarat). With Ramanand Swami away on tour in the Kutch region Muktanand Swami satisfactorily answered his questions. Nilkanth Varni was pleased and decided to stay there.

In the ashram, Varni disliked the free mixing of the genders and arranged separate discourses for men and women. Once, he saw a window in the wall through which fire embers were received by a sadhu from the next door neighbour's wife. Nilkanth saw this Ramanand Swami gave diksha to Nilkanth and named him as Sahajanand Swami and Narayan Muni. He often used to say that he was merely a drum-beater and that Varni was the chief player. A year later he handed over the reins of the fellowship to Sahajanand Swami, who was only 21 years old. After Ramanand Swami passed away Sahajanand Swami gave the Swaminarayan mahamantra to the congregation. Thereafter he became popularly known as Bhagwan Swaminarayan.

From the age of 21 to 49 he introduced a moral and spiritual renaissance with the help of, 3,000 paramhansas and sadhus, who themselves observed a strict moral code of conduct, namely, nishkam (celibacy), nirlobb (non-greed), nisswad (non-taste), nissneb (detachment) and nirman (humility). Bhagwan Swaminarayan and his paramhansas inspired people to lead a life of character and faith in God. He asked them not to kill animals even for sacrifice and to abstain from stealing, adultery, eating meat, drinking alcohol, etc.

He worked to lift the prevailing rigidity in the caste system and opposed untouchability, He championed the welfare of women and abolished evil practices like sati and female infanticide. He succeeded in transforming lawless men like Joban Pagi, Sagram Vaghri and others into great devotees. He had a following of two million devotees, and was hailed as a torch-bearer of Indian culture.

Bhagwan Swaminarayan wrote the Shikshapatri in Sanskrit, which is a code of conduct for all his devotees - renunciants and householders. The Vachanamrut is a compilation of his spiritual discourses accomplished by four scholarly paramhansas.

The worship of Bhagwan Swaminarayan and Aksharbrahman Gunatitanand Swami, his foremost disciple and first successor, is the lynchpin of the Swaminarayan philosophy.

Subsequently, the gurus that have followed in the Swaminarayan Sampradaya have continued the work of Bhagwan Swaminarayan. The first guru was Aksharbrahman Gunatitanand Swami. He was succeeded by Bhagatji Maharaj, Shastriji Maharaj, Yogiji Maharaj and the present guru is Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

In 1907, Shastriji Maharaj established the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) to promote the principles of Sanatan Dharma preached by Bhagwan Swaminarayan.

As the Sampradaya believes in Ekantik Bhakti and that God has a form, mandirs have been built to spread bhakti and upasana. Bhagwan Swaminarayan had himself built six mandirs. Shastriji Maharaj built five mandirs and consecrated the murtis of Bhagwan Swaminarayan and Aksharbrahman Gunatitanand Swami. He was succeeded by Yogiji Maharaj who spread the Satsang to East Africa and England. Pramukh Swami Maharaj has made the BAPS into a worldwide socio-spiritual organisation, personally inspiring and consecrating 1,000 mandirs. The Swaminarayan Akshardham, spirituo-cultural complexes at New Delhi and in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, epitomise the glory of Indian culture, values and principles for the uplift of mankind. The traditional shikharbaddh mandirs in India and abroad provide inspiration to countless people.

To pay tribute to Nilkanth's epic travels, Pramukh Swami Maharaj inspired a wonderful Imax film on Nilkanth Varni's pilgrimage at the Swaminarayan Akshardham in New Delhi. The entire complex pays obeisance to over 10,000 years of India's glorious culture, art, architecture and wisdom.

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