Shikshapatri - the divine book of instructions, writtenn by Lord Shree Swaminarayan
(sister site of www.swaminarayan.ws)
Lord Swaminarayan wrote the Shikshapatri Himself to guide and benefit His followers and in general every soul to the right path for finally achieving 'moksha' (salvation). To understand Lord Swaminarayan's majesty is very important, because that would show if we have understood Him the way we should, in His full fledged status of SARVOPARI, SARVA-AVTAARI, PURUSHOTTAM SHREE SWAMINARAYAN BHAGWAN
Together with that understanding, it is ALSO very important to please Lord Swaminarayan by following His 'AAGNA', i.e. spiritual instructions or spiritual orders. For us to be able to do this and continually please Him, He wrote the Shikshapatri Himself!. The Swaminarayan Sampraday is quite unique in that the sampraday has a scripture written by the 'ISHTADEV' Himself, our beloved Lord Shree Swaminarayan
It is very important to note that Lord Swaminarayan wrote this Shikshapatri for the welfare of EVERY SOUL, not just His followers. Secondly, as Lord Swaminarayan Himself says, the instructions in the Shikshapatri are in brief therefore, for an in-depth understanding, references should be made to Swaminarayan Sampraday's main scriptures, namely:
Vachanamrit, Satsangi Jeevan, Nishkulanand Kaavyam etc etc (the others are mentioned within the site)
Let us now dive in to the cream of all the scriptures, that Lord Swaminarayan has churned out for us to make our adherence to Dharma and Bhakti easier, by referring to the instructions in the Shikshapatri which are more convenient than digesting a library of ancient and vedic scriptures, whose meanings we might not have the intellect to understand or interpret correctly. Almost every instruction in the Shikshapatri is discussed in the Swaminarayan Sampraday's main scriptures in detail
The translation of the Shikshapatri with the English version of the commentary on the Shikshapatri, was the noble idea and was done with the blessings of the Swaminarayan Sampraday Acharya of NarNarayan Dev Gadi, His Holiness 1008 Shri Tejendraprasadji Maharaj. The amplified version of this Shikshapatri in English is already available in a book format, and so here we will try and present it online and even give opportunities for discussion on topics of interest