Vairagyamurti Shri Nishkulanand Swami

Early life

Nishkulanand Swamis name before initiation was Lalji Suthar. He hailed from the village of Sekhpat in Gujarat. Before meeting Lord Swaminarayan he was a disciple of Sadguru Ramanand Swami (Shreeji Maharajs Guru). Even before attaining diksha his life was ascetic. He and Mulji Sharma (Gunatitanand Swami) used to regularly meet and do satsang.

Initiation as a saint

After Ramanand Swami installed Shreeji Maharaj to the throne of the satsang and before he left for Akshardham, he asked his disciples to follow the command of Sahajanand Swami. Lalji Suthar was a very obedient disciple and agreed to what his Guru said.

Once Shreeji Maharaj had to go to Kutch and asked Lalji Suthar to be his guide. Shreeji Maharaj wanted to stress the importance of reliance on God rather than own ego. The entire tale is fascinating but during their journey in the village of Adhoi, Shreeji Maharaj gave diksha to Lalji Suthar and named him Nishkulanand Swami.

Non-attachment personified

Nishkulanand Swami was an ideal example of non-attachment, to the worldly objects. His hymns and kirtans describing the mortal nature of worldly pleasures, the inescapable severe pains and the sufferings therein, are so real and impressive that even a cruel, a vicious or a sinful would inclined to devotion of God. He himself led a very ascetic life.

Service

Nishkulanand Swami was the writer of the first scripture of the Swaminarayan sampraday. Shreeji Maharaj asked to him visit hell and write about the sufferings in hell. He personally in a divine form went to the different hells and described the pains and sufferings in those in the scripture Yumdand. Yumdand along with other 19 of his scriptures together form the Nishkulanand Kavya. His scripture Bhaktachintamani describes the life long activities of Shreeji Maharaj in a poetic form and is full of devotion.