Akram Vignan Movement
The principal doctrine of the Akram Vignan movement is gnan bhakti which means devotional surrender (samarpan) to Simandhar Swami and his interlocutor Dada Bhagwan to gain knowledge of liberation.
The Akram Vignan movement claims to offer 'instant salvation' by a medium (nimitta) or interlocutor who directly connects to Simandhar Swami through magical means.
[4] The principal doctrine of the Akram Vignan movement is jnan bhakti which means devotional surrender (samarpan) to Simandhar Swami and his interlocutor Dada Bhagwan to gain knowledge of salvation.
[4] In contrast to traditional Jainism, it rejects or is indifferent to scriptural knowledge, physical asceticism, rituals and practices in favour of self-knowledge (atma-jnan) through direct grace of Simandhar Swami and devotion to his medium (gurubhakti).
[4][1] Flügel regards the movement to be a form of Jain-Vaishnava syncretism, a development analogous to the Mahayana in Buddhism.
The movement expanded in 1960s and 1970s to southern Gujarat and Maharashtra and in Gujarati diaspora in East Africa, North America and UK.
[4][1] Jay Sachchidanand Sangh, the major organisation of Akram Vignan movement, was founded under the auspices of Dada Bhagwan in Mumbai.
Khetsi Narsi Shah, a head of local Dada Bhagwan Vitarag Trust, was appointed as the first sanghpati, the community leader of it.
The organisation manages activities and movements of religious leader and his chief followers called Aptaputras and Aptaputris (celibate disciples who are invited around the world).
It also manages community funds and supervises building activities along with publication of books and magazine, Akram Vignan (first published in 1979).
Pujya Niruma’s family assumed that She would start Her medical practice after graduation, and Her father began to plan for building a hospital for Her.
[6] Niruben Amin organised the movement by publishing the discourses of Dada Bhagwan, formalising Gyanvidhi, construction of temples and composing ritual worship (puja).
Other texts of Dada Bhagwan include Swarup Vignan, the collection of satsang notes by Natubhai Patel 'Vasudev', published in 1980s.
Namskar Vidhi is a devotional hymn which includes all beings worthy of worship; Panch Parmeshthi of Jain Namokar Mantra to Krishna to Dada Bhagwan himself in descending order.
[4] Jay Sachchidanand Sangh, led by Kanubhai, published several books including volumes of Aptasutra and Aptavani (Vol.
[4] The Akram Vignan movement teaches Ahimsa (non-violence) and its followers are required to consume a strict lacto-vegetarian diet for ethical and spiritual reasons.
[7] After initial reluctance, Dada Bhagwan agreed to build a temple, Trimandir, which included images of Simandhar Swami, Krishna and Shiva to present message of universal religion.
