In Sanskrit, words are used in two ways. One is as adjectives and other is as nouns.Each word in Sanskrit has a meaning and an origin. That is why each and every word in Sanskrit can be used as an adjective as well as the noun form.
In general sense, people take Vishnu as the God, one of Tri-murti. That is, one of the holy trinity of Hinduism.,Brahma, Vishnu and Shiv, which is true. Vishnu is one of these demi-Gods.
First, let us understand the adjective aspect of the word Vishnu. Vishnu means “the sustainer, the nourisher, or the preserver”. Vishnu means the one who takes care of the universe.
- Vishnu- Demi-God
As mentioned above, the sustainer in the Trimurti is called Vishnu. Who is that Vishnu? He is definitely not the Supreme God. The demi-Gods, Brahma Vishnu and Shiv are deacons of their respective universe. Yes, there are infinite universes, and each of the universes has 3 actions, that is creation, sustenance and destruction and the 3 demigods responsible for that are Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva respectively.
This Vishnu is destroyed in Nimitta pralaya, along with Brahma and Shiva.This Vishnu is born out of the heart of Virat Narayan, and he is Satva-gun dominant. Since He is a demi-god, He is not a Narayan Tatva.
The life duration of this Vishnu is 4.32 billion human years.
- Maha-Vishnu (Pradhan Purush)
Another entity knows as Vishnu, is the Maha-Vishnu, also knows as Pradhan Purush in Swaminarayan nomenclature. This Maha-Vishnu has 7 powers and is 4-armed. His original form is 4-armed. This Vishnu is often depicted as the shesh-shayi Swarup in cosmic ocean.
Then the question arises, ‘all avatars are of Vishnu.’, then who is this Vishnu?
It is actually this Vishnu from whom all the avatars like Kachha, Vrah, Matsya etc are manifested, except Shri Krishna. Shri Krishna is believed to be higher than this tatva. This Vishnu is also called as Bhuma Purush, Lakshmi Narayan. The devotes of this Vishnu gain a 4 armed form and live with Him in his abode. This Vishnu is absorbed in Prakrut Pralaya.
The life duration of this Vishnu is 3.1536 x 1014 human years.
- Vishnu- The Supreme God.
Now, taking this into perspective, the Supreme God, the one God is called Vishnu because He is the sustainer of the all that exists. That is why Vishnu is a name given to God. And that is why since God is the ultimate sustainer of all the creation, the ultimate cause of all creation, is called Vishnu.
This God is eternal and is also called Purushottam Narayan and is knows as Swaminarayan. It is this God that one has to worship for ultimate salvation.
Swaminarayan Glory 
What is the difference between Vasudev Narayan and Sahjanand swami? Is it true that Vasudev Sri Krishna who is the supreme God and Purn Purushottam, Akshardhamadhipati came on earth as a Sahjanand swami?
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Yes.
Having said that, there are also some devotees who say that Shvet-dwip pati Vasudev is different from Purna Purushottam Narayan. So Sahajanand Swami is the avatar of Purna Purushottam Narayan and not Shvet-dwip pati Vasudev.
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Jay Swaminarayan,
Dear Dev,
The relation between avatar and avatari is an ati prashna (something that we can’t comprehend). So it is better that we don’t get into that too much.
As I have understood, the avatars never have Maya and will never have Maya. Their devotees attain moksha, but they attain what and whom they worshiped and where they aspired to go.
We can’t say whether is more or less. It is what they wanted and what they understood as ultimate.
And even those are muktas, and they have transcended Maya, so they are liberated.
They can get ultimate moksha also, as mentioned in Gopalanand Swami ni vato, many mukta of different dhams come to wherever there is an avatar of purushottam narayan to clarify their upasana.
So they have a better chance at ultimate moksha than us right now. Because they already above maya, all they need is to understand upasana.
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Jai Swaminarayan,
As a youth Swaminarayan bhakt in the States I really like your posts since they are simple and easy to understand . Just one question, can you provide Swaminarayan scriptural references for the Pradhan purush being Laxminarayan Dev- Ram Bhagwan? Also, you said Krishna Bhagwan is not created by that Vishnu, how is he created?
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Thank you Dev,
To being with, I have uploaded this post based on understanding that I got by listening to various lectures by my guru and Hariswarup swami and madhavpriya swami of gurukul. I have got reference of Shri krishna being avatar of Maha purush in nirgundas swami ni vato. But, the reference about Pradhan purush might be available in Gopalanand Swami or Gunatitanand Swami ni vato. I’ll have to check for that.
Secondly, we can’t say that any avatar was created. They are not like us. So Shri Krishna is an avatar of Narayan. An avatar is an entity or representation of God where God bestows his presence especially and evidently more than normal. So if lord comes as a demigod, in case of Vaman avatar, then he will show characteristics greater than other demigods. The word avatar means representative.
But it is not like what we create in video games. It is divine and so out of our league to understand that we should just honour and respect them and show humility towards them all, while we follow one.
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Ok that makes sense and you are absolutely right about respecting all and worshipping one? So if according to our Swaminarayan Shaastras, if the avatars are created from Pradhan Purush, does that mean they are mayik and have maya in them; and that if a bhakt if those avatars worships them then they won’t/can’t get ultimate moksha. Kindly clear my confusions ; Jay Swaminarayan .
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i read it it is well try i also writing my book on 5 tatva of swa. tatvagyan(jeev,ishvar,maya,brahma,parbrahma) but i want to tell every person who says shree swa. bhagvan is not god so they should think about salangpur hanuman that hanuman is also given by swwa.bhagvan’s divine saint gopalanand swami
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nigga whyd u delete my post u dont know who iam
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Your comments were inappropriate for the blog. But if you are serious about something, I would like know you. Else, I’d better ignore you. 🙂
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Great Work for showing Maharaj nu sarvopari panic
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Sarvopari panu.
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thank you kartik, all say God is sarvopari, but i think our behaviour should be such that all should believe that lord Swaminarayan is sarvopari. That was the case in the past, the devotees and sairs were so good in their conduct that people felt the greatness and glory of God.
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By this type of thoughts, our Sanathan dharm has been broken in many parts. People of each sampradays glorifying the form of God that they worship greater than all others. There is only one God with many forms. There is no difference with one being greater than others. Hari and Har are one. We should not give this type of knowledge about one greater than others. This will create conflict among people of Sanathan dharm.
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You have done good job on other posts but this is wrong information. This information is twisted by other people just to glorify the God that they worship and degrade others. Totally wrong information.
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एकात्म्यमेव विज्ञेयं नारायणमहेशयोः ।
उभयोर्ब्रह्मरूपेण वेदेषु प्रतिपादनात् ॥47
No distinction shall be made between Narayan and Shiva, as they are both proclaimed as
Brahmanswarupa by the Vedas. (47)
The above is a shlok from Shikshaptri. A scripture by Lord Swaminarayan.
Do not worry about the Sanatan Dharma, we have utmost reverence towards Shivji 🙂 But dare not say the information is twisted, these differences are stated and proven in Vedic scriptures like Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam and Mahabharat.
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You are saying there are many Visnus. No, there is only one Sri Visnu who is an avatari. Only Hari, Har and Matasri are avatari.
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Well, I am not saying there are many Vishnus, I am saying there is only one Vishnu, but many are called Vishnu.
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So many Vishnus. Little bit confusing for ordinary minds. Thanks for this post.
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It is confusing for ordinary minds. Thank Lord Swaminarayan and his saints for making things simple and understandable for us.
The Vachanamrut and Swamini Vato are the best scriptures for understanding the philosophies and principles(tatva-gnan) of spirituality.
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Don’t be limited to one book there are many others. Anyone can glorify the one that they follow.
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Baghwan is only one. There is no number 1 and number 2. There is only one Sri Visnu who is same as Bholenath. Both are one. The books that teach that one is greater than others are twisted.
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