Jay Swaminarayan

1
Jay Swaminarayan!
2
Shlok 65

• All my followers shall always act as prescribed
  above. They shall also study the Shastras in
  Sanskrit, or other vernacular and regional
  languages. To the best of their abilities.

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The aims of this presentation.

• To explain why we should try to study the
  Shastras and not to just simply read them.
• To describe why we should try to study the
  Shastras in the source language (Sanskrit).

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Why we should study the Shastras.

• The term studying implies that the reader should
  reflect on what they have read. They should then
  ask themselves what does this mean, or what is
  being said here.
• Studying Shastras means that we are much more
  likely to retain and recall the information, as
  well as the meaning behind what we have read.

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Why we should study the Shastras.

• We should also try to study the Shastras because,
  we as humans are blessed with ability to acquire
  knowledge. It is only the human species that
  possess the ability to read and write. We should
  therefore use these blessings to learn more about
  god and our religion.
• The ability to acquire knowledge is one of the
  things that differentiates us from other animals.
  This ability should be used to seek out truths.
  In order for use to do this we can study the
  Shastras so that we can understand the difference
  between dharma (righteous duty) and Adharma.

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Why we should try to study the Shastras in the
source language?

• In this shlok Lord Swaminarayan puts an emphasis
  on studying the Shastras in the source language
  which is often Sanskrit.
• The reason for this is because the study of
  translations may not give full satisfaction. As
  the meaning of the text could be lost in
  translation.
• It is also because Sanskrit is the language of
  the gods (deva basha). All other languages are
  essentially the language of man (loka basha). So
  again reiterating the point, that the meaning of
  the Shastras may be lost.

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Studying Shastras to the best of our abilities.

• God does however say that the study of the
  Shastras should be done to the best of our
  abilities.
• Here he recognises that people do have different
  capabilities with regard to studying the holy
  texts. This is particularly true for people who
  cant read Sanskrit or maybe even Gujarati.
• So for these people he suggests that we should
  try to do our best to learn from translations.
  But we MUST bear in mind that the true meaning
  may have been lost due to the process of
  translation.

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In Summery

• Study of Shastras helps use to understand dharma
  better and hence lead better lives.
• The ability to acquire knowledge is a special
  gift given by god to humans. We should therefore
  use it to learn more about religion.
• Those that are able should try to learn the
  Shastras in Sanskrit. And those that arent
  should try their best to learn them in there own
  preferred languages.

9
Thank you for listening!

• Any questions?