religion nityanand swami 
Swaminarayan ( IAST : ', 3 April 1781  1 June 1830 ), also known as Sahajanand Swami , is the central figure in a modern branch of ___MASK6___ known as ___MASK93___ . He is believed by followers as a manifestation of God . Vishnu ( IAST : "") is one of the principal deities of ___MASK6___ , and the Supreme Being in its ___MASK84___ tradition . Along with Brahma and Shiva , Vishnu forms a ___MASK30___ trinity ( Trimurti ); however , ancient ___MASK30___ texts do mention other trinities of gods or goddesses . Brahma is the creator god in the Trimurti of ___MASK6___ . He has four faces . Brahma is also known as " Svayambhu " ( self - born ), " Vga " ( Lord of Speech ), and the creator of the four Vedas , one from each of his mouths . Brahma is identified with the Vedic god Prajapati , as well as linked to Kama and Hiranyagarbha ( the cosmic egg ), he is more prominently mentioned in the post - Vedic ___MASK30___ epics and the mythologies in the Puranas . In the epics , he is conflated with Purusha . Brahma , along with Vishnu and Shiva , is part of a ___MASK30___ Trinity ; however , ancient ___MASK30___ texts mention other trinities of gods or goddesses which do not include Brahma . Nityanand Swami ( Devanagari :                ) ( 1793 - 1903 ) born as Dinmani Sharma , was one of the senior Paramhansa ' s initiated by Swaminarayan . He was given the name Nityanand as a reflection of his lasting joyful persona . Prior to his initiation , he had already established an impressive knowledge base through his association with great scholars and pundits . Generally recognized as one of the foremost scholars in the Swaminarayan Sampraday on ___MASK30___ scriptures , Nityanand Swami ' s knowledge and abilities were often displayed in scriptural debates common for the era . In line with his inclination for scriptural studies , Nityanand Swami was also appointed as of the five compilers of the Vachanamrut . Nityanand Swami was regarded as the incarnation of Vyasa Vyasa , literally " Compiler ") is a central and revered figure in most ___MASK30___ traditions . He is also sometimes called Veda Vysa (        , " veda - vysa ", " the one who classified the Vedas "), or Krishna Dvaipyana ( referring to his complexion and birthplace ). He is generally considered the author of the " Mahabharata ", as well as a character in it , and the scribe of both the Vedas and Puranas . Vyasa is also considered to be one of the seven Chiranjivins ( long lived , or immortals ), who are still in existence according to ___MASK30___ belief . According to the " Vishnu Purana ", " Veda Vyasa " is a title applied to the compilers of the Vedas who are avatars of Vishnu ; 28 people with this title have appeared so far . The Mahabharata or Mahbhrata ( US ; UK "") is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient ___MASK3___ , the other being the " Ramayana ". The Upanishads are a collection of texts that contain some of the central philosophical concepts of ___MASK6___ , some of which are shared with ___MASK20___ , ___MASK70___ and Sikhism . The Upanishads are considered by Hindus to contain sayings (" ruti ") concerning the nature of ultimate reality (" brahman ") and describing the character of and path to human salvation (" moka " or " mukti "). The Brahma stras is a Sanskrit text , attributed to Badarayana , estimated to have been completed in its surviving form some time between 450 BCE and 200 CE . The text systematizes and summarizes the philosophical and spiritual ideas in the Upanishads . It is one of the foundational texts of the Vednta school of ___MASK30___ philosophy . Gujarat ("" ) is a state in Western ___MASK3___ , sometimes referred to as the " Jewel of Western ___MASK3___ ". It has an area of with a coastline of , most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula , and a population in excess of 60 million . The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the north , Maharashtra to the south , Madhya Pradesh to the east , and the Arabian Sea and the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west . Its capital city is Gandhinagar , while its largest city is Ahmedabad . Gujarat is home to the Gujarati - speaking people of ___MASK3___ . ___MASK3___ , officially the Republic of ___MASK3___ (" Bhrat Gaarjya "), is a country in South Asia . It is the seventh - largest country by area , the second - most populous country ( with over 1 . 2 billion people ), and the most populous democracy in the world . It is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south , the Arabian Sea on the southwest , and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast . It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west ; China , Nepal , and Bhutan to the northeast ; and Myanmar ( Burma ) and Bangladesh to the east . In the Indian Ocean , ___MASK3___ is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives . ___MASK3___ ' s Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia . Its capital is New Delhi ; other metropolises include Mumbai , Kolkata , Chennai , Bangalore , Hyderabad and Ahmedabad . Devanagari (, a compound of "" deva "" and "" ngar "" ; Hindi pronunciation : ), also called Nagari (" Ngar "), is an abugida ( alphasyllabary ) alphabet of ___MASK3___ and Nepal . It is written from left to right , has a strong preference for symmetrical rounded shapes within squared outlines , and is recognisable by a horizontal line that runs along the top of full letters . In a cursory look , the Devanagari script appears different from other Indic scripts such as Bengali , Oriya , or Gurmukhi , but a closer examination reveals they are very similar except for angles and structural emphasis . The Vishnu Purana ( IAST : Viu Pura ) is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas , a genre of ancient and medieval texts of ___MASK6___ . It is an important Pancharatra text in the ___MASK84___ literature corpus . Dharma (" dharma ", ; " dhamma ") is a key concept with multiple meanings in the Indian religions  ___MASK6___ , ___MASK20___ , Sikhism and ___MASK70___ . There is no single word translation for " dharma " in western languages . The Vachanamrut of Swaminarayan is the most sacred and foundational scripture of the Swaminarayan Sampradaya . It contains the profound wisdom of the Vedas , Upanishads , Brahma Sutras , Bhagvad Gita , Bhagavata Purana , dharma shastras like Yjñavalkya Smti , Vidurniti , and epics like the Ramayana and Mahabharata ( Vachanamrut Gadhadha II - 28 ). Swaminarayan says in Gadhadha II - 28 , "" What is this discourse which I have delivered before you like ? Well , I have delivered it having heard and having extracted the essence from the Vedas , the shastras , the Purans and all other words on this earth pertaining to liberation ."" Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal , is a landlocked central Himalayan country in South Asia . It has a population of 26 . 4 million and is the 93rd largest country by area . Bordering China in the north and ___MASK3___ in the south , east , and west , it is the largest sovereign Himalayan state . Nepal does not border Bangladesh , which is located within only 27 km ( 17 mi ) of its southeastern tip . It neither borders Bhutan due to the Indian state of Sikkim being located in between . Nepal has a diverse geography , including fertile plains , subalpine forested hills , and eight of the world ' s ten tallest mountains , including Mount Everest , the highest point on Earth . Kathmandu is the nation ' s capital and largest city . It is a multiethnic nation with Nepali as the official language . Modern Standard Hindi ( Devanagari :         , " Mnak Hind ") or simply Hindi ( Devanagari :      , " Hind "), is an Indian language and a standardised and Sanskritised register of the Hindustani language . Hindi is one of the official languages of ___MASK3___ , and is the " lingua franca " of the Hindi belt languages . Outside ___MASK3___ , Hindi is an official language in Fiji , and is a recognised regional language in Mauritius , Suriname , Guyana , and Trinidad and Tobago . The Vedas ( Sanskrit : "", " knowledge ") are a large body of knowledge texts originating in the ancient Indian subcontinent . Composed in Vedic Sanskrit , the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of ___MASK6___ . Hindus consider the Vedas to be " apaurueya ", which means " not of a man , superhuman " and " impersonal , authorless ". ___MASK6___ is a religion , or a way of life , found most notably in India and Nepal . ___MASK6___ has been called the oldest religion in the world , and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as "", " the eternal law ," or the " eternal way ," beyond human origins . Scholars regard ___MASK6___ as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions , with diverse roots and no founder . This " ___MASK30___ synthesis " started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period ( 1500 BCE to 500 BCE ). The word Puranas ("") literally means " ancient , old ", and it is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics , particularly myths , legends and other traditional lore . Composed primarily in Sanskrit , but also in regional languages , several of these texts are named after major ___MASK30___ deities such as Vishnu , Shiva and Devi . The Puranas genre of literature is found in both Hinduism and Jainism . The Yajnavalkya Smriti ( IAST : ) is one of the many Dharma - related texts of ___MASK6___ composed in Sanskrit . It is dated to between the 3rd to 5th - century CE , and belongs to the Dharmasastras tradition . The text was composed after the Manusmriti , but like it and Naradasmriti , the text was composed in " shloka " ( poetic meter ) style . The legal theories within the " Yajnavalkya Smriti " are presented in three books , namely " achara - kanda " ( customs ), " vyavahara - kanda " ( judicial process ) and " prayascitta - kanda " ( crime and punishment , penance ). Vishishtadvaita ( IAST ""), the philosophy of the Sri Sampradaya , is one of the most popular schools of the Vedanta school of ___MASK30___ philosophy . Vedanta literally means the " end of the Vedas ." Primarily the word Vedanta stood for Upanishads ; afterwords , its denotation widened to include all thoughts developed out of the Upanishads . " VishishtAdvaita " ( literally " Advaita with uniqueness ; qualifications ") is a non - dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy . It is non - dualism of the qualified whole , in which Brahman alone exists , but is characterized by multiplicity . It can be described as qualified monism or qualified non - dualism or attributive monism . It is a school of Vedanta philosophy which believes in all diversity subsuming to an underlying unity . ___MASK30___ refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally , ethnically , or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism . It has historically been used as a geographical , cultural , rather than a religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia . An avatar ( Sanskrit :    , IAST : "") is a concept in ___MASK6___ and it means " descent ", and refers to the appearance or incarnation of a deity on earth . The term also generally refers to " alight , to make one ' s appearance " and sometimes used to refer to any revered guru or human being . The Bhgavata Pura ( Devanagari :        ; also rmad Bhgavata Mah Pura , rmad Bhgavatam or Bhgavata ) is one of ___MASK6___ ' s eighteen great Puranas (" Mahapuranas ", great histories ). Composed in Sanskrit and available in almost all Indian languages , it promotes " bhakti " ( devotion ) to Krishna integrating themes from the Advaita ( monism ) philosophy of Adi Shankara . Swaminarayan Sampraday ( Devnagari :                   , Gujarati :                   , IAST : '), known previously as the Uddhav Sampraday "', is a ___MASK30___ sect propagated by Swaminarayan ( or Sahajanand Swami ) ( 2 April 1781  1 June 1830 ). Swaminarayan was handed the leadership of the " Uddhav Sampraday " by his guru Ramanand Swami to continue to propagate the teachings and philosophy of Vishishtadvaita , which originates from the Sri Sampradaya .