Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat

In an era of increasing materialism, as many as 12 NRI Gujarati youths on Thursday took diksha to initiate life as Swaminarayan sant. These youths renounced their personal ambitions and dedicated their lives in the service of God, guru and society. They took diksha to become sadhu in presence of thousands of devotees gathered at Sarangpur yesterday and received blessings of Pramukh Swami maharaj.

While 7 Sadhaks were given Parshad(preliminary) diksha, 5 parshads were given Bhagwati(final) diksha. All l2 diksharthis are from Gujarati families settled abroad. 4 of them are engineers, 4 are management graduates, 2 have masters degrees while 4 others are graduates.

Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha(BAPS) has facility to train new sants at its university-like complex in Sarangpur.

Procedure:

BAPS inducts only educated persons as Sadhu. General requirement is graduation. A fresher is inducted as Sadhak. He wears kurta,payjama. If he is found suitable, he is sent back to his home for one month. His behavior and wishes are supervised. If found OK, he is promoted to Parshad order. As a parshad he wears white dhoti and top. He lives with Sadhus and gains knowledge about religion. If he is found OK, he is given Bhagwati diksha, and offered saffron cloths. He is given new name. A new Sadhu is offered janoi, pagh, sweet and guru mantra.