Pramukh Swami (b. 1921)

Pramukh Swami (Narayanswarupdas Swami) is the leader of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha (BAPS) subgroup of Swaminarayan Hinduism. He is revered as the chief devotee of Swaminarayan in a lineage that goes back to Gunatitanand Swami, a companion of Swaminarayan in early 19th-century Gujarat. Pramukh Swami was born on December 7, 1921, to Motibhai and Diwaliben Patel in Chansad, Gujarat, India. BAPS Swaminarayan temples celebrate his birthday with elaborate ceremonies each year. He took full initiation as a sadhu in 1940 and soon became manager of the temple at Sarangpur and then, in 1947, private secretary to Shastri Maharaj, who had founded BAPS as a reform movement in 1908. Narayanswarupdas Swami was appointed president of BAPS in 1950 by his predecessor, Yogiji Maharaj, and people ...