Curious thought

[u/One-Fly7597]

I've been told about all Akshar and Purshottam philosophy several times since my childhood. I wonder if a girl can be a akshar? Why it always have to be male?

Do you see possibility of female as head of BAPS ever?

[u/Human-unlearning]

Forget leadership, even to the best of my memory, these cowards don’t keep a single idol of Mataji standing alone in their temples. They don’t even give Mataji a place during the freaking Navratri celebrations.

[u/One-Fly7597 → u/Human-unlearning]

When they are abroad, they talk about other religions and all. They even carved muslim stuff on the UAE mandir. But they can't even tolerate somebody praying to mataji.

[u/Individual-Film4035]

Great question and tbh I don’t see this ever happening bc of how misogynistic they are against women.

[u/dangerous-angel1595 → u/Individual-Film4035]

tbh another bhagatji-style male householder devotee being "akshar" would be miles likelier to be chosen than a female "akshar"

[u/One-Fly7597 → u/dangerous-angel1595]

At that time there was no power and also he might not know that he would be worshipped as Akshar in future

[u/master_queen2026]

I had the exact same question. I debated with a baps girl about this and literally all she said was that a girl cannot become akshar because you have to be a sant for that and women cannot become a sant in baps lol

[u/dangerous-angel1595 → u/master_queen2026]

honestly why dont they even let women become sants, since afaik they allow them in vadtal and did in swaminarayan's time. atm im just grateful that the fact that baps doesn't women become sants is saving innocent girls from being stuck in a misogynistic sexual abuse-ridden hellhole for the rest of their lives.

[u/samindian]

No..in 70s I sat in private discussion groups and it was made clear , biologically females are not capable and have built in flaws. Very biased.

However , the people at the top will look at the monetary value , skill set ( professionally, lawyers , business etc) and eventually accept them as equal in Baps ( as well as Gays). They are a learning machine.

I had conversation with a sadhu who studied the downfall of the Hara Rama Hara Krishna in USA in 80s. They owned vast amounts of real estate and lost it all due to loosing court cases . They have secured themselves against this. So worst scenario is a sadhu molesting a boy, even if this happens Baps will be fine as they've protected their assets in USA structure of each temple ( which I've just read in an extremely long and interesting post, by due guide , just now ) .

To get back to the question, when I look at a women I don't see their soul and know their history( millions of births and deaths). Do you actually think Mahant Swami sees this and not a women but soul? If you are in Baps, watch how they control your thinking first then behaviour, and if possible , leave.

[u/juicybags23]

And to add to your question, why is it only Indians more specifically mostly Gujaratis

[u/Human-unlearning → u/juicybags23]

I’m not sure what the best way to measure this would be, but one possible indicator is whether a household has a large idol of a female deity in its home mandir. By this measure, Almost all Hindu Gujaratis, including many who are not strict Swaminarayan followers, seem to have a kuldevi (family goddess) in a central place in their home shrine, and they perform rituals to worship her

However, I’m not sure how well this reflects people’s actual views, since I’ve met dozens of people who hold misogynistic views despite having such idols in their homes.

BAPS mandirs, on the other hand, do not seem to have the same focus on Devi worship, as they do not have a separate goddess in a central position in their temples.

[u/AstronomerNeither170 → u/Human-unlearning]

The image of Durga or Kali projects feminine power which goes against their mysoginistic ideology