1.1 Importance of Upasana

All aspirants are striving to attain Brahmabhav through vrat (vows), tapas (austerities), yagna (sacrifices), dan (alms), and Satsang (association with sadhus and religious men). By such auspicious activities, followers on the spiritual path are trying to attain ultimate salvation and liberation from the cycle of births and deaths. To reach this destination, upasana is the most ideal, indeed an essential route.

Shriji Maharaj (Lord Swaminarayan) states in Vachanamritam : "Those who attain perfection and reach the ultimate blissful state, do so because of their upasana to God in human form, who manifests on earth for the redemption of the jivas. Therefore one should discard all other sadhanas and hold fast to this one sadhana - upasana - offering devotion to the personal God before him." [Vachanamritam Gadhada I/56]

Shriji Maharaj is quite emphatic about the impossibility of achieving atmajnan or Brahmajnan in the absence of upasana. He says: "Without upasana of God and His medidational worship, it is impossible to realise one's own atman, and consequently the Paramatman seated within the atman. It is only with such upasana that one attains such realisation. However, a desire to realise atman, and Paramatman seated within the atman, without offering such upasana, is like endeavouring to feel the taste of the sky. Those Samkhya and Yoga scriptures, based on atheistis beliefs may have referred to such realisation of the Atman. However I have not come across anyone who has realised the Atman without offering devotion to God, neither does such a claim tally with My yogic or intuitional experience. Therefore such references whenever they appear in the scriptures, are misleading and false." [Vachanamritam Gadhada III/36]

Shriji Maharaj also says: "But when death, which is like an oceans, is to be overcome, it requires the help of upasana of God - even for a devotee who may have developed atmanishtha. One should therefore profoundly learn and tread the path of upasana." [Vachanamritam Gadhada I/61]

Aksharbrahman Gunatitanand Swami says: "Moksha - ultimate redemption - can be attained only through upasana. Dharma, vairagya and atmanishtha cannot lead to moksha." [Swamini Vatu V/136]

Furthermore, he says: "Our pre-eminence is due to upasana. One may falter in the observance of the tenets of dharma or in other forms of sadhana. But if one is steadfast in upasana, one never suffers a setback." [Swamini Vatu V/70]

"A devotee with unflinching upasana remains undisturbed even in the face of heaviest odds. He is aware that even after death, he has a sure place in God's divine abode." [Swamini Vatu I/56]