Abstract
This article is based on fieldwork with a branch of the popular Hindu sect, the Swaminarayan, in Gujarat, India. The branch is called the Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS). It has spread throughout the world. I examine its cultural nuances and its seva, that is, its social service and outreach work. Seva implements the mandate for, and ideology of, social service and entails aspects of volition and institutionalized service. My aim has been to see how the sect culture, which is essentially inward-bonding, undertakes seva within the larger, beneficiary populace. I argue that two aspects of BAPS’s seva are prominent and peculiar to it, namely, perpetuating sect culture and remembrance of the spiritual heads. I propose that seva is a practice of BAPS to enable sect proliferation and create a space for itself in the civil society.
Highlights
Sects may be explored through their texts, origins, or myths, ritual, hagiographies, and norms and forms of praxis (Houtart & Lemercinier, 1984)
There are conceptual problems in superimposing the evangelical term sect in the Hindu context (Williams, 1984, 2001), a close parallel can be drawn with the term sampradaya, that is, a tradition or religious system relating to a succession of masters and disciples that serves as a spiritual channel
What this study contributes is that among faith-based institutions, Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS)’s model is unique in its delivery of social service. This is corroborated by the fact that in a “bridging” activity such as social service and outreach, BAPS manages to retain its exclusive sectarian sentiments, albeit even strengthen them, by perpetual guru remembrance
Summary
Sects may be explored through their texts, origins, or myths, ritual, hagiographies, and norms and forms of praxis (Houtart & Lemercinier, 1984).
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