Panditraj Shri Nityanand Swami

Early life 

Nityanand Swami was born of father Vishnu Sharma and mother Virjadevi in the village Datiya in the Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh in the Vikram Samvat year 1812. His childhood name was Dinmani Sharma. He had a desire of meeting the Lord and so he left home in search of God as he firmly believed that God manifested in India. With this desire he set on a pilgrimage of Dwarika. In the village of Visnagar he understood that God has manifested and is presently in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

Dinmani Sharma was a very learned scholar. He had studied several scriptures like the Vedas, Vedanta, Nyay etc.

Meeting with Bhagwan Swaminarayan 

When he first met Lord Swaminarayan, seeing Lords teeth he was convinced that he cannot be anyone but God himself. Lord Swaminarayan gave him diksha (initiation as a sadhu/saint) as Nityanand Swami in Meghpur .

Spiritual Intellect 

Nityanand Swami clearly understood the being of one God and why is Lord Swaminarayan that one God, the ultimate controller. His understanding was not home made but was based on the Vedas and other scriptures based on Vedas and/or written by Bhagwan Ved Vyas. Once scholars of a faith called Vallabh Samprday, had organized a religious debate with him on whom to call the Lord, basically debating the fact the Lord Swaminarayan is not God himself. Nityanand Swami provided facts from the scriptures and based on that proved that Lord Swaminarayan is God and that Swaminarayan Sampraday is no different than Vaishnav Sampraday. His discussions with the scholars of Umreth established Swaminarayan Sampradays Vedic roots and popularity.

Service 

Nityanand Swami has written several scriptures like Shree Haridigvijay, Shree Harikavach etc. he also translated the Shikshapatri from Sanskrit to Gujarati which is widely read and worshipped by devotees presently. Nityanand Swami is also one of the four compilers of the Vachanamrutam.