Gates of Sampraday Open to All
Every human being has a right, rather is duty bound, to observe rules of Dharma and worship God. observance of Dharma i.e. Sadachar usually depends upon certain things like place (Desh), time (Kal), age, pecuniary conditions (Vita), male or female of four varnas (Jati), and physical and mental state of mind and body (Shakti). It may therefore, vary according to the predominance of any of the above things, but everybody must be free to worship God in the way he or she thinks the best. This principle is enunciated and accepted in all the Shastras but some Sampradaya and Dharmacharyas have deemed it proper to debar certain category of man from initiation in their Sampradaya. Lord Swaminarayan, from the very beginning, threw open the doors of His Sampradaya to all Hindus and Non-Hindus alike including Jains, Muslims, Paris and Khojas. In the word Hindu, He specifically included females and shudras of all types. At the same time, Lord Swaminarayan stated clearly that male or female should always act within the boundaries of his or her Dharma and worship God accordingly. He allowed all satshudras to put on twofold sandal wood necklace and pundrak mark on their fore-head just as is done by followers of higher castes. This was a novel departure from the age-old practice and was, therefore, appreciated and acclaimed by one and all. As a result of these happy reforms, there were in the past and are today, in the Sampradaya, many non-Hindus followers like Jains, Muslims, Parsis and Khojas. Number of female followers is also very large, perhaps, even larger than the male followers. It may be noted that the mode of living of Satsangi Shudras today is just similar to that of a Brahmin. In the Sampradaya today, one will find persons belonging to the highest castes of Brahmins as well as persons belonging the lowest castes.