Faith and intense attachment to God’s divine form are necessary to understand the role darshan plays in a Hindu’s life. In Sanskrit, “darshan” means seeing, to see, or be seen by God or a God-realized Guru.’ However, the true import of darshan extends beyond its literal meaning; it is the zeal for even a glimpse of God. Millions of Hindus travel to mandirs that may have many people trying to catch a glimpse of the murtis. The expression of satisfaction, serenity, and joy on the face of a devotee who has just completed darshan truly captures the essence of this experience. Devotees perform darshan of the murtis upon arriving at the mandir. However, darshan is not confined to temples; devotees can engage in the practice throughout the day in various settings—whether at home, in the office, or before driving.
Bhagwan Swaminarayan, revered as God incarnate, speaks in the Vachanamrut—a sacred Hindu scripture of his teachings—about how to engage in the darshan of God. He says, in Vachanamrut Sarangpur-2, “While doing darshan of God, one should not look from side to side. The novelty and divinity experienced in one’s heart at the time of the first darshan of God should remain exactly the same. Moreover, one should look at the form with a fixed gaze and then closing one’s eyes, one should internalize that form exactly as it is in one’s heart. For example, in Dharmapur, Kushalkuvarbãi did my darshan, and at the same time, closed her eyes and internalized the form in her heart. Similarly, one should do darshan while keeping an attentive mind and a fixed gaze, but one should not do darshan as other ordinary people do. If, along with the darshan of God, one also looks at other people, cats, or dogs, then when one has a dream, one sees not only God, but also those other objects. That is why one should do the darshan of God with a fixed gaze, not a wandering one. One who does the darshan of God while keeping one’s sight under control will feel that darshan to be continually novel…. on the other hand, a person who does darshan superficially, with a mundane vision, would feel God’s darshan and commands to be commonplace. Although he may do darshan every day, for such a person it is as if he has not done darshan at all. When such a person engages in worship, his mind would not remain stable. Specifically, when he attempts to concentrate on God while his thinking is diffused, other objects he may have seen would spontaneously sprout in his mind along with God. Therefore, one should do darshan only of God. The mind of one who does darshan in such a manner remains only on God during worship. His thinking does not become diffused; instead, it becomes concentrated.”
– Lenin Joshi
BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha
