The 17th World Sanskrit Conference, the premier international forum for Sanskrit scholars, held a scholarly session and a forum on the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan in Vancouver, Canada.

In the morning, a special darshanic scholarly session was held on the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan in which professors and learned Swamis presented papers. Bhadreshdas Swami spoke on “Bhagwan Swaminarayan’s Akshar Purushottam Darshan: Ontology, Soteriology, and Identity;” Paramtattvadas Swami presented a paper on “Deconstructing ‘brahmajignasa’ in the Brahmasutra-Swaminarayan-Bhashya: A Study of Grammar, Hermeneutics, and Theology;” Aksharananddas Swami presented a paper on “The Akshar-Purushottam Darshan and the Gita Verse: ‘Brahmabhutah Prasannatma;” Prof. Deven Patel of the University of Pennsylvania presented a paper on “The Role of the Guru Within the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan;” and Aksharvatsaldas Swami presented a paper on “The Tradition of the Shikhara Within Mandir Architecture – A Study Based on Ancient Treatises and the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan.”

In the evening, Akshar-Purushottam Darshan Vidvat Goshti, a scholarly forum in Sanskrit and English was held on the significance of the Swaminarayan-Siddhant-Sudha, composed by Bhadreshdas Swami. Several of the world’s foremost experts on Sanskrit, including Prof. George Cardona (University of Pennsylvania), Prof. Sadananda Das (University of Leipzig), C. Rajendran (University of Calicut), Staneshwar Timalsina (San Diego State University), Shrikant Bahulkar (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute), and Bhadreshdas Swami discussed, among other things, the impact of the Akshar-Purushottam Darshan.