Taming the Mind: Cognitive Practices of Devotion in the Gujarati Works of Nishkulanand Swami, 1803-1848

This study examines religious lyric literature from nineteenth-century Gujarat region of Western India to present cognitive practices as a necessary element in the process through which individuals build their relationships with themselves, their God, and their religion. Through translation and analysis of the lyric works Nishkulanand Swami (1766-1848), an ascetic within the Swaminarayan Hindu tradition founded in Gujarat in 1801, I show that the poet foregrounds the idea that in the process of building a lasting relationship with God, what one thinks about matters. This emphasis on cognitive actions is necessary to understand the motivations that prompt individuals to choose one figure as their God over another, to continue working diligently to build a relationship with that figure, and to draw on their religion to make their everyday life meaningful in specific ways. By analyzing how religious ideas are communicated through song literature, I show that religious instruction uses ordinary everyday experiences to present the logic of thinking and behaving in specific ways as required by the religious traditions. And lastly, through my research, I show that logic and rationality shape religious behavior as much as belief, faith, and emotions.