Swaminarayan Hindu here - there was just a post somewhere either in the Hinduism or Dharmic Religions forum asking for detailed questions about Swaminarayan Hinduism. Wonder what's sparking the interest all of a sudden?
Let's see where to start....(Just to clarify, I'm not that devout, and I don't necessarily believe everything in the sect)
Really, I'd say the largest difference between Swaminarayan Hinduism and other forms of Hinduism is that Swaminarayan Hindus view and worship Swaminarayan as a form of Krishna. Swaminarayan Hindus justify this through some verses found in the Brahma Purana, Skanda Purana, and somewhere else. In Vaishnavism, Uddhava is the main disciple of Krishna, and it is believed that he would return to the Earth in another birth to spread the religious message. Swaminarayan Hindus believe that Uddhava reincarnated as Ramananda Swami, Swaminarayan's guru.
Rules of the sect are pretty much basic stuff found in Hinduism: be vegetarian, don't consume intoxicants, don't commit adultery, don't kill, or steal, etc. In addition to the vegetarian thing, just like Hare Krishna members, Swaminarayan Hindus are encouraged to not consume onions or garlic because they're considered tamasic, or impure because they're believed to interfere with meditation (although many members, including myself, are lax when it comes to following this rule).
The philosophy of the sect is based on Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita. As far as I know, this is somewhat similar to panentheism, in that the universe is within God, but God is also beyond the universe (I'm not sure if that makes sense haha :cover
. Swaminarayan Hindus don't believe that God is formless, but that God has a divine form (which is similar to other Vaishnava schools).
The Swaminarayan sect itself has multiple subsects. There are multiple ones, but the two main ones are the Original Swaminarayan Sampraday and the BAPS. BAPS is the more well-known out of the two, although I am part of the Original Sampraday. There is somewhat of a rivalry between the two subsects. While there is some amount of respect when leaders of the two subsects mean, there is kind of an awkward rivalry between some of the laymen.
In the Original, there are two seats (or gadis) of leadership (one in Ahmedabad to handle north Gujarat and the corresponding parts of India, and another in Vadtal to handle south Gujarat and the corresponding parts of India). Those two seats behave somewhat like a monarchy. The two seats were taken by Swaminarayan's nephews and the current two leaders are there descendants (although the Vadtal Gadi is going through internal strife and politics as to who the real leader should be). Leader of the Ahmedabad Gadi is Koshelendraprasadji and the leader of the Vadtal Gadi is Rakeshprasadji. Those who have the seats are known as Acharyas, and they are responsible for initiating the monks and other male members into the sect. Their wives, Gadiwallas, are responsible for initiating the nuns and the female members into the sect. The temples are gender segregated since the monks can't talk to women (nuns can talk to men, although there aren't that many nuns in the temples outside of India and in general).
The BAPS broke away from the Original sometime later. They believed that the spiritual successor was supposed to be Gunatitanand Swami. The current leader is Pramukh Swami. He initiates the monks and other male members....I have no idea what happens to the female members. BAPS doesn't have nuns or a female person to take that role, so I have no idea how the female members get initiated.
There is probably some other stuff too that I'm forgetting, but I can't think of anything right now
Here's two parts of an Al Jazeera documentary that compares the two subsects. Let me know if you want to anything else!
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God's Business - Hinduism Goes Global - 24Sep07 - Ep2 Part 1 - YouTube
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God's Business - Hinduism Goes Global - 24Sep07 - Ep2 Part 2 - YouTube
