Prof. David Lane (author of 'The Radhasoami
Tradition' and webmaster of The
Neural Surfer website) has made some comments
regarding the connection of Divine Light Mission with
Radhasoami groups (notably that Shri Hans was also
initiated by one of their Gurus, Sawan Singh) and the
Advait Mat group (which is the subject matter of the
'Paramhansa Advait Mat' Book ).
"The Divine Light Mission was essentially a branch-off
of the Shri Paramhans Advait Mat Group in Guna.....
Sarupanand was Hansji's guru......Hansji was also
apparently initiated by the late Sawan Singh of
Radhasoami Satsang Beas.There is a book entitled Shri
Paramhans Advait Mat published in India (Guna) and
available at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA., which tells about
their lineage....It is quite informative....."
"Gyani Ji at Sawan Ashram in 1978 told me that Hansji
had been initiated by Sawan Singh in the 1920s, but later
left due to some personal problems (I think Gyanji said
something about sex, but such gossip is notorious in
India and not be relied upon unless there are many
sources). The Advait Mat group is indeed different than
Radhasoami, although my friend Aaron Talsky suggests that
the founder of Advait Mat may well have been initiated by
either Shiv Dayal Singh or one of his successors (Talsky
did some research on this issue while in India, but I
have not seen the verification so it remains
speculative).
Sarupanand is mentioned by DLM and there was indeed a
split off after his death and if I am not mistaken this
group also mentions Hansji."
"Advait Mat is different than Radhasoami in terms of
lineage (except that the founder may have been at
one-time connected to the early leaders of
Radhasoami).
Hansji was clearly a follower of Sarupanand of Advait
Mat. Hansji is also reported to have received initiation
from Sawan Singh of Radhasoami Beas, as reported by
Kirpal's personal secretary at Sawan Ashram, Gyanji (who
I personally interviewed in July of 1978 on this issue).
Hansji's doctrines are clearly reflective of Advait Mat
(especially the pressing of the eyeballs, and the
shortish hair--versus Beas's Sikh lineage gurus). I
visted one of the Advait Mat centers in Delhi. A letter
to their headquarters in Guna may reveal more."
Garland Publishing has also published a critical
history of Radhasoami guru succession (the main catalyst
for Twitchell's Eckankar movement, John-Roger's M.SI.A.,
and a host of other New Age styled religions) which I
wrote as my Ph.D. dissertation back in 1991. Also coming
out is Exposing Cults: When the Skeptical Mind Confronts
the Mystical (Garland: August 1994). I should also
mention that there are a number of good "outside" studies
of shabd yoga, sant mat, and radhasoami, which are
written from a critical perspective. Juergensmeyer's
Radhasoami Reality (Princeton University Press) is
perhaps the best of its kind.
There are now more than 30 shabd yoga related groups
operating in America which have some genealogical
connection to Sant Mat/Radhasoami. To list a few: Ching
Hai (Buddhist/Sant Mat fusion: she was initiated by
Thakar Singh); John Roger Hinkins (Mormon/Eckankar/Sant
Mat fusion; he was initiated by Paul Twitchell; Jerry
Mulvin (he was a higher initiate in Eckankar); Rajinder
Singh (Darshan Singh's successor and the heir to Paul
Twitchell's own teacher, Kirpal Singh); Gary Olsen (and
the Master Path; followed Eckankar); Divine Light Mission
(whose founder and Guru Maharaji's father was a follower
of Sarupanand and Sawan Singh); and many more.
There is not just one shabd yoga group in India, but
rather tens upon tens of them (I would daresay that the
number runs in the hundreds, perhaps), most of which have
a presiding guru. Such shabd oriented groups range from
the Kabir-panthis, to theTulsi Sahibis, to the Sat Namis,
to the Sikhs (and their various sub-branches, Nirankaris,
Namdharis, etc.), to the Paltu Sahibis, to the Divine
Light Mission (yes, the one-time boy guru's father was
associated with shabd yoga--Shri Paramhans Advait Mat in
Guna), to Ruhani Satsang, to Sawan-Kirpal Mission, to
Sant Bani, to Radhasoami Beas, Soami Bagh, Dayal Bagh,
Peepal Mandi, Tarn Taran, etc., etc. (See the
genealogical tree in Juergensmeyer's RADHASOAMI REALITY
for a partial sketch).
THE NEW PANTHS: SHABDISM IN NORTH
AMERICA
There are now several popular religious movements in
North America which owe their existence, either partially
or wholly, to the Radhasoami tradition of India. The
spectrum ranges from immediate connections, as in
Eckankar and the Divine Light Mission whose founders have
taken initiation from one of the Satgurus, to associative
influences where sects have borrowed (and, in some cases,
plagiarized) writings and spiritual lineages from
Radhasoami. All of these new panths , though, have one
thing in common: they give significant emphasis to the
Shabd , the transcendent power which is believed to be
the creative and sustaining force of the universe (it
isalso known as the "Audible Life Stream" or the "Music
of the Spheres"). And though there are groups which speak
of this "Sound Current" which are both anterior and
exterior to the Radhasoami tradition, all of the new
movements under discussion have based their knowledge and
writings on Radhasoami's own particular interpretation of
Surat Shabd Yoga, the practice of uniting the soul with
the internal sound energy. In this article, I will
describe the relationship of these American religious
movements to the Radhasoami tradition and then will
examine the reasons why there is such a strong tendency
in these new panths to deny their living religious
heritage.
The Radhsoami Tradition of India
The name Radhasoami has been generally applied to
those gurus and gaddis (the seat/residence of a saint,
living or deceased) who trace their spiritual lineages
back to Shiv Dayal Singh (1818-1878), the proclaimed
founder of the movement who resided in the city of Agra,
in the Uttar Pradesh District of India. "Soamiji
Maharaj," as Shiv Dayal Singh was called by his
disciples, came from a family of Nanak-panthis and was
primarily influenced in his religious upbringing by the
nirguna bhakti poetry of such Sants as Kabir, Nanak,
Paltu, and most significantly Tulsi Sahib of Hathras.
What distinguishes Soamiji's teachings (and
subsequently those of the Radhasoami tradition) from
Vaishnavism, Tantrism, Goraknathism, Saivism, and other
forms of Indic piety is essentially the emphasis he gives
to three cardinal precepts:
1. Satguru, both as the Absolute Lord (nirguna) and
the living human master (saguna).
2. Shabd, which encompasses both varnatmak (spoken or
written) and dhunyatmak (transcendent melody) expressions
of the Supreme Lord (Sat Purush).
3. Satsang, the congregation of earnest devotees of
the truth.
Upon Soamiji's death, several of his disciples served
as gurus, resulting in a proliferation of satsangs. Today
there are at least thirty different Radhasoami centers in
India with direct lineage connections to Shiv Dayal
Singh. For the purposes of this paper, however, we will
only be concerned with two of the largest and most
influential of these: Radhasoami Satsang Beas and Ruhani
Satsang. For it is these two sects which have been
instrumental in the development of a number of popular
American religious movements. Ruhani Satang and its
parent Radhasoami Satsang Beas trace their lineages back
to Shiv Dayal Singh through Jaimal Singh, Soamiji's only
Sikh successor who eventually settled on the banks of the
Beas river in the now thriving farm community of the
Punjab. After Jaimal Singh's demise in 1903, his chief
disciple and successor, Sawan Singh (1858-1948), founded
a spiritual colony in honor of his guru. It was Sawan
Singh who has been the most pivotal force in the spread
of Shabd Yoga related panths in North America. His impact
can be directly seen in the teachings and writings of the
Divine Light Mission, Mishra's Yoga Society, Dr. Bhagat
Singh Thind's metaphysical groups, and the Movement for
Spiritual Inner Awareness (M.S.I.A.).
(excerpt taken from:
http://www.inlink.com/~rife/tmsma1 )
Direct link to his site: David
Rife
This very article is now available on this site:
Shabdism in North America.
On the distinction between Radhasoami and Advait
Mat
I realize the inadequacy of using such a broad term as
the "Radhasoamis" to cover such a diversified clan of
surat shabd yoga groups, but it serves a highly useful
function in distinguishing Shiv Dayal Singh related
paramparas from other similar nirguna bhakti panths (such
as the Sri Paramhans Advait Mat group in Guna)
David Lane's website is The
Neural Surfer
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