Radha Soami: Difference between revisions

Radhasoami movement was founded by [[Shiv Dayal Singh|Seth Shiv Dayal Singh Ji Maharaj]] in [[Agra]]. His parents were followers of [[Guru Nanak]] of [[Sikhism]] and a local spiritual guru Tulsi Saheb.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mark Juergensmeyer|title=Radhasoami Reality: The Logic of a Modern Faith|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=slX3eRycszMC| year=1991|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-01092-7|pages=15–19, 38–42 with footnotes}}</ref> After completing his education, Singh gained employment as a Persian language translator, left that role and spent increasing amount of his time to religious pursuits. His discourses attracted followers and thus the Radhasoami movement was founded when Swami ji gave initiation to Baba Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj who practised Surat shabad yoga on the bank of river Beas and the [[Radha Soami Satsang Beas|Radha soami Satsang Beas]] (RSSB) or Dera Beas was Created.<ref name="Juergensmeyer1991p16">{{cite book|author=Mark Juergensmeyer|title=Radhasoami Reality: The Logic of a Modern Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=slX3eRycszMC|year=1991|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-01092-7|pages=16–17 with footnotes}}</ref>

The Radhasoami tradition can be traced back to the spiritual master Seth Shiv Dayal Singh Ji Maharaj (honorifically titled Soami Ji Maharaj) who was born on August 25, 1818, in the north Indian city of Agra. He was influenced by the teachings of Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, who taught surat shabd yoga (which is defined by Radhasoami teachers as “union of the soul with the divine, inner sound”); guru bhakti (“devotion to the master”); and high moral living, including a strict lacto-vegetarian diet. The movement does not promote celibacy, however, and most of the masters in its various lineages have been married. The teachings seem to be related to forms of 18th- and 19th-century esoteric mysticism that were circulating at the time in northern India. The founding date of the movement is considered to be 1861 when Seth Shiv Dayal Singh Ji Maharaj began publicly to give discourses.<ref name="oxfordbibliographies.com">https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195399318/obo-9780195399318-0203.xml</ref>

After Seth Shiv Dayal Singh Ji's death in 1878 he was succeeded by several disciples, including his wife Narayan Dei (“Radhaji”); his brother Partap Singh (“Chachaji”); Sanmukh Das (appointed head of the sadhus); the army soldier Baba Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj, Gharib Das of Delhi; and the postmaster general of the Northwest provinces, Rai Salig Ram, each of whom started their own distinct centers. After their deaths, multiple followers were claimed to be the rightful heirs, and this eventually led to a large proliferation of various masters and satsangs (“fellowships”) throughout India that were regarded by their followers to be the true manifestations of Seth Shiv Dayal Singh Ji and his teachings, described as Sant Mat (“the path of the saints”). The largest branch of the movement is the one at Beas, established by one of Seth Shiv Dayal Singh Ji's disciples, Baba Jaimal Singh Ji Maharaj, in the North Indian state of Punjab in the 1891s, and which has grown enormously over the decades under the guiding hands of each subsequent successor (from Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj to Sardar Bahadur Maharaj Jagat Singh Ji and Maharaj Charan Singh Ji to the current master, Baba Gurinder Singh Ji). There are estimated to be two million initiates of the Beas masters worldwide. In Agra, the birthplace of the movement, there are three main satsang centers: Soami Bagh, where a large memorial tomb is being built to honor the founder; Peepal Mandi, which was founded by Rai Salig Ram who was then succeeded by his son, grandson, and currently his great-grandson, Agam Prasad Mathur; and the largest of the Agra-based centers, Dayalbagh, which is located across the street from Soami Bagh, and has flourished under the leadership of Kamta Prasad Sinha, Anand Sarup, Gurcharandas Mehta, Dr. M.B. Lal Sahab, and most recently as of this date Professor Prem Saran Satsangi. Other Radhasoami-related groups that have garnered a significant following include Ruhani Satsang in Delhi, founded by Kirpal Singh (b. 1894–d. 1974), a disciple of the Beas master, Sawan Singh; Manavta Mandir, established by Faqir Chand (b. 1886–d. 1981) in 1962 in Hoshiarpur in the Punjab; the Tarn Taran satsang founded by Bagga Singh; Radha Swami Satsang Dinod, founded by Param Sant Tarachand Ji Maharaj (Bade Maharaj Ji), current master Param Sant Huzur Kanwar Saheb Ji Maharaj and several others scattered through North and South India.<ref name="oxfordbibliographies.com"/>