Radhasoami Reality

by Mark Juergensmeyer

In this book, Mark Juergensmeyer seeks to explain why the religious logic of Radhasoami, which is based on the teachings of medieval Hindu saints, is so compelling to hundreds of thousands of businessmen, intellectuals, office managers, and other urban professionals in North India. Juergensmeyer addresses the perplexing relationship between modernity and religious faith and examines it from historical, sociological, and phenomenological points of view.

294 pages, Paperback

First published August 20, 1991

About the author

Mark Juergensmeyer is a professor of sociology and global studies, affiliate professor of religious studies, and the Kundan Kaur Kapany professor of global and Sikh Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was the founding director of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, and is a pioneer in the field of global studies, focusing on global religion, religious violence, conflict resolution and South Asian religion and politics. He has published more than three hundred articles and twenty books, including the revised and expanded fourth edition of Terror in the Mind of God (University of California Press, 2017).

Reviews

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at a universal philosophy; happy to see the group with which I am connected (Beas) was depicted positively ~ gives a sense of validation and provided inspiration to "do more meditation!"

[Thomas Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Radhasoami Reality: The Logic of a Modern Faith, Mark Juergensmeyer (1940-), 1991


For astral travel, it is best to leave the body through the third eye, not via the heart chakra. pp. 98-100. --/Jugat Prakash Radhasoami/, Hazur Maharaj Rai Saligram Bahadur (1829-1898).

Safety tip.


The most powerful and effective of all practices to meet the Lord is
Surat Shabd Yoga
love. p. 108.
--The Great Master at Beas, Hazur Maharaj Sawan Singh,
/Philosophy of the Masters/, Radha Soami Satsang Beas


“The discipline of listening to a sound—especially the unheard word—in order to unite with it brings one into contact with the eternal sound of God.” p. 91.
--Soamiji Maharaj Shiv Dayal, /Sar Bachan: Prose/


From the Rhadasoami point of view, the most significant event of the 1860s was: p. 90
The American Civil War
James Clerk Maxwell's equations of electromagnetism*
The opening of the Suez Canal
Dmitri Mendeleev periodic table of the elements
Gregor Mendel's laws of genetic inheritance
Angelo Secchi spectroscopic proof that the Sun is a star
Soamiji Maharaj Sri Shiv Dayal Singh's Proclamation on Sar Bachan: Yoga of Sound Current, Basant Panchami Day, February 15, 1861

* Richard Feynman's opinion is quoted in /Faraday, Maxwell, and the Electromagnetic Field: How Two Men Revolutionized Physics/, Nancy Forbes.
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860s


For guidance toward a higher spiritual plane and ultimately to attune the soul to the eternal sound of God, north Indian gurus, swamis, sants, and spiritual masters have traditionally taught the discipline of listening for the sacred sounds of
a deeply resonant bell
a conch shell
large drums or rolling thunder, which may sound like the rumbling chant of om, om, or hu, hu
a guitar, lute, or harp
a flute, or the sound of the Vedic mantra soham
a bin, an oboelike woodwind, or a harp; may be intertwined with the words sat, sat, or haq, haq
pp. 91, 101-104.

Soamiji Maharaj Shiv Dayal, /The Sar Bachan: The Yoga of the Sound Current: An abstract of the teachings of Swamiji Maharaj, the founder of the Radha Swami system of philosophy and spiritual science/

Lekh Raj Puri, /Radha Swami Teachings/

Sant Das Maheshwari, /Truth Unvarnished/


Truth is not to be found in logical propositions but instead is embodied in remarkable persons, according to the idea common in medieval India (and, for that matter, in medieval Europe). pp. 86-87


The process of organizing religion is like trying to build a cage around an eagle. pp. 171, 219.
--American Baptist minister and physician Julian P. Johnson, who in 1932 became a devotee of Hazur Maharaj Sawan Singh at Beas, India.
/With a Great Master in India/, Julian P. Johnson, 1934, pp. 137-138.


From the Radhasoami perspective, the way one thinks about oneself brings the new self into being. p. 222.


Radha was a milkmaid, and lover of Lord Krishna, the god who when mortal had been a cowherd. So as a name, Radha Swami refers to Krishna. However, Radhasoami theology is nirguna.


The most intense skeptics and the most intense believers of our age share a common conviction: that beneath all superficial appearances lies a deeper truth. p. 21.


The Indian government requires nonprofit religious institutions to divest themselves of their income on a regular basis, spending it for social or religious purposes if they are to keep their tax-exempt status.p. 144


p. 233 See also
Hunting the Gnu in Namibia
Hunting the Goanna in Indonesia
Hunting the Gorilla in Gabon
Hunting the Guru in India, Anne Marshall, 1963. 67 Worldcat libraries still have copies, as of 2016.

[James Byron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the historic context this book provides in my understanding of contemporary cults like ECKANKAR. What intrigues me more are the hints at practice that transcend belief systems, transcend the "Radhasoami Reality".

[Steven H · Rating 3 out of 5]

A SCHOLARLY EXAMINATION OF THE RADHASOAMI MOVEMENT

Mark Juergensmeyer is Professor of Sociology and Director of Global and International Studies at UC, Santa Barbara. He has written other books such as 'Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence,' 'Gandhi's Way: A Handbook of Conflict Resolution,''Global Religions: An Introduction,' etc.

He wrote in the Introduction to this 1991 book, "Why has the Radhasoami faith prospered? The question is not easy to answer, for the Radhasoami tradition is a peculiar blend of opposites. On the one hand, its leadership is efficient, progressive, and international; on the other hand, its beliefs and spiritual practices are arcane and esoteric, reviving a certain form of spirituality that reaches back to medieval Hinduism and perhaps beyond. In this book I intend to explore how this apparent contradiction is overcome, and how the juxtaposition of progressive and traditional modes of thought has enabled this new tradition to flourish in the modern age." (Pg. 4)

He explains, "By speaking of Radhasoami faith as a modern form of Hinduism, I am speaking of Hinduism in the loosest sense, as India's religious heritage... In the Punjab, the Radhasoami community is often regarded as an offshoot of Sikhism. This description is largely incorrect, but the Radhasoami tradition does have some connections with the Sikhs. The teachings of the first Radhasoami master were based, in part, on those of Guru Nanak, the Sikhs' founding master." (Pg. 6-7)

He notes, "All branches of the Radhasoami movement remember the Swami [Shiv Dayal] as having designated a successor, but they disagree about who it was. It is impossible to resolve this dispute, for the historical circumstances are scanty and imprecise. The Swami's reputed 'last utterances'---recorded by his brother and accepted in all branches of the movement as authentic---were not published until twenty-four years after his death. Moreover, they do not place any one person clearly in charge, nor do they imply that Swami Shiv Dayal conceived himself as occupying an office for which a successor was needed." (Pg. 35)

He points out, "The word Radhasoami literally refers to Krishna as lord (swami) of his consort, Radha." (Pg. 41) He adds, "IN Radhasoami the master is 'God-man.' As the intermediary between the highest planes of divine consciousness and our own worldly level, he can be viewed both as a manifestation of God and as a human being endowed with divine powers." (Pg. 67) He continues, "This is the central paradox of Radhasoami theology---that the Divine can be present in human form." (Pg. 69)

He says, "Surat shabd yoga ... is the discipline (yoga) or way (marga) that unites the spirit (surat) with the spiritual sound (shabd)." (Pg. 90)

He observes, "Perhaps no branch of the Radhasoami family tree has been so well organized, so driven by grand visions of the future, and so subject to organizational disputes, as the Ruhani Satsang, established by Kirpal Singh in 1948. One reason for this is that several masters have succeeded Kirpal Singh, and each has established an ashram of his own. Another reason is the movement's international following, which has produced a number of semi-independent centers abroad. A third reason has to do with the personality of Kirpal Singh himself. He was a charismatic and visionary leader whose ideas energized his followers and sometimes led them into conflicting paths in their attempts to imitate him. From the very beginning his was a community on the move." (Pg. 172)

He notes, "on August 21, 1974, he died, and his organization began to unravel... the movement had grown so rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s that it did not have time to develop the stable infrastructure that would allow the community to maintain itself beyond the death of its leading figure. The infighting after Kirpal Singh's death primarily concerned the issue of ... in whom---the 'Master Power'... had been reincarnated. But it also had to do with property rights and control of the organization; the spiritual and secular issues were linked." (Pg. 174-175)

He also reveals that "Radhasoami teachings were also introduced to Westerners indirectly, through groups that utilized Radhasoami ideas but presented them under their own banner. The Eckankar movement, for example, borrowed directly from the writings of Radhasoami teachers, and its founder, Paul Twitchell, was an initiate of Kirpal Singh. Kirpal Singh had followed his own master... in linking the first phrase in Guru Nanak's morning prayer, 'eckankar,' to the highest level of spiritual consciousness. Twitchell followed suit and made it the name of his movement. The teachings of the Divine Light Mission, led by the boy guru Maharaj-ji, are essentially those of Radhasoami as well..." (Pg. 206-207)

This is an excellent scholarly analysis of the Radhasoami movement(s), and will be very helpful to anyone studying them.