Surat Shabd Yoga

Biography

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• HIS LIFE AND WORK

• HIS THOUGHT AND PHILOSOPHY
• THE TWO ESSENTIALS
• RELIGIOUS PRACTICES
• SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF THE DAY
• APPRAISAL

HIS LIFE AND WORK

Shri Shiv Dayal Singhji who was later named

Soamiji Maharaj was born on 25th August 1818,
in a Khatri family residing in Panni Gali, Agra.
His father, Dilwali Singh, a banker by profession
was a highly religious person. Indeed, all
members of the family were devout bhaktas and
frequently visited Tulsi Saheb - a great saint who
lived at Hathras (U.P.). Thus Soamiji grew up in
an atmosphere charged with religious devotion
and conductive to the formulation of his
religious ideas.

Deep religiosity became evident in Shiv Dayalji

from early childhood and he started regular
spiritual practice at the age of six. Tulsi Saheb of
Hathras had earlier prophesied about the child
spiritual status and as such he began receiving
reverential treatment from his parents. He spent
most of his time in spiritual pursuits, often
shutting himself up in a small room for days. It is
said that he would not even attend to the calls of
nature.

At the age of five, he was sent to school where

he learnt Hindi, Urdu, Persian and Gurumukhi.
Later he acquired proficiency in Persian and
wrote a book in that language. He also acquired a
working knowledge of Arabic and Sanskrit. As a
student he was generous and affectionate
towards his fellow students and respectful to his
teachers.

He was married at an early age to Naraini Devi,

daughter of Izzat Rai of Faridabad. She was of
generous disposition and was very devoted to her
husband. Shiv Dayalji was selected direct from
school to act as a Persian expert to a government
officer in Banda. As the job did not suit him, he
gave it up and took another job as a teacher of
Persian with a talukdar of Ballabhgarh estate.
His spiritual cravings, however, were so intense
that worldly attainments no longer attracted him
and he gave up even this lucrative job. He
returned home for devoting his entire time to
religious pursuits.

Soamiji did not approve of the family's money-

lending business and soon after his father's death
and his his younger brother's employment in the
postal department, he wound up the business.
One day, he called the debtors and asked them to
return the money forthwith, if they could, and
destroyed all the documents in their presence to
relieve them of their obligation to repay.

Soamiji's reputation as a great spiritualist and

saint spread far and wide. Even when he was a
boy, he delivered discourses on metaphysical
topics. High philosophical ideas and spiritual
sermons delivered by an adolescent amazed the
people who listened spellbound. Soon a large
number of sadhus, faqirs and seekers after truth
flocked around him. He met many challenges
from prominent ecclesiastics of the day with
remarkable success. Not only was he able to
convince them about the superiority of the
spiritual truth revealed to him but he also
succeeded in bringing home to them the efficacy
of his new religious teachings.

His gracious and serene personality left a deep

imprint upon many a learned man who became
his ardent followers. On the request of his
beloved disciple, Rai Saligram, he laid the
foundation of the Radhasoami Satsang on
Basant-Panchami day in January 1861. The
Satsang grew rapidly and the number of devotees
in his life-time rose to three thousand, which
included men and women from all the major
communities of India. For full seventeen years
he presided over the Satsang meetings at his
residence, Panni Gali, Agra.

Over-absorption in spiritual work and neglect of

nourishment and rest adversely affected
Soamiji's health and he left for his heavenly
abode on Saturday, 15 June 1878. His samadhi is
situated in Radhasoami Bagh, about three miles
from Agra city.

Some miracles are associated with Soamiji

Maharaj and his satsang. It is said that he could
bring rain when there was drought and famine.
Barren lands could be converted into fertile ones.
People in the satsang were so spellbound that for
hours they would remain in a state of trance and
forget all about their worldly duties.

Satsang at his place was a sober and serene

affair. There was no pomp and show. It was just
a gathering of ardent seekers after truth around a
mystic saint. It cannot, therefore, be associated
with the gorgeous delicacies of the Vaishnavite
traditions. J. N. Farquahar's contention that
Soamiji and his spouse played the roles of
Krishna and Radha seems to be unfounded.

HIS THOUGHT AND PHILOSOPHY

(A) Concept of Supreme Being

Soamiji's Supreme Being is formless,

indescribable, unfathomable, endless and
nameless. He is omnipotent, omniscient and
omnipresent. His attributes are grace, mercy,
love, light, bliss and peace. He is all pure and all
spiritual and as such far beyond the reach of
mind and matter. When manifested, He is known
as Sat Purush Radhasomi and this name,
according to Soamiji, has been by the Supreme
Being Himself who is the ultimate and highest
reality.

In his writings, Soamiji has often elicited the

relation of a devotee with the Supreme Being
with the help of such similes as were used by
medieval saints and mystics. He did not
challenge the existence of the Brahman and His
Avatars of Hinduism or the God of Christianity
or the Allah of Islam. He only contends that the
region of their origin are lower than that of Sat
Purush Radhasoami and are not absolutely free
from maya; hence it would be wrong to conceive
any one of them as Supreme Being. According to
him, Radhasoami is the highest authority and the
Lord of them all. No one except the sants could
conceive Him. The sants alone have the
knowledge of the purely spiritual region beyond
the limit of maya.

(B) Concept of Creation

According to Soamiji, before the creation, the

Supreme Being was ina state of sunn samadhi-
ellipsoid. Through His mauj (divine will ) or
inner vibrations, a spiritual current with a
resonant sound emanated from Him and created
a spiritual grand division or the Nirmal-
Chaitanya Desh or the Fourth region. Beginning
from Radhasoami pad, it created first the Agam
Lok, then the Alakh Lok and finally the Sat Lok.
He describes these regions as refulgent having
pure spirituality, bliss, love and peace.
Radhasomi Pad- the highest of these regions- is
so infinite and fathomless, that it can not be
styled as a "Place". Soamiji considers the Fourth
Region as indissoluble because of its all-
prevading spiritual attributes.

Below Sat Lok, Soamiji in coformity with the

Hindu concept, believes in the three regions of
creation. One of the emanation of Sat Purush
known as Kal, who possessed mind and matter,
was provided with spiritual energy (adya ) which
he required for creation through the grace of Sat
Purush. Kal with adya (prominent spiritual
energy) and with akshar purush (latent spiritual
enegy) created Brahmand, the second grand
division. Its important regions are Sunna, Trikuti
and Sahasdal Kanwal. Spiritual components
dominated the Brahmand but pure matter (maya)
was descernible there. Brahmand is seat of
Universal Mind and the five tattvas and the three
gunas emanated from there. Kal and adya, then,
assumed the forms of Niranjan and jyoti to ceate
the third grand division known as And Desh or
the three sub-regions of Brama, Vishnu and
Mahesh. In the end Pind Desh was created which
consisted of of sixth ganglia and nine apertures
pertaining to the physical body. Soamiji
propounds that the spirit entity is encased in the
Pind (material world and physical body) and has
thus fallen a prey to Kal's oppression and
expoitations

(C) Concept of Surat or Spirit Entity

The spirit Entity has been described as surat by

Soamiji. It is an infinitely small unit of the
Supreme Being; naturally it has the same
characterstic as those of the Supreme Being.
Surat is therefore a descendent of the highest
region of creation. After traversing through the
different regions it has come down to the teesra
til just below the Sahasdal Kanval in the
physical body. Here surat gets enmeshed in five
tattvas, three gunas, mind and matter, and the
indriyas. It also gets chained in several bondages
such as that of property honour, position, fame
family and kinfolk. The surat in such a state is
called jiva- which has to undergo the cycle of
birth, death and rebirth and assume various
forms (chaurasi laksh) in accordance with its
insatiable desires and the load of karma.

The surat is thus rendered helpless in extricating

itself from these bondages. The feelings of
pleasure, pain and suffering increase so much
that it forgets all about its return to its original
home and loses all consciousness about the
reality of its nature.
(D) Concept of Salvation

According to Soamiji, surat can return to its

original abode after it has extricated itself from
worldly bonds. This home-coming, he holds, is
true salvation. The surat would then be freed of
the pangs of worldly pleasures and pains and the
cycle of chaurasi laksh. It would, therefore,
easily cross the jurisdiction of Kal and enjoy
eternal bliss and peace. Salvation is the ultimate
goal of surat and it can advance towards it only
through its affinity with and attraction for shabd.
Shabd alone can guide the surat on its way back
to higher regions of creation and finally in
reaching its eternal abode.

(E) Concept of Shabd

According to Soamiji, shabd (eternal sound-

current) is the first manifestation of the Supreme
Being. It is the supreme energy and the prime
source of all creation. The resonance of the
sound-current is known as nam (holy name)
which resounds in the innerself of all jivas.

Shabd and surat both have the same attributes;

rather surat has an inherent attraction for shabd.
Soamiji holds that by following the prescribed
inner practice (surat shabd yoga) Surat can get
attached to Shabd and after passing through
several higher regions, it can one day reach its
final abode. The Santsatguru of the time alone
possesses the key to the secret of the shabd.

(F) Concept of Sant Satguru

While maintaining that Santsatguru is the

manifestation of the Supreme Being on earth.
Soamiji confirms to the earlier sant traditions
and revives the ancient beliefs of Hinduism. He
holds that although the Santsatguru has assumed
human form,yet he should not be identified with
a human being. In fact,he is the spiritual -current
personified and has come to this world with a
mission to grant redemption to suffering
humanity. In his grace,the Santsatguru grants
spiritual progress and eternal peace and bliss to
all those jivas who are real seekers after truth
and are keen on throwing away the shackles of
Kal and maya.

THE TWO ESSENTIALS

A perusal of Soamiji's religious thought shows

that the two essentials emphasized by him are
guru-bhakti (devotion to the master), and surat-
shabd-yoga (inner spiritual practice).

(A) Guru-Bhakti

According to Soamiji, the spiritual current

emanating from the Supreme Being has appeared
in human form on this earth and it would ever
remain here until all jivas have been redeemed .
The continuous process of the manifestation of
the spiritual current in the human form
necessitates the extraordinary status and value of
the guru of the time. Soamiji , therefore,exhorts
jivas to search for the living adept and when he
found , to serve him in all sincerity with body ,
mind and soul . He further asserts that those who
desire redemption , should have singular
devotion to and love for the holy feet of the
Santsatguru. He alone can reveal unto the inner
self of the jivas the holy name in order to set
them free from the cycle of chaurasi .

Soamiji's writings are full of directions which the

jivas should earnestly follow in order to find a
living adept . He has also described the mode of
performing ideal guru-bhakti in the satsang .
According to him satsang would generate love
and devotion and would purify his mind . He
defines satsang as the company of Santsatguru
or the Sadhguru at a place where people
assemble to pray to the Supreme Being and to
listen to discourses of the Santsatguru. It is only
through satsang that jivas would ultimately come
to recognize the difficulties and doubts removed
, and receive instructions to improve their
difficulties and doubts removed , and receive
instructions to improve their conduct in the
world . Regular participation in satsang would
enable devotes to perform spiritual practice
successfully .

(B) Shabd-Bhakti or Surat-Shabd-Yoga

Surat-Shabd-Yoga is the inner spiritual practice

preached by Soamiji. It literally means the union
of surat (spirit entity) with shabd (the holy
resonance of the sound current). According to
him, guru-bhakti would facilitate the shabd-
bhakti. Soamiji revealed to the world the
resonant sounds of the different higher regions
and described thoroughly the dhun (sound),
dham (region) and dhani (master) of all the
higher divisions of creation. He asserts that one
who is initiated into Radhasoami faith and
performs ideal guru-bhakti, can practise surat-
shabd-yoga easily and perfectly. This spiritual
exercise can be practised by one and all, and
without denouncing their worldly duties. He
further asserts that Surat-Shabd-Yoga is the
easiest and best spiritual practice.

HIS VIEWS ON RELIGIOUS PRACTICES

(A) On Atheism and Religious Malpractices

Soamiji expressed his disappointment at the

indifference of people towards spiritual pursuits
and warned them about the transitory nature of
the world and its objects. He is critical of persons
who deny the existence of supreme power and
refuse to see the all -pervading truth. He deplores
the people who profess to be followers of
Hinduism or Islam but in reality do not correctly
follow the precepts of religion. The prevailing
malpractices in Hinduism attracted his attention
and he criticized the worship of man-made idols,
rivers, trees, and plants. He also put forward
arguments against various rituals declaring that
no one could attain salvation by their practice.

(B) On Idol-Worship

Turning to idol worship, Soamiji argued that the

worship of illusory inanimate objects can never
bring spiritual progress. According to him, the
human form with all its supreme physical,
mental and spiritual capabilities is much superior
to inanimate objects carved in stone or bronze
and in pictures drawn by men themselves. He
deplored the colossal ignorance shown by
devotees in wasting their spiritual energies in the
worshiping of such dieties. In this respect,
Soamiji may be compared to Swami Dayanand,
another stalwart of Indian renaissance and the
founder of Arya Samaj. Swami Dayanand called
idol worship a pakhand which was not upheald
by the Vedas. According to him, it isdegrading to
limit and confine the Infinite Almighty and the
firmless God within thecarvings in stones, metal
wood and other inert objects. Soamiji's approach
is different from that of Swami Dayananda.
According to him, the fault does not lie with the
images as means of inner contemplation. The
human mind is ever restless in the manifold
business of the world and psychologically it is
sound to provide some attraction to divert the
attention from matter to spirit. He holds that in
the early days, idol worship was taken in this
context, and hence was a means for achieving
the desired goal. As the time rolled on, the
purpose came to be neglected and idol worship
became an end in itself and led people to
darkness. Taking a realistic view of human
nature, Soamiji replaces the worship of lifeless
symbols with that of a living being - the guru of
the time - who is adept at the science and
technique of shabd and its abhyas.

(C) On Pilgrimage and Fasts

Soamiji also criticized pilgrimages and fasts

which according to Bhagwat dharma had
become part and parcel of Hindu way of life. He
considered pilgrimages as useless externalia. The
places hallowed by great saints, he held, once
served as centres of spiritual pursuit, but after
their departure form this world the sanctity and
the impact of spiritual life completely
disappeared. Instead, these places have been
converted into centres of mela and colourful
festivities by priests for their own material gains.

Discarding fasts he asserted that originally its

object was the purification of mind and control
of senses but in course of time the purpose
became infructuous, and fasting degenerated into
festivals celebrated with plenty of dainty dishes.

(D) On Vedas

Unlike the exponents of the Brahmo Samaj,

Soamiji did not deny the existence of the Vedas
as storehouses of divine knowledge. But,
according to him, they did not contain absolute
knowledge. The origin of the Vedas can be traced
only to the third grand region of creation. The
fourth region - Nirmal Chaitanya Desh - could
not be conceived by its authors. As the Vedas
express limited knowledge, they cannot be
regarded as infalliable.Their limitations have
been explored by sants alone. Soamiji further
contended that the secret of true Supreme Being
is not disclosed in the Vedas, he asserted, cannot
be attained without the help of a living adept - a
fact that has been forgotten by the exponents.

(E) On Sant Traditions

Soamiji did not spare the followers of earlier

sant traditions who had given up spiritual
practice and raised a faith that they could attain
salvation by worshipping Granth or the forms of
the past gurus. He warned them repetedly to give
up all such useless externalia. Soamiji reminded
them of the definite instructions given in the
Granths for seeking the perfect living guru in
order to attain salvation under his guidance. He
also enjoined them to practise such ideals as
were originally preached and propagated by
earlier sants.

(F) On Other Religious Sects

Soamiji pointed out the inherent defects, which

he thought were present in Islam, Jainism and
Christianity. For example, he was critical of the
multifarious extant observances such as roza,
namaz and the like, prevalent in Islam. He did
not find any sense in too much of self-denial
practised by the Jains. He admitted the principle
of equality and love of God as practised by
Christians, but refused to recognize Christianity
as a perfect religion because it originated from
the region of kal and maya. In fact Soamiji did
not favour any religious sect which did not
affirm the necessity of a living adept. He
emphasised the fact that real redemption could
not be attained until the spirit entity reached its
real source (region of Satpurush Radhasoami).
According to him, these religions entangled the
surat in kal and maya and thus failed to provide
real salvation.

(G) On Bachak Gyan (Sophistry)

He is most trenchant in his writings about the

sophists. He exposes their inherent weakness in
posing to know too much when in fact they
know very little or not at all, about the true
religion. According to him they are merely
bachak gyanis who memorize texts of religious
books and recite them in order to befool the
ignorant masses. Religion for them is only a
means to achieve their own selfish ends. As they
themselves fail to achieve spiritual height,
Soamiji holds, they can never show the path of
salvation to the jivas; they would rather entagle
them in the cycle of chaurasi. Beside, the
prevalent knowledge, according to him, did not
conform to the Vedanta or Upanishads.

HIS VIEWS ON SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF

THE DAY

In the social sphere, Soamiji touched upon to

inter-related evil - the rigid caste system and the
supremacy of the priests. His writings clearly
mention that all the four castes had forgotten
their duties especially Brahamans and the
kshatriyas who claim superiority over other
sections of society and that they were more
concerned about their status than their virtues
and even stooped to any low means to attain
selfish ends. He held the priestly class
responsible for all the anomalies prevalent in
Hinduism. He criticised the school of
renunciation and held that people renounced the
world because of their inability to overcome
their passion and desires.

APPRAISAL

Soamiji delivered to the suffering humanity the

message of spiritual solace at a most appropriate
time. The ignorant and illiterate masses, socially
held in low esteem by the priestly classes, had to
take shelter under other religion. Not one
religious them could save them from conversion
and infuse in them the spirit of self confidence. It
was at such a period of crisis that Soamiji came
to their rescue.

He revived the tradition of guru-bhakti. The

guru of the time (living adept) was the pivot
round whom religious teachings revolved. He
put forward convincing arguments against
ritualism in the prevailing religious beliefs.He
delivered the message of true salvation for the
mortals and empahasized a synthesis of karma,
gyana and bhakti. He revealed a Supreme Being
who is all - pure and all - spiritual, and His
region - the fourth grand division of creation - as
free from kal and maya and the real abode of
surat.

Soamiji's most important contribution to religion

is the practice of surat-shabd-yoga. He first
explained the Supreme Energy, the sound -
current, the all - spiritual nature both of the
ultimate reality and the spirit entity and the holy
name so resonant in the creation. Then he
prescribed a set spiritual exercises by which, the
spirit entity could transfered through various
higher regions of creation and finally reach its
original abode and enjoy everlasting bliss peace.
His surat-shabd-yoga is easier than pranayam
and hath-yoga. The devotee practising this
exercise does not have to abandom his normal
wordly duties. According to Soamiji the only
pre-requisite to his yoga is true and sincere
devotion to the santsatguru.

Soamiji's books clearly reveal the might of his

pen and force of his arguement. His verse
composition is known as Sar Bachan Chhand-
band. His poems are replete with emotional
appeal - a successful blending of popular poetic
expressions from different languages of north
India such as, Khari-Boli, Awadhi, Brijbhasha,
Rajasthani and Gurumukhi. Many words from
Urdu, Persian, Bengali and Sanskrit add to the
cultural synthesis already discernible in Hindi
literature ever since the Bhakti period. His Hindi
prose book Sar Bachan Bartik is a valuable
contribution to the development of the Hindi
prose just before the advent of Bharatendu
Harishchandra. Brevity, staight forward
expressions and emphasis on beliefs are some of
the rare qualities of his prose. For a devotee, His
books are the edicts of the Supreme Being.

Among the nineteenth century religious leaders,

Soamiji occupies an important place. He
preached the gospel of love and devotion even
earlier than Ramakrishna. However, one has to
admit that his teachings are confined to
spiritualism alone. He has not touched natrional
problems anywhere in his writings and is
indiffernt to other social problems except the
caste system and dominance of priests. A few
women who participated in the daily satsang at
his residence discarded purdah and learnt some
Hindi to recite from holy bools. Yet nowhere has
Soamiji pleaded for women's emancipation. It
seems as if he was only an advocate of the
emancipation of the inner self - the Soul - and as
such he did not think it necessary to divert his
attention to socio-political problems. He was a
param sant, ever absorbed in the mysteries of
spiritual life.
source: Radhasoami Faith
by: Prof. A.P. Mathur