Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

A message for those thinking of leaving RSSB, Radha Soami Satsang Beas

I just received this message via the Contact form for this blog. It was so well said, I'm sharing it as a blog post. It relates to Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), an India-based religious organization headed by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years. This is for anyone who is unhappy and is thinking of leaving RSSB. If you are here to attack free speech, this is NOT for you. This is mainly for the Indian kids born and raised in the western world who inherited this from their family from Day 1. Just remember your ancestors…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

RSSB medical relief society spends over $14 million on fancy house in India, seemingly for the guru’s use

It bothers me when a religious organization that claims to be about spiritual advancement and helping others spends large sums of money on maintaining the lavish lifestyle of the organization's leader. It bothers me even more when the organization is Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), which is headquartered in India and led by a guru. Well, actually two gurus at the moment, one of whom is Gurinder Singh Dhillon, who has held that post since 1990. That was when the RSSB guru who initiated me, Charan Singh, died. Charan was truly humble and unassuming. Gurinder is very different, having taken…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Anyone know how to contact Gurinder Singh, the RSSB guru?

I just received this message from someone who wants very much to get in touch with Gurinder Singh, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based religious organization. I told this person that I didn't have the guru's contact information, but I could ask on my blog if anyone else does. The person said I should do this. "Babaji" refers to Gurinder Singh. Use the Contact form at the top of the page to reach me if you have a way to reach Gurinder Singh, and I'll pass that information on to the person. Hi Brian, I’m from India…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas

For me, the genuine spiritual path leads from religious fantasy to everyday reality

Recently I heard from someone who currently is a member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), an India-based religious organization headed up by a guru that I belonged to for 35 years. This person described both what bothers them about their experience as a RSSB initiate, and also what they enjoy about their experience. Their message ended with what perhaps is the most important thing they said, at least to my eyes. Sant Mat is the philosophy underlying the RSSB teachings. Thanks for having the courage to set up the site and make your views known. I hope to be…
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Posted inIndia Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Flooding along India’s Beas River likely made worse by Radha Soami Satsang Beas

A few days ago I got a message, shared below, from someone about flooding caused by a religious organization. The Dera, in India's Punjab, is the headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious group that I was an active member of for 35 years, and have written about quite a bit on this blog. Gurinder Singh Dhillon has been the RSSB guru since 1990 and now is sharing guru duties with another man, to my understanding. Hi Mr Hines, Greetings. As you know Punjab in India is devastated by floods. Though Dera chief Mr Dhillon is trying to…
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Posted inBuddhism Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Just breath. Arising out of nothing. Returning to nothing.

Most religions say that the purpose of human life is to merge with God. Maybe not become God, but at least become really close to God. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Hinduism obviously differ in many respects. However, they all espouse achieving a closeness to the Almighty that expands the usual conception of what being a person is all about. The Eastern religion that I belonged to for 35 years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, had a similar teaching: the creative power of God extends throughout the creation. Through meditation and other spiritual practices, it is possible to first become self-realized as…
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Posted inBuddhism Radha Soami Satsang Beas

If a religion claims to know ultimate truth, how can its teachings change?

This morning I read another chapter in Scott Carney's The Enlightenment Trap: Obsession, Madness and Death on Diamond  Mountain. "Diamond Theosophy" included some interesting Buddhist history that I wasn't aware of before. I did know that Buddhism became less popular in the area where Buddha lived, modern day India. China and Japan became Buddhist centers, along with south Asia. But Buddhism also made its way into Tibet in the fifth century, where it thrived.  Carney writes: Modern scholars who have studied the original manuscripts were unsurprised to learn that the translations that endured the legions of miles on monks' backs…
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Posted inBuddhism Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Karma makes sense. Except when it doesn’t. Same with trusting a spiritual teacher.

I'm gradually making my way through Scott Carney's The Enlightenment Trap: Obsession, Madness and Death on Diamond  Mountain. (First blog post about the book is here.) The book is building up its tale of Buddhism gone bad by telling us about the history of the Buddhist student who dies and the Buddhist teacher who, I'm assuming, played a role in his death. Along the way, Carney describes what Buddhism is all about. This is mostly familiar territory for me. But since I'm much more interested in the modern secular non-supernatural side of Buddhism than the traditional religious supernatural side, some…
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Posted inNeuroscience Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Perfectionism is loved by religions, but it’s bad for us

There's nothing wrong with aspiring to be perfect. That's how athletes improve at their sport. That's how scientists improve at their research. That's how ordinary people improve at their relationships. But there's a danger lurking in this aspiration: perfectionism. That's a serious psychological malady. It manifests when we are overly attached to the lure of being perfect, lacking the ability to understand that failure and flaws are what make us human. The August 8, 2025 issue of The New Yorker has an article by Leslie Jamison, "The Pain of Perfectionism." It spoke to me because, like most people, I go…
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Posted inDelusions Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

“The Enlightenment Trap” — a cautionary tale of spirituality gone bad

Today a friend gave me a book that he thought I'd like. He was right. We've known each other for a long time, so after he'd listened to the audio version of Scott Carney's The Enlightenment Trap: Obsession, Madness and Death on Diamond  Mountain, he correctly surmised that I'd find it interesting. I'm only up to page 32, but Carney's introductory "A Note for a New Edition" contains some strong hints of what the book's central themes are. Rather than thinking of this as a true-crime story that follows the downward spiral of a cultic community, this book is the…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Religious communities have standards, because all communities do

In the course of reading Selfless: The Social Creation of "You" by Brian Lowery, I'm getting new insights into the India-based religious community I belonged to for 35 years -- Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). Those insights aren't limited to religious communities because they apply generally to all communities. Lowery, a Black Stanford professor and social psychologist, describes his experience with growing up with rap music in the 1980s and '90s. We are created in communities, so when our communities change, so do we. New relationships can produce new communities that confer identities that define selves. Take a benign example:…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Two 14-year old girls raped by Radha Soami Satsang Beas worker

For those who don't believe that sexual assault doesn't occur in Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), the India-based religious organization headquartered in India that I belonged to for 35 years, here's a story from October 2024 about the rape of two girls by a RSSB sevadar, or volunteer worker. There's a good chance this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to sexual assault in the organization.  A shocking case of rape of two minor girls has come to light from Radha Soami Satsang Beas in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh.The victims, who used to play in the premises…
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Posted inPolitics Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Why religious disillusionment can be more painful than political or work disillusionment

Today the Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted to move ahead with the investigation of a complaint against the Mayor of Salem and city councilors that I'd filed last March with the Commission. I wrote about this on my Salem Political Snark blog in "Ethics Commission approves investigation of my complaint against Mayor Hoy." That made me feel really good, as I'd put quite a bit of time and effort into researching and filing the complaint. I did this because it bothered me that Mayor Hoy appeared to have engaged in prohibited private "serial communications" with members of the City Council…
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Posted inNeuroscience Radha Soami Satsang Beas

We humans are good at making illusory magic

Almost everybody enjoys a good magic show. I sure do. But hardly anyone actually believes in magic. We understand that when a magician does something that appears to violate everyday laws of nature, that trick is based on illusory magic, not genuine magic. An article in the April 12, 2025 issue of New Scientist, "Magicology," talks about how psychologists are looking to magic tricks to better understand how our brains make sense of the world around us. I found this example fascinating. A classic deception known as the “vanishing ball illusion” – already well-known when Binet discussed it in 1894…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas

My Oregon softball obsession shows the pluses and minuses of attachment

For 35 years I belonged to an Eastern religion, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), that was an offshoot of the broader Sant Mat movement. As I wrote about in 2013, RSSB had a decided renunciative focus, as contrasted with a life-affirming focus. For about 35 years I was a member of an India-based organization headed up by a guru whose teachings were definitely in the renunciative camp. The goal was to leave this physical world behind and find a better one in higher realms of reality. To do that, it was necessary to beware of the Five Deadly Foes, lust,…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Here’s a story of someone’s Grand Disillusion with RSSB and Gurinder Singh

It's always a pleasure to hear from someone who has become disillusioned with a religion. In this case, it was a person who had a history fairly similar to mine with an India-based religion, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), that is headed up by a guru. Below you can read the document this person sent to me that's called "The Grand Disillusion." They want to remain anonymous, but said I could share this info about them. The Dera is the RSSB headquarters in the Punjab. Gurinder Singh is the current RSSB guru. Charan Singh was the guru prior to Gurinder…
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Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas

There’s value in experiencing new things, even if you’re not sure you’ll like them

We simply don't know what the future will bring. That's a basic fact of life. I was reminded of that today when I rummaged through a drawer where I keep blank notebooks and notepads, making room for a new supply I'd gotten from Amazon. Down at the bottom of a bunch of rarely used stuff was an envelope. On it I'd written "Will (open -- obviously -- only if I die)" It was a one-page document dated March 2, 1991 called Last will and testament.  I'd written it in a period between my marriage to Laurel in 1990 and whenever…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the RSSB guru, reportedly off the job as of April 1

Here in the United States, and in quite a few other countries, April 1 is April Fools' Day. That's when people engage in practical jokes and hoaxes, which are sometimes close to believable. I doubt that the news of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), an India-based religious organization that I belonged to for 35 years, giving up all of his official duties as of April 1, 2025 is a hoax. But all I know for sure is that Osho Robbins, who comments occasionally on this blog, emailed me a link to a video that…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Here’s a thoughtful critique of Radha Soami Satsang Beas — well worth reading

I've received a critique of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious organization headquartered in India and led by a guru, from someone who wants to be anonymous, preferring to be called "LGG." Here's the PDF file.Download Critique of RSSB The critique is thoughtful and well-researched. Below I've shared the first six pages of the 53-page document. There's plenty of white space in the document, which I've minimized in my copy and paste below, so it doesn't take long to read the document.  Even if you aren't familiar with RSSB, but especially if you are, I'm confident that you'll enjoy…
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Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Science

If humans are the top of creation, what about Neanderthals?

The February 2025 issue of National Geographic features a fascinating story by Brook Larmer, "The Hunt for the  Other Humans." This got me to thinking about the common religious teaching that humans are the top of creation. For example, the Bible says in Genesis: 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created mankind in his own image,    in…
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