Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Recollections of Sant Mat and Charan Singh

Here's a mildly edited email message that I received recently from someone whose connection with Master Charan Singh, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), and Sant Mat started about the same time mine did. I added some links and bracketed explanations of terms. His thoughts brought back memories, and stimulated some new ideas. He gave me the OK to share his message in a blog post. It's an interesting rendition of how someone can be converted to a faith, and then deconverted. Dear Brian: Reading your blog evokes recollections that have long been dormant. What a compendium of experience I long since…
21
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Sam Harris on dangers of religious ecstasy

Reading "Islam and the Misuses of Ecstasy" by Sam Harris brought back some memories. I wouldn't call them exactly religiously ecstatic, but they were damn close. The first time I went to India, for two weeks in 1977, I was able to experience one of the large "bhandaras" held at the headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas in the Punjab. This is a photo I took, showing just a portion of the gigantic crowd that had come to hear and see the RSSB guru. (I wrote in "God's here, but I've got to go" about the decidedly non-ecstatic experience of…
11
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

I find my fundamentalism-mocking blog post hilarious also

One of the joys of writing thousands of blog posts is reuniting with one of my long-forgotten creations.  Today I saw that a new comment had been submitted on a post. This is hilarious! Love it! Naturally I had to check out what was so hilarious and lovable. Unsurprisingly, after I read what I'd written seven years ago I thought to myself: This is hilarious! Love it! Check out "Top ten signs you're a fundamentalist Satsangi." It will make more sense if you know something about the Indian religious organization I used to be a member of. But the inspiration for…
5
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Parts of a discarded religion can fit into a new spiritual practice

Reuse. Recycle.  Good advice for handling material stuff. Also practices that can be used with religious stuff. Recently someone emailed me, asking whether I still repeated the mantra I was taught after being initiated into a guru-based meditation practice. Part of my reply was: Usually I don't repeat the RSSB mantra. But sometimes I do, sort of for old time's sake. I figure that I repeated it so many times over the many years, it must have formed some sort of concentrative relaxed groove in my brain. It's kind of comforting to repeat the Five Names. Sometimes I do it…
4
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

“Dirty money” tied to RSSB guru’s Ranbaxy wealth

Like I said in this post, there's a tangled web of financial dealings surrounding the newfound wealth of Gurinder Singh Dhillon and his family.  Gurinder Singh is the current guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an India-based spiritual organization I used to be a member of. Theologically, he is considered to be "god in human form." Financially, his family has become one of the richest in India, thanks to gifting of Religare stock by several relatives (and RSSB initiates), Malvinder and Shivinder Singh. Another post of mine describes the money connections between Religare and the guru. Religare is a company that…
101
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Gurinder Singh’s son become CEO of Religare subsidiary

Money (lots of it) and spirituality (questionable amount of it) continue to mix at Radha Soami Satsang Beas, the Indian religious organization I used to be a part of. Someone just emailed me a link to this news story, "Religare Health Trust names Gurpreet Dhillon as CEO." Religare Health Trust (RHT), a wholly owned subsidiary of Delhi-based Religare Enterprise Ltd (REL), has named Gurpreet Dhillon as CEO of the company. Earlier, Dhillon was working as the executive director and COO of RHT. ...Gurpreet Dhillon is also a second cousin of the billionaire brothers Malvinder and Shivinder Singh who are the…
134
Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Without religion, I enjoy feeling normal and not special

Recently I experienced an insignificant moment on an airplane which reminded me of how, when I was religious, experiences like this took on a wildly undeserved meaning. The flight attendants were coming down the aisle on their last beverage service before the plane landed. Sitting way in the back, I could hear repeatedly, "Would you like a complimentary Mai Tai?" I started to think about what I'd say when the two women got to my aisle.  I've probably only had a couple of Mai Tai's in my life. In fact, likely I've consumed less than a dozen alcoholic mixed drinks…
50
Posted inBooks Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Early editions of Radha Soami Satsang Beas books wanted

A while back I blogged about how I boxed up almost all of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) books that I'd accumulated over some thirty-five years.  An Indian woman had contacted me, saying she was looking for older editions (first and second editions, ideally) of RSSB books published before 2000. I agreed to send her mine for the cost of mailing. They were sent to her relatives in this country, because shipping books to India is expensive. Only one of the three boxes I sent off got to her. Two were lost, one seemingly because it was opened by…
38
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Video of Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the secretive guru

One of the most strangely secretive gurus in the world is Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the leader of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (headquarters are in Beas, India).  His predecessor, Charan Singh, had no problem with being photographed in both still shots and videos. However, Gurinder Singh prohibits cameras from being used in his presence, even in public places.  I witnessed this myself when I was serving as a security volunteer at a RSSB meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. Prohibitions of that sort, though, can be gotten around. Here's a You Tube video, "Babaji Gurinder Singh Dhillon -- I Just Wanna Hide," that…
40
Posted inBuddhism Radha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Eyes shut spiritual escapism: the trap of “going within”

For many years, decades actually, I practiced a form of meditation aimed at "going within." Meaning, within some supposed realms of consciousness distinct, and higher than, the physical world. This practice was part of a Sant Mat teaching. As Wikipedia says: The basic teaching of contemporary Sant Mat, as described by its Masters, is that everything lies inside us and that God is within. The outside world is only an image or a reflection of the inner reality. So, in pithier terms, what's outside of us is worthless crap; what's inside of us is precious divinity. This world-denying notion is…
8
Posted inMystics Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Charan Singh was a loyal guru

It's a reasonable theory: that a guru who supposedly is "god in human form" isn't a liar, lunatic, the Lord, or a legend. He or she is a loyalist, someone who carries out the role of a divine person because he or she is loyal to the person/organization who elevated them to their gurudom. This was what I argued in "Who is the guru?" Is there another L-word that better fills the bill? One springs to mind: loyalist. Perhaps when a successor is appointed to fill the shoes of a highly-regarded guru, loyalty both to his predecessor and to the…
75
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Reality

Reality is more than the human mind

Roger asked some good questions in his comment on a recent blog post. He started off by agreeing with my oh-so-agreeable statement about the ineffable can't-know'ness of someone else's subjective experiences. Correct, "Everybody has their own subjective experiences. It isn't possible to know what those subjective experiences are like, unless you're the person having the experiences." ---However, what is a RSSB [Radha Soami Satsang Beas] meditation experience? Why is there a need for RSSB initation into a meditation process? Is the RSSB meditations nothing more than one's subjective personal experiences? ---So, these RSSB meditation experiences of the various astral planes or regions are…
9
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Why be reluctant to share spiritual experiences?

One of the (few) things I like about Christianity is how open Christians are to talking about their visions of Jesus, heaven, angels, and other aspects of the divine. If a Christian has a spiritual experience, he or she usually feels that this is something to be shared, not kept secret. By contrast, there's a rather cult'ish tendency in Eastern religions, meditative practices, and mystical paths to -- shush! -- keep quiet about "inner" supposed supernatural experiences. I've always been suspicious of this, because it strikes me as a means of control. For example, I'm quite familiar with the injunction…
8
Posted inPersonal/Stories Radha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Weird religious stuff I’ve believed or done

A couple of weeks into the New Year, I still haven't completely broken a half-hearted resolution: be more understanding and less in-your-face toward people I disagree with.  Such as on matters of religion or politics. Which are the main areas in life where I can get frothy at the mouth with indignation at how incredibly stupid some people can be who aren't like wise me. I've been trying to remember that over my 64 years of living, my own religious and political views have changed a lot. I've believed and done things in the past that my present self would…
36
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

David Lane’s honest view of Sant Mat

There's a lot to like in a recent posting by David Lane on his Radhasoami Studies discussion group. "What I Believe? -- a position paper of sorts by David Lane" describes how Lane feels about the Indian philosophy of Sant Mat, Radha Soami Satsang Beas version (Sant Mat comes in various guises, much as Christianity has many competing theologies). One of the things I liked the most in this mini-essay was praise of me -- the person I'm closest to -- at the end. And I wasn't even expecting it! Meaning, I didn't search out the posting because of the me-mention.…
49
Posted inMiracles Radha Soami Satsang Beas Science

Believing in miracles is an insult to God

In tune with the Christmas season, which is full of talk about unproven religious miracles, yesterday "G" left a comment on my "Where have all the miracles gone?" post.  Sorry Peaceseeker, if you want proof of the RSSB miracles all you have to do is do a Google search, it's funny how there is positive news about RSSB on Google but Brian doesn't incorporate it on here. But when there is false news about RSSB he's quick along with the other bloggers to incorporate it here. My response made a lot more sense. G, please share the proof of RSSB miracles.…
5
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Science

Science loves being wrong. Religion hates it.

Are you sure you're right about something? Whether it is going to rain tomorrow; whether space aliens have visited Earth; whether God exists. Whatever. If so, you've got a religious attitude, even if you don't consider yourself to be religious. That's because science is never completely certain. Scientists always are open to having their ideas about reality disproved.  In short, they love being wrong. Indeed, says Steven Ross Pomeroy in his Scientific American blog post, "The Key to Science (and Life) is Being Wrong." A good scientist must be willing to be wrong. Such an inclination is liberating, for it…
11
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Religions

Indian cultural attitudes help explain guru devotion

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." Well, back in 1892 Rudyard Kipling might have been right about the relationship between Britain and India, but obviously since then the world has become, in Thomas Friedman's jargon, a lot flatter. Meaning, a lot more interconnected, alike, accessible. Yet there still is a cultural gulf between East and West. A question I got from an Indian in an email today reminded me of this. I was a member of an India-based spiritual organization (Radha Soami Satsang Beas, or RSSB) for over thirty-five years. I've been…
24
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas Spiritual practice/meditation

Dude, where’s my soul? Can’t find it anywhere.

I've been looking for my soul everywhere I can think it might be. No sign of it. I've gone through the drawer where I put stuff that I figure I might need someday, but don't want to throw away. Nope. No soul. Our garage is filled with places it might be, lots of boxes filled with long-forgotten crap. But I don't remember putting my soul into storage there.  So I'm left with talking to myself. Or to whoever might be listening who could help me out. Dude, where's my soul? (If this allusion doesn't make sense to you, your taste in…
13
Posted inRadha Soami Satsang Beas

Skepticism about Charan and Gurinder Singh

Some comments on this blog deserve more attention than they get if hidden away as part of a blog post. Here's one such thoughtful comment from "aloe," published yesterday on this post, which will be of interest to those who follow Sant Mat and Radha Soami Satsang Beas goings-on.-------------------------------------------- I read some of these posts with some sadness. I was initiated by Charan Singh and followed him for 23 years. After 13 years among older initiates who were a joy to be around, my life in a good discipline, the next 10 years were a gradual revelation that Sant Mat was…
52