Radha Soami Satsang Beas

I just got an email message from a friend about an attempt in Vienna, Austria to assassinate Gurinder Singh, the guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), which is headquartered in the Punjab, India.I was an active member of RSSB for over thirty-five years and volunteered several times for security work at large meetings in the United States and Canada where Gurinder Singh gave talks.At a Honolulu session in the 1990s I remember getting the job of peering into trash receptacles and such to search for explosive devices. This seemed sort of unnecessary to me at the time. After reading…

Yesterday a regular visitor to this blog, tucson, left a comment on a post that deserved more attention than it likely was going to get. (Irritatingly, TypePad, my blog service, doesn't take a click on a "recent comments" link directly to the comment, only to the post; tucson's comment was on an old post with hundreds of comments on multiple pages, so it was hard to find).Here's what tucson had to say in response to a previous comment by "Neitzsche" that talked about the guru of an Eastern religious organization (RSSB), Gurinder Singh. I thought tucson's advice to Neitzsche was…

Sant Mat is a spiritual system historically centered in northern India, but which now has spread internationally, with initiates of various Sant Mat gurus scattered around the world. It often is billed as a "science of the soul" that transcends religious boundaries and distinctions. For example, the branch of Sant Mat that I was a member of for thirty-five years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), has published books that show the purported connection between Sant Mat and Christianity, as well as Sant Mat and Judaism.This requires considerable leaps of faith, though, and some creative reinterpreting of Bible verses. The commonalities…

Thanks to David Lane (a.k.a "Neural Surfer") I came across a link to a news story about a big real estate deal involving land owned by Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a Indian religious/spiritual organization headquartered in the Punjab. A commenter points out that the sale is for about $108 million, with houses on the property slated to sell for around $2 million. Wow. Parts of India must be imitating Beverly Hills.I also was emailed a link to another story about RSSB: "Dera raising embankment to change course of river; farmers complain." Hundred million dollar deals and questionably legal construction…

As shown in my previous post, there's an intimate relationship between Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a religious/mystical organization headquartered in India, and Religare -- a large global financial services group.The current RSSB guru is Gurinder Singh Dhillon. His sons, though only 26 and 20 years old, are among the 400 richest Indians owing to millions of Religare shares having been transferred to them at a very low cost via insider trading deals.And the guru himself has acquired about half a million dollars worth of Religare shares in a similar fashion. (For details on all this, read "Religare's money connections…

Religious institutions often have an intimate relationship with money. The hugely rich Catholic Church comes to mind, naturally. There's nothing inherently wrong with this. People simply should be aware when spirituality gets tangled up with financial dealings, and make up their own minds about what, if anything, it means to them. In that spirit, someone forwarded me an email message regarding Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) that reportedly has been circulating among members of this India-based organization. RSSB, as a branch of the Sant Mat ("Path of Saints") religious philosophy, is led by a guru who is considered by the…

Recently I asked myself, "Brian, what's the craziest thing you've ever believed?" Since I was an active member of an Indian mystical guru-based meditation organization, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), for over thirty years, quite a few candidate beliefs came to mind. Here's the winner: I used to accept the distinct possibility, if not likelihood, that when I was initiated by the RSSB guru back in 1971, Master Charan Singh placed a metaphysical "double" of himself, a radiant form, within my consciousness. Or being. Or soul. Or something like that.It wasn't very clear where or how this magic act was performed.…

Sam Busa, the South African representative of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (an Indian spiritual group) for some 55 years died recently. The current guru of the organization, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, sent this message to Busa's family.Dear ______, I was informed about Sam's passing. Rest assured Sam is in a much better place now, free from all suffering and concerns.  His guidance and help which he gave tirelessly to the sangat in South Africa for so many years will be greatly missed. He lived a full and complete life.  He is once again united with his beloved Master. Though you will all…

Recently I got an email message from someone who wanted to know why I felt so special when I was an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, a Sant Mat organization headquartered in India.In your posts, you often make mention of having felt special when you were in RS mode, and how you now feel relieved to have shed this sense of being special. It isn’t clear to me what was your basis for this feeling of being special. The way I understand it, Sant Mat teachings and practice inculcate in the initiate an ever broadening and expanding perspective of…

Sant Mat gets discussed quite a bit here because I was a member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (a contemporary Sant Mat movement) for many years, along with other regular Church of the Churchless commenters.I'm more familiar with Sant Mat than any other religion, spiritual system, or mystical path. So when Osho Robbins emailed me with news that he was starting a "True Sant Mat" blog, naturally I was curious.And, upon request, gave him some advice about how to set the blog up, since we're both using the TypePad blogging service. Osho's goal is to discuss the real teachings behind…

I was planning to write a blog post about another subject tonight. But, hey, when someone leaves a comment on an Open Thread that focuses on me, wanting me to answer some questions about me, suddenly I found this topic a lot more interesting.I'll put "Cell's" words in italics and my response in normal type.------------------------------ Brian, may I ask a few questions of you? I would just send you an email, but I think that some external input could be helpful, too.No problem. I love questions. Especially ones I can answer. Since they're about me, that's a subject I have…

A few days ago I posted a message from Shiloh, "The anguish of losing a loved one to exotic religion." That was part of my communications with her. Here's the other part: a question and answer dialogue we had about Radha Soami Satsang Beas, the India-based spiritual organization that is the exotic religion Shiloh was concerned about.We exchanged several email messages after Shiloh wrote to me, asking if I'd help her better understand the organization that I was an active member of for many years. Here's our Q & A exchange, starting with some introductory remarks and moving to eight…

Here's a well-written, thoughtful message from a woman who is disturbed that her sister has joined the spiritual group that I was a member of for many years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). Shiloh emailed me a while back, asking some questions about RSSB that I answered. I'll share those Q & A in another post soon. I asked Shiloh if she'd be OK with me sharing her thoughts in a blog post. She was. And chose the title for this post.Shiloh expresses herself well. She's a great example of how someone can be churchless, yet godly. As I often say…

A friend, Randy, sent me a link to an article about "Deras, Caste Conflicts and Recent Violence in Punjab." It's interesting. Twice I've visited Dera Baba Jaimal Singh in the Punjab area of India. It's the headquarters of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, an organization that practices a form of neo-Sikhism. Meaning, a living guru is worshipped, not the Adi Granth Sahib, a book (which traditional Sikhs revere in somewhat the same sense as Christians look upon the Bible, as God's word).I wasn't aware how many "deras" there are in the Punjab. The article says:In Punjab, the number of Deras are…

Shin, whose email to me a few months back was shared in "Good questions from a Sant Mat truth seeker," is still questioning. Good for him.Below I've shared, with minor editing, a report from Shin of a Q & A session between him and Gurinder Singh -- the current guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a branch of Sant Mat.What's especially interesting about this interaction is that one of the parties, Gurinder Singh, is considered to be God in Human Form (GIHF) by RSSB devotees. So to a believer, what the guru says is the gospel truth. Or the…

Often comments added to a blog post by other people are the best part of something I've written. Such was the thought that went through my mind on April 28, when I read a comment by tAo that he'd submitted to my "Another RSSB initiate bites the dust" post. With minor editing, I've copied it in below to give it wider attention.Though the subject is the Sant Mat philosophy that forms the basis of the teachings of an Indian organization, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, seemingly much of what tAo says applies to any religious group.I agree that many of those…