Radha Soami Satsang Beas

I don't go to the Radha Soami Satsang Beas version of church (satsang) anymore. But in a way, I still attend a service. And it's a lot more real and satisfying than the one way "sermons" I used to listen to, and give, back in my true believing days. Yesterday I got together, as usual, with my Sunday coffeehouse conversing bunch. Most have had, or still have, a connection with RSSB. We're not dogmatic, though, and that makes all the difference. Most of the time it was just me, Lynette, and Hans huddled at a table, sipping expresso and munching…

My wife found some note cards when she was cleaning out a drawer. "Here," she said, handing them to me. "They're yours." No doubt. My handwriting is distinctive, in the sense of unreadable. But I can decipher my own scribblings. Most of the time, at least. (I've been known to hand a store clerk my grocery list and ask, "Can you tell me what I wrote down here?") I thumbed through the cards and realized what they were: an initial attempt to organize themes for the talks that I used to give regularly at meetings of Radha Soami Satsang Beas…

Sometimes silence says more than words. Recently an old friend asked me, "Do you still consider yourself to be a satsangi?" I stared into the depths of my Starbucks latte. I started to speak, then closed my lips. The question spiraled deeper into my psyche. I waited to see if it'd hit bottom. Satsangi – I knew what my friend meant by the word. An initiated member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, a mystic-religious group with headquarters in India and branches around the world. But the term is used much more broadly. Wikipedia associates it with another belief system. And…

I like it when a religious organization shows some flexibility. So kudos to the group that I belonged to for some thirty-five years, Radha Soami Satsang Beas, for significantly expanding its embrace of the World Wide Web. Today I learned that the RSSB web site has a new look. Previously there was basically just a home page and a catalog of RSSB publications. Now there's much more, including essays on the Sant Mat philosophy that forms the core of the group's teachings. For a long time the current RSSB guru, Gurinder Singh, asked that disciples refrain from discussing Sant Mat…

I've had an interesting email exchange with someone who noted my statement in a previous post: "Often I hear believers say, on this blog or elsewhere, that sharing their personal experience runs the risk of enlarging their ego. In my opinion, the risk lies in the other direction." She disagreed, saying that for her (a Sant Mat initiate), love is the whole of spirituality. And love should be private. The inner personal experience of meditation is regarded by many satsangis as a very personal, private, and precious gift which has relevance only to oneself. The experience is a special gift…

I love it when a Church of the Churchless post comes back to life. Resurrection! Praise Blog! The past week there's been an intense high-quality discussion on last November's "Another RSSB initiate bites the dust" – a 75 comment interchange since February 12. I've followed the conversation mostly from afar, though I've thrown in a comment or two of my own. As frequently happens on this blog, the specifics often have to do with Radha Soami Satsang Beas, the mystic-religious organization I was involved with for thirty-five years. But the general themes are universal. One of which, to my mind…

Most Christians would be surprised to learn that right now, in 2008, millions of people believe that a man in India not only teaches the same spirituality as Jesus, but is the same godly being. Yes, Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), a branch of Sant Mat, holds that the path of the saints (a translation of "Sant Mat") is identical with the teachings of Jesus. One of the RSSB books, "Light on Saint John," says: Since most of you have a Christian background, I shall try to explain the teachings of all the Saints in the light of the Bible,…

Yesterday I got some advice from a commenter on a post to "be silent." I responded right away, because this is one of my favorite subjects – playing fair with words. Zion, I always find it interesting when someone, like you, advises that silence is the best policy -- and posts a public comment using many words. If I should be silent, shouldn't you? Or do you know me better than I know myself? And does your advice only apply to me, or also to yourself? …I'm curious about this: how do you know that "those who know always keep…

Yesterday Jay Lou left a comment on one of my posts that started off, "I don't want to be rude to you. But if you can't say anything good about something then don't say it at all." I was surprised by that sentiment. I seem to recall an elementary school teacher saying something similar back in first or second grade, but adults rarely, if ever, speak that way. It struck me as remarkably unscientific. Yet it was pretty obvious that the commenter was a devotee of Sant Mat (likely the Radha Soami Satsang Beas branch), a spiritual path that I…

Reminding me of myself when I was less than half of my current pushing 60, today disgustingly young Adam sent me an email about his take on Sant Mat. I replied, and got his permission to share his thoughts. Below is Adam's message, followed by my reply. I like how Adam differentiates between "liberalism" and "fundamentalism." The question in my mind (and Sam Harris') is how distinct these approaches to spirituality really are. Adam thinks that it's possible to separate out the crazily dogmatic aspects of an organized religion, while still remaining true to the group's core principles. In my…

It’s always a pleasure to hear from another heretic. Yesterday Fred, a fellow disillusioned initiate of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, sent me an email titled “Another one bites the dust.”

Well, Fred says he’s back to sipping red wine. So his un-conversion isn’t as dryly uncomfortable as that title implies.

In fact, when you read his thoughtful message you’ll see that he’s doing just fine. Real fine, in fact.

Apart from his observations about RSSB, I enjoyed Fred’s description of an orgasmic meditation session. He asked me for meditation pointers, but obviously I should be kneeling at his feet (oops, that doesn’t sound quite right, given the context).

I’ve offered up the message in three formats. It can be read as a continuation to this post. It also can be downloaded in Word or PDF format by clicking on the links below.

Word: Download note_to_brian.doc

PDF: Download note_to_brian.pdf

Last year I thought I'd said about all there was for to me say about "Who should I thank on Thanksgiving?" Existence. You can't get down to a deeper level of thankfulness than that. I am. Oh yes. Thank you, thank you, thank you. If I wasn't, there'd be no thanking. Or anything else. Well, there's always something more to say. Just not a whole lot. About thankfulness. Right now. Yesterday I was given some notes that described recent talks given by the current guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Gurinder Singh. Glancing through them I was struck by a…

What seems to be the final newsletter that I'll be getting from my old "church," Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB), came in the mail yesterday. RSSB no longer is going to mail the newsletters. You'll have to go to meetings (satsangs) to get the information – some of which is about upcoming meetings, so go figure. I'll miss getting this publication, which comes from the Western Regional Office headed up by Vince Savarese. I read it mostly to gauge my reaction to reading it. Like lots of other people who have become more churchless over the years, I used to…

What's wrong with telling someone "Good job"? I can't think of any reason not to give out praise when congratulations are due. But religiously minded members of Radha Soami Satsang Beas sure did back in my RSSB speaking days. I suspect that not much has changed. Which is too bad. Because spirituality should start from a base of being fully human. That is, if we aren't engaging in the normal social niceties that bring people together and make everyday life flow more pleasantly, it's hard to see how we're on a path that leads to some sort of higher realization.…

Religious people often look upon death as a ticket out of this world and into a better one. Me, I'm clinging to what I've got until I have hold of something else. So I was intrigued by the following email message from a Church of the Churchless visitor. I know just what he's talking about, as during my devoted Radha Soami Satsang Beas days I encountered quite a few initiates, or satsangis, who couldn't wait to die (some who were seriously ill, some who were not). My correspondent wanted to know my thoughts on this topic. Well, to me it's…

On first reading, I didn't like the advice that came to me in an email from a Church of the Churchless visitor. After a second and third reading I came to see what the person was trying to tell me. Sort of. It's hard enough for me to understand me. Translating understandings from one mind to another is considerably more difficult. I particularly like the third and fourth paragraphs (see message below). This person is right. When I was a Radha Soami Satsang Beas true believer I did become preoccupied with rights and wrongs, do's and don'ts, rites and rituals.…

I just got the September issue of the Western USA Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) newsletter. It made me sort of sad to see that soon I won't be getting it any more. (Starting in 2008 it'll only be available at the RSSB equivalent of "church," satsangs, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense, since the inspiration and information in the newsletter can be conveyed directly at satsang, while many "churchless" RSSB initiates stay in touch with organizational goings-on only through the newsletter). I like to read it, even though I'm no longer a RSSB true believer, because I…

Here's something about gurus and disciples that I find intriguing. I guess you could call it a koan of sorts, because whatever conclusion you come to about it won't make sense rationally. Which could well be the correct conclusion: that the whole guru bhakti system is so full of contradictions, it deserves jettisoning. But this is just a possibility, one of many. I'm asking questions, not supplying answers. I'll describe this koan using specifics from the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) branch of Sant Mat. However, the basic questions are applicable to just about every guru-based faith, especially those that…

Yesterday I went to the Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) equivalent of "church," a satsang. It'd been quite a while. I felt right at home, though no more so than at the Beanery Coffee House – our post satsang destination. Old friends Ron and Rita had come down from Seattle for their almost annual visit. They enjoy the Salem Art Fair, even when I kid Ron about a leather cap making him look like one of the Village People. Ron is a faithful RSSB devotee, though by no means a fundamentalist. Me, I'm whatever I am now. Some would say,…