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The Radha Soami Satsang was started by Baba Jaimal Singh on the banks of the river Beas in Punjab. His mission was to
teach the suffering humanity. Sant Mat is based on the principles of "Surat Shabad Yogaâ" or Sahaj Yoga.
Radha means
Soul and Soami means Lord. Therefore, Radha Soami can be literally translated into meaning "Lord of the Soul" or the Supreme
Being. The Radha Soami teachings expound the age-old philosophy of the Saints of the East. It lays down a systematic method
for God-realization and gives practical training in right living.
Sant Mat is not difficult to follow. What is required
is a disciplined life and regular meditation for at least two hours daily in complete devotion with one-pointed concentration
under the guidance of a Perfect Master. It does not require asceticism but calls for complete detachment from all activity
that retards the progress of the soul.
According to this philosophy, the never ending cycle of birth and death is
due to the karmic load and one can never merge with the Supreme Being with such a load.
Sant Mat attaches the foremost
importance to having a living Master. It is the Master who attaches the seeker to the Shabad or the Sound Current by giving
Naam (mantra). By giving Naam the Master initiates the seeker into the techniques of Surat Shabad Yoga or the method by which
the soul unites with the Shabad or the Sound Current.
Secondly, it says that God-realization is possible only in the
human form, therefore the soul must be embodied in the human form to be able to merge with the Supreme Being. Man is seen
as the living and moving Temple of God. Like the Bhagavata, Sant Mat believes in the divinity of every individual.
The
soul journey back to its Creator by withdrawing the scattered attention from the outside world. This can be achieved only
by closing the nine apertures of sensual pleasures and concentrating between the eyes and listening to the Sound Current,
which continuously reverberates in us from birth to death.
Food leaves a deep impact on one psyche. Discipline in eating
habits not only affects a persons beauty and health but also determines is or her thoughts and actions.
When the food
we eat is pure, our inner sense gets purified, once the inner self is purified, the mind and memory become steady.
To
eat the simplest and purest nourishment definitely helps in controlling the five passions "lust, anger, greed, attachment
and egotism". High ethical and moral life is necessary for spiritual. This path also enjoins the followers to earn their livelihood
by honest means.
The Master himself rigidly follows this principle and accepts nothing from his disciples.
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