David Christopher Lane is a professor of philosophy and sociology at Mt. San Antonio College, in Walnut, California. He is notable for his book The Making of a Spiritual Movement: The Untold Story of Paul Twitchell and Eckankar which exposed the origins of Eckankar and demonstrated the plagiarism of its founder, Paul Twitchell. He is also notable for introducing to a wider audience the teachings of Baba Faqir Chand, the Indian exponent of Surat Shabd Yoga from Hoshiapur in the book, The Unknowing Sage: The Life and Work of Baba Faqir Chand. Lane founded the journal, Understanding Cults and Spiritual Movements in the 1980s which featured critical studies of John-Roger Hinkins and Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, Adi Da, and Sathya Sai Baba.
Kirpal Singh was a spiritual master (satguru) in the tradition of Radha Soami.
Contemporary Sant Mat Movements, mostly among the Radha Soami tradition, are esoteric philosophy movements active in the United States, Europe, Australia, Latin America, and especially India. These movements assert that Sant Mat shares a lineage with Sikhism and contains elements of thought found in Hinduism, such as karma and reincarnation. They further assert that Sant Mat also contains elements found in Sufism and has inspired and influenced a number of religious groups and organizations. They refer to this spiritual path as the "Science of the Soul" or ‘Sant Mat’, meaning ‘teachings of the saints’. More recently it has been described as "The Way of Life" or "Living the Life of Soul." It incorporates a practical yoga system known as Surat Shabd Yoga.
Surat Shabd Simran is a type of spiritual meditation in the Sant Mat tradition.
Radha Soami is a spiritual tradition founded by Shiv Dayal Singh in 1861 on Basant Panchami Day in Agra, India.
Shiv Dayal Singh, called by the honorific "Param Purush Puran Dhani Huzur Soami Ji Maharaj" by his disciples and devotees, was born on 25 August 1818 in Agra in the colonial era British India, and died on 15 June 1878 in the same city. His parents were followers of a spiritual guru Tulsi Saheb. Shiv Dayal Singh was the founder and first spiritual leader of Radha Soami a 19th-century spiritual sect.
Sawan Singh (1858-1948), also known as The Great Master or Bade Maharaj ji, was an Indian Saint or Sant. He was the second spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) from the death of Jaimal Singh in 1903 until his own death on 2 April 1948.
Born Shri Beli Ram Ji, Shri Swami Swarupanand Ji Maharaj, was an Indian Guru of Shri Paramhans Advait Mat lineage. He is also known as "Shri Nangli Niwasi Bhagwaan Ji", as "Hari Har Baba", as "Sadhgurudev Ji" and as "Second Guru". Born in village Teri in Kohat district, India, the young Beli Ram Ji was initiated into the sanyasas in the early 1900s in Teri by Shri Paramhans Swami Advaitanand Ji, who named him Shri Swami Swarupanand Ji. During Swami Advaitanand ji's life, Swami Swarupanand ji created an order of sanyasis in northern India and founded several centers with the purpose of disseminating his master's teachings.
Julian P. Johnson (1867–1939) was an American surgeon and author of several books on Eastern spirituality. He spent much of 1932 to 1939 in India, was associated with the Radha Soami Satsang Beas movement and Surat Shabd Yoga, and wrote five books as a result of his experiences.
Purushottama Bilimoria is an Australian-American philosopher and scholar of Indian origin.
Swami Shraddhanand, also known as Mahatma Munshi Ram Vij, was an Arya Samaj sannyasi and an Indian Independence activist who propagated the teachings of Dayananda Saraswati. This included the establishment of educational institutions, like the Gurukul Kangri University, and played a key role on the Sangathan and the Shuddhi (purification), a Hindu reform movement in the 1920s.
Mark Juergensmeyer is an American sociologist and scholar specialized in global studies and religious studies, and a writer best known for his studies on comparative religion, religious violence, and global religion. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and William F. Podlich Distinguished Fellow and Professor of Religious Studies at Claremont McKenna College.
Jagat Singh (1884–1951) was an Indian Surat Shabd Yoga practitioner and initiate of the Sant and Radha Soami Satsang Beas Guru Sawan Singh. He worked as a college chemistry professor at an Agricultural College and was honoured for meritorious service by the British as Sardar Bahadur. After retirement he was chosen by his spiritual master to be his successor, becoming the third spiritual head of Radha Soami Satsang Beas. Remembered as quiet, inconspicuous, and unassuming, he was once described by the Muslim mystic Sain Lasoori Shah of Lyallpur as a "perfect disciple" who became a "perfect Master".
Shiv Brat Lal Varman, (1860-1939) popularly known by the honorifics "Data Dayal" (Merciful) and "Maharishi", was born in Bhadohi district of Uttar Pradesh state in India in February 1860. He was a post graduate and a famous writer. It is believed that he wrote as many as 3,000 books on various social, historical, religious and spiritual topics. Being a famous writer he was called as the modern Maharishi Ved Vyas and hence became famous with the name Maharishi ji.
Salig Ram, popularly known by the honorific "Huzur Maharaj" and by the government-conferred title "Rai Bahadur," was born in Peepal Mandi, Agra, on 14 March 1829. He served as chief inspector of post offices in British India, and, in 1881, was Postmaster-General of the North-Western Provinces, based in Allahabad. He was the first Indian to hold the position.
Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. (MRML) is a leading publishing house located in New Delhi, India. Established in 1952 by Manohar Lal Jain, it is one of the oldest publishing houses in India.
Baba Faqir Chand, was an Indian master of Surat Shabd Yoga, or consciously controlled near death experience. He was one of the first saints or gurus of Sant Mat tradition to openly speak and write against the deceptive and harmful practices of modern guruism and religious intolerance. As a highly pragmatic individual, Faqir also strove to explain the various practices and principles of Sant Mat based on his own experiences and in the context of modern science and psychology. He was also the first Sant Mat guru to talk about the phenomena consisting of a believer experiencing a subjective projection of a sacred or holy form of a guru or idol without the conscious knowledge of the person at the center of the experience, i.e., the guru. This was termed the 'Chandian Effect', and described by researcher David C. Lane. Faqir Chand claimed that he had no knowledge of his form manifesting before a person and helping them with their worldly or spiritual problems. He fervently expressed that in his experience, the real helper is one's own true self and faith. Mark Juergensmeyer, another researcher on new religious movements, intrigued by the uniqueness of Faqir Chand's experiences, also interviewed him. This insightful interview was included in Faqir's autobiography.
Munshi Ram, Indian spiritual guru and follower of Faqir Chand.
Manavta Mandir or Be Human Temple in Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India, was established in 1962 by Baba Faqir Chand (1886–1981). In order to carry forward the mission of his religion of humanity, Faqir, with the financial help from Seth Durga Das established the temple which remained his center of activity till he died in 1981. The temple houses a statue of his guru, Shiv Brat Lal and portraits of other prominent gurus of Sant Mat, Radha Soami Mat and Sufi Mat.
Dayal is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
