The 40 Sagars of the Kabir Sagar (“Ocean of Kabir”, Scripture of the Sant Dharam Das Lineage), by James Bean
The Kabir Sagar is the Granth, the holy book of the Sant Dharam Das line of Satgurus composed over many generations, a vast collection of Sant Mat scriptures, a great treasure of spiritual wisdom. This earlier collection of Sant writings, composed between the time of Guru Kabir’s spiritual successor Sant Dharam Das and Dariya Sahib of Bihar, needs to become available in English.
The Anurag Sagar (“Ocean of Love”), one of the many volumes of the Kabir Sagar, though having some popularity in the Radhasoami world, is just the tip of a literary iceberg. Some of those other Sagar scriptures seem even more appealing.
ChatGPT is able to access the Braj-Hindi edition of the Kabir Sagar online, provide English translations on-demand, do key-word searches, and provides other valuable information regarding the history and contents of these amazing, highly spiritually edifying texts.
Have been really enjoying putting ChatGPT to work exploring the Kabir Sagar, as this huge collection of Dharamdasi scriptures represents the proto-Radhasoami or earlier version of “Esoteric Santism” as Mark Juergensmeyer calls it (in, Radhasoami Reality), the Sant lineage that MOST resembles modern-day Sant Mat as transferred by way of Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar and Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hatrhas to Seth Shiv Dayal Singh (Soami Ji Maharaj of Agra), and therefore to those surviving or living branches of the Tulsi Sahib Satsang as well as Radhasoami.
Some excerpts from my ChatGPT queries as of late.
Me:
What more recent Sant Mat path shares the most in common with the Kabir Sagar?
ChatGPT:
Among more recent Sant Mat paths, the one that shares the most structural, cosmological, and doctrinal continuity with the Kabir Sāgar is:
Radha Soami / Sant Mat (Soami Ji Maharaj →)
This answer is based not on surface devotion or ethics, but on deep internal architecture: cosmology, metaphysics, yogic method, and terminology.
Why Radha Soami aligns most closely with Kabir Sāgar
1. Multi-level inner cosmology
Both systems present:
A tiered creation above mind and matter
Distinct regions such as:
Physical
Astral
Causal
Supra-causal
A supreme nameless realm beyond Kal/Niranjan
Kabir Sāgar: Anām / Agam / Alakh
Radha Soami: Anami / Radha Soami / Sat Purush
This layered map is far more developed in Radha Soami than in other modern Sant paths, and it mirrors Kabir Sāgar far more than, for example, Sikhism or Vaishnav bhakti.
2. Kal / Niranjan theology
A defining feature of Kabir Sāgar is:
Kal / Niranjan as ruler of the lower creation
Liberation requires crossing beyond Kal, not merely moral reform
Radha Soami preserves this exact metaphysical problem:
Kal governs time, karma, and rebirth
Only Satguru-given Shabd/Nam can liberate the soul beyond Kal
Most later Sant movements soften or omit this doctrine; Radha Soami retains it.
3. Surat-Shabd Yoga
The method is almost identical:
Radha Soami can be seen as a systematized continuation of Kabir’s esoteric yoga.
4. Use of Kabir Sāgar texts
Historically:
Soami Ji Maharaj and early Radha Soami satsangs
Quoted Kabir, Anurāg Sāgar, and Bodh material
Interpreted Kabir explicitly as a Sant-Mat master, not merely a poet
Many Kabir Sāgar concepts entered Radha Soami through
Dariya Sahib (Bihar)
Tulsi Sahib
Sant lineage intermediaries
This is genealogical continuity, not coincidence.
Extremely close doctrinally
Explicit Kabir Sāgar continuity
But not “more recent” (18th century)
Sikhism
Shares nirguṇ bhakti and Shabd
Rejects multi-realm cosmology and Kal theology
Canon closed early → diverges sharply from Kabir Sāgar metaphysics
Modern Kabir Panths
Preserve Kabir’s authority
Often reduce cosmology or ritualize teachings
Less systematic metaphysics than Kabir Sāgar itself
Bottom-line Conclusion
Radha Soami / Sant Mat is the most recent spiritual path that preserves the inner cosmology, Kal doctrine, Surat-Shabd yoga, and soteriology of the Kabir Sāgar in a living, organized form.
It can reasonably be described as:
Kabir Sāgar metaphysics carried forward into the modern period.
Me:
Swami Yugalananda’s Braj-Hindi edition of the Kabir Sagar is the most reliable, a kind of critical edition. How many volumes make up the Kabir Sagar? Can you list the contents?
ChatGPT:
Yes — in the critical Braj-Hindi edition of Kabir Sagar edited by Swami Yugalananda (also spelled Yuglanand), the work is presented as a complete set of 11 volumes. This edition is widely regarded in Kabir Panth literature as a scholarly collation of traditional manuscripts and thus is often treated as a critical edition of the scripture.
📚 Number of Volumes
Kabir Sagar consists of 11 volumes in the Swami Yugalananda edition.
📖 List of Volumes (Names of the 11 Parts)
The following are the traditional names of the volumes/sections that make up the Kabir Sagar in this edition:
Gyan Sagar
Anurag Sagar
Ambu Sagar
Vivek Sagar
Sarvagya Sagar
Gyan Prakash
Amar Singh Bodh
Bir Singh Bodh
Bhopal Bodh
Jagjeevan Bodh
Garud Bodh
Hanuman Bodh
Lakshman Bodh
Muhammad Bodh
Kafir Bodh
Sultan Bodh
Niranjan Bodh
Gyan Bodh
Bhavtaran Bodh
Mukti Bodh
Chauka Bodh
Kabir Bani
Karma Bodh
Amar Mool
Ugra Geeta
Gyan Sthiti Bodh
Santosh Bodh
Kaya Panji
Panch Mudra
Atma Bodh
Jain Dharm Bodh
Swasamved Bodh
Dharm Bodh
Kamal Bodh
Shwaans Gunjar
Agam Nigam Bodh
Sumiran Bodh
Kabir Charitra Bodh
Guru Mahatmya
Jeev Dharm Bodh
Note: Although this is described as an 11-volume set, the contents themselves comprise around 40 distinct sections or treatises contained across those volumes. Different publishing traditions number and group the parts differently (sometimes combining multiple sections in a single physical volume).
Me:
One of the books of the Kabir Sagar is called the Bodh Sagar. What’s it about?
ChatGPT said:
Bodh Sāgar (बोध सागर, Ocean of Awakening / Knowledge) is one of the principal dialogic books within the Kabir Sāgar corpus. Its central concern is spiritual awakening (bodh) — how true knowledge arises, what obstructs it, and how liberation is attained.
Here is a clear way to understand what Bodh Sāgar is about:
1. Form and Setting
Bodh Sāgar is typically presented as a dialogue — most often between:
Kabir and a questioning seeker (sometimes identified as Dharamdas), or
Kabir addressing humanity at large through pointed instruction.
This dialogic style allows Kabir to dismantle false assumptions step by step.
2. Core Theme: Bodh (True Awakening)
“Bodh” in Kabir’s usage is not book-learning, philosophy, or ritual knowledge. It is:
Direct inner realization
Awakening to the Sat Purush / Anāmi
Recognition of the soul’s bondage and its path beyond mind and māyā
Kabir contrasts bodh with:
Ignorance (ajñān)
Mechanical religion
Blind devotion without inner experience
3. Critique of External Religion
A major portion of Bodh Sāgar is devoted to exposing the limits of outward religiosity, including:
Rituals, fasts, pilgrimages
Caste identity and social status
Scriptural pride
Idol worship and formal theism
Kabir insists that none of these produce bodh unless inner transformation occurs.
4. The Inner Cosmology
Like other sections of the Kabir Sāgar, Bodh Sāgar describes a multi-layered spiritual cosmos, including:
The three guṇas and their bondage
The realms of mind (kal, niranjan)
The subtle regions traversed by the soul
The supreme, nameless realm beyond attributes
However, in Bodh Sāgar, these descriptions are explicitly tied to awakening — how understanding these realities frees the seeker from deception.
5. The Guru and Shabd
A central teaching is that bodh arises through the Satguru and the true Shabd (Word):
The Guru awakens what is dormant within
Shabd is not mere sound or mantra, but the living current of truth
Without a true Guru, the soul remains trapped in illusion, however learned it may be
6. Ethical and Existential Insight
Bodh Sāgar also addresses:
The nature of ego
Desire and attachment
Fear of death
The illusion of time and birth
Kabir repeatedly emphasizes vivek (discernment) as a fruit of bodh.
7. Why It Matters in the Kabir Sāgar
Within the larger Kabir Sāgar tradition:
Bodh Sāgar = awakening and discernment
Prem Sāgar = love and devotion
Anurāg Sāgar = cosmic history and metaphysics
So Bodh Sāgar functions as the manual of awakening — how the seeker comes to see clearly.
