The Case for Sant Tulsi Sahib's Guru Being Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar - Sant Mat History Revisited, By James Bean
I believe the strongest case by far that can be made is that Tulsi Sahib's guru was Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar. Still further back in time, Dariya Sahib connected back to the Sant Dharam Das line of masters associated with the Kabir tradition. The Dariya connection also explains the closeness between Radhasoami and Dharamdasi teachings, writings and practices: the use of the Five Names, the centrality of the Anurag Sagar and similar Kabir spiritual classics, the more openly esoteric approach to the inner regions, also the inherited view that Dharam Das "was the successor of Kabir". Those are all very Dharamdasi views not shared by other Sant groups (or Sikh sects).
"...Most of the other early sant poets rarely refer to their human gurus by name..." (David Lorenzen, Kabir Legends and Ananta-das's Kabir Parachai)
We of course would prefer Tulsi Sahib to place some sort of legal document into his poetry saying something to the effect, 'I, Tulsi Sahib of sound mind wish to go on record declaring that [..............] was my Satguru'. Would be nice, but as Lorenzen observed, sometimes the Kabir's, Nanak's and Tulsi Sahib's of the tradition don't always spell this out clearly in their banis and bhajans, at least in the writings that have survived.
But there can be serious clues offered sometimes, one of those being, when a Sant mentions previous Sants, most of those being fairly famous, such as a Kabir, Nanak, Ravidas, Paltu, etc... and there's one contemporary, obscure name on their list. THAT'S worth paying attention to, as they may very well be telling us who their guru was! For instance, here's a hymn of Maharshi Mehi naming many past saints and mystics, and on his list happens to be one obscure contemporary mystery figure by the name of Satguru Devi:
“Great praise to all the Saints!
In which manner will one pray to them?
My mind is so very dirty and inexperienced,
Saints being destroyers of sorrows do away with the worldly traps,
They are the treasure-troves of knowledge and meditation,
Highly proficient in the techniques of single-minded concentration
and the Yoga of Sound,
They propagate the same in plain language all over the world;
Great are the Sages and Saints like Buddha, Shankar and Ramanand
for eliminating sins,
Sacrifice to the magnificent Saints like Kabir, Nanak,
Goswami Tulsidas and Tulsi Sahib,
Dadu, Sundar Das, Sur Das, Swapach, Ravi Das, Jagjivan, Paltu, etc…,
They are all great benefactors, delivering human beings
from the fears of the world,
Satguru Devi and other Saints are also highly adorable,
Maharshi Mehi sings their magnificence and lies prostrate
at their sacred feet with faith and love.”
(Maharshi Mehi Paramhans, Book of Padavali, Hymn #2: Hail to the Sants)
Satguru Devi was indeed the guru of Maharshi Mehi: Baba Devi Sahab of Moradabad.
"Swami Shiv Dayal lists his predecessors as ‘‘Kabir Sahab, Tulsi Sahab, Jagjiwan Sahab, Garib Das ji, Paltu Sahab, Guru Nanak, Daduji, Tulsi Das ji, Nabha ji, Swami Hari Das ji, Sur Das ji, and Raidas ji; and among Mohammedans, Shams-i-Tabrez, Maulana Rumi, Hafiz, Sarmad and Mujaddid Alifsani”’ (Sar Bachan: Prose [Dayalbagh version], verse 39, pp. 29-30)." (Mark Juergensmeyer, Radhasoami Reality)
"The family originally emigrated from the Punjab, where Shiv Dayal’s grandfather, Seth Malik Chand, was an official in the court of a princely state.’ His father, Seth Dilwali, settled in Agra and became a moneylender, a common occupation for a member of his caste. The family had been followers of Guru Nanak; this might suggest that they were Sikhs or Nanakpanthis, a term that refers to people who venerate the first Sikh master, Guru Nanak, to the exclusion of the other nine. Whatever was the case, the family turned in a different direction during Swami Shiv Dayal’s childhood—towards the spiritual tutelage of a local holy man named Tulsi Sahib." (Mark Juergensmeyer, Radhasoami Reality)
In the Radhasoami literature Sant Tulsi Sahib is named, a contemporary master not famous all over India such as Dadu, Surdas Ravidas, etc..., and he turned out to be the guru of Swami Ji, the family guru of Swami Ji's family and the family guru of Radhaji.
Honoring Tulsi Sahib's Own Words
Tulsi Sahib mentioned dozens of times Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar in his various books: "I have seen the Form which, indeed, is formless and beyond all description. It is boundless, having neither beginning nor end. Dariya Saheb says that when his mind became humble and meek, he was able to cross the ocean of existence." (Param Sant Tulsi Sahib, S.D. Maheshwari, page 125)
“Listen, O Phool Das, I have given out the same true secrets which Sants like Kabir Saheb, Dadu Saheb, Rai Das Ji, Dariya Sahib, Guru Nanak, Soor Das Ji, Nabha Ji and Mira Bai have spoken of. They, too, have composed similar hymns describing the bliss of the highest spiritual region, whose glory I also have sung, blessed by the grace and the dust of the holy feet of Sants.” (Ghat Ramayan section, Param Sant Tulsi Sahib, translated by Sant Das Maheshwari, page 148)
Again, the same situation there with Tulsi Sahib naming many famous past Sants along with one obscure contemporary master, as T.R. Shangari Ji also observes:
"Among the saints whom Tulsi Sahib himself singles out in Ghat Ramayan as Satgurus (true masters) are Bu-Ali Qalandar, Jalaluddin Rumi, Kabir Sahib, Dadu Dayal, Rai Das Ji, Dariya Sahib (who may have been Tulsi Sahib's own Guru), Guru Nanak, Surdas Ji, Nabha Das Ji, Mansur, Mirabai, Sarmad and Shams-e Tabrizi." (Tulsi Sahib - Saint of Hathras, new expanded 2017 edition, Puri, Sethi, along with a new editor by the name of Dr. T.R. Shangari, page xiii: https://scienceofthesoul.org/books-EN-031-0.html )
Nice to see this reference to Dariya from the Beas satsang. Many of those in India can read all of the writings of Tulsi Sahib in the original Hindi. Those having access to the total number of references to Sant Dariya by Tulsi in all his writings just might find the mentions and quotations from Sant Dariya of Bihar to be convincing.
From my paper on the origins of Sant Mat, The Sant Mat We Know Can Be Traced Back to Sant Dariya Sahib
Tulsi was born in 1763 and passed on in 1843. He would have been in his teens when Dariya Sahib of Bihar was still alive — old enough to have perhaps received initiation from Dariya Sahib of Bihar or one of his representatives, in other words. Dariya was a towering figure occupying some of that space in history between the time of Kabir and that of Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras. Dariya passed on when Tulsi was around seventeen years of age. Dariya Sahib appointed several Saints to be his spiritual successors: Fakkar Das, Basti Das, Sant Tika Das, and, Sant Guna Das, also contemporaries with Tulsi Sahib, who likely spent some time in Bihar. Bihar was, and remains, home-base of the Satsang of Sant Dariya Sahib.
“He [Tulsi Sahib] has freely used words of Braj, Avadhi, Rajasthani (Marwari), Gujrati, Punjabi and Maithili, which leads one to conclude that, like many other Saints, he must have traveled widely in V.P., Rajasthan, Gujrat, Punjab and Bihar.” (J.R. Puri, and V.K. Sethi, “Tulsi Sahib, Saint of Hathras”, 1981, RSSBeas Books, page 19)
If Tulsi hadn’t received initiation directly from Dariya by the age of seventeen, the references to Dariya Sahib in Tulsi’s writings still make sense if he received initiation from one of Dariya’s successors, which is another possibility. Anyone initiated by those successors would likely have much reverence for Dariya Sahib, the “great master” of Sant Mat during those days. The Origins of Sant Mat:
While it's rather clear that Sant Dharam Das and his successors have had a demonstrable influence on the Sant Mat/Radhasoami lineage of recent history, it's a bit more difficult to document the historic connection from Dharam Das back to Kabir, and Kabir to Ramananda. There are differing schools of thought regarding their actual associations. The other day I noticed that David Lorenzen named another guru, an intermediate guru between Kabir and Kabir Panth gurus. I did find out some information about that person and will post it soon.
Long ago Mark Juergensmeyer mentioned the resemblance of the teachings of the Dharam Das Kabir gurus to those of Radhasoami:
"I am grateful to the translator of the Beas book, K. N. Upadhyaya, a professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii, for bringing the Dariya connection to my attention." (Mark Juergensmeyer, Radhasoami Reality)
"Dariya Sahib adds another link to the chain that connects the Radhasoami and Dharamdasi traditions..." (Mark Juergensmeyer, Radhasoami Reality)
"This connection between Dharamdasis and Radhasoamis, to which the Anurag Sagar has led us, is confirmed by another set of writings venerated by Radhasoami leaders but little known outside of Radhasoami and Dharamdasi circles: the poetry of Dariya Sahib. Dariya Sahib was an eighteenth-century poet who lived in a Dharamdasi region of Bihar and referred to both Kabir and Dharam Das as his predecessors." (Mark Juergensmeyer, Radhasoami Reality)
