The Teachings of Soami Ji Maharaj

The Teachings of Soami Ji Maharaj

Radhasoami Reality:
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{Radhaswami Dayal ki Daya Radhaswami Sahai:
"Grant Merciful Radhasoami Thy Grace and Protection"}

Letter One

From the Letters of Soami Ji Maharaj to Huzur Maharaj

My dearest and dearer than life,

I wish you all health and happiness, but keep uppermost in your mind Bhajan, Dhyan and devotion to the Supreme Being. The Grace of the Supreme Being on you is the same, as it was before. Attune yourself to the Will of the Lord. Renouncing all thoughts of the past and future, keep your spirit immersed in Shabd at the time of Bhajan.

Fix your spirit in Shabd, and Shabd is in Gagan. Fill your heart with yearning; and heart is at Trikuti.

Unite your spirit with Shabd and see beauteous sights. The Til is located within Sukhmana (an artery of the human body, which lies between Ida, on the right and Pingla, on the left), and the form of Jyoti is in the Til.

Sit in Bhajan after making your mind and spirit calm, with the help of love and yearning. By the Grace of the Guru, your object will be gained; rest assured, and have no fear whatsoever.

From the Sar Bachan Prose, Section Two: Sayings of Swami Ji Maharaj

Just as leaves of the trees fall down in the autumn season, in the same manner, this youth also will disappear after a short time. It is therefore desirable that one should not waste it, but should search for his Beloved Supreme Being and engage in His service and worship.......The duty of this jiva [soul] is to serve his Father and his Father is Sat Nam Sat Purusha, and the jiva is an Ansa (i.e. an emanation) of His. However, as he is not able to contact the Supreme Father, how can he serve Him? It should now be noted that the Saints are the Incarnation of Sat Purusha and therefore service to Them is service of Sat Purusha.......

The Holy Name Radhasoami -- A Name for the Nameless One (Anami)

Those who have no faith in the Holy Name will not be able to achieve their object fully, even though they keep their external behaviour and conduct as correct as possible and also try to have some internal purification and even though they may engage in Japa, Tapa, Samyama and Abhyasa as much as possible. On the other hand, those who have been given the Name by the Satguru and have full and sincere faith in it, will receive the reward even for the repetition of the Name, for penances and for self-control and would also achieve the Highest Abode.....

This Holy Name can be obtained from the Sant Satguru and with the help of this Name the root of all the evil propensities of the mind would be cut and the mind and senses would also be slowly and slowly subjugated. If anybody wishes to control the senses by some other method he would experience great difficulty. If he would succeed in controlling one sense organ, the other would create trouble. Exactly this is the condition of persons who repeat the Names mentioned in religious books, i.e. the evil propensities of their mind are not removed though they do repeat the Names. If they repeat the Name received directly from the Guru, i.e. the Name given by the Saints by word of mouth, the evil propensities of their minds would most assuredly be gradually removed. There is no other method in this Kali Yuga for eradicating the evil propensities except through the repetition of this Name......The real Name is very powerful and can remove all kinds of impurities. There is no harm in repeating the Name wherever one likes. Even the worst place would become sanctified by the repetition of the Holy Name at that place. This Name is available with the Satguru and cannot be found anywhere else.

No other karmas except devotion to the Name, and to the Satguru are ordained to be performed in the Kali Yuga.

From the Sar Bachan Prose, Section One: On the Teachings of Swami Ji Maharaj

It should now be known that the Radhasoami Region is the highest region in the creation and that 'Radhasoami' is the Name of the Supreme Being, the true Lord and true God. The region below this is the Region of Sat Nam, which has been variously referred to by the Saints as Sat Loka, Sach Khand, Sar Shabda, Sat Shabda, Sat Nam and Sat Purusha. This would show that these two stages, i.e. Sat Loka and the Radhasoami Region, are the destination of the Saints and Param Sants respectively, and this is the reason why the Saints enjoy a higher status than others. There is neither Maya [illusion] nor mind in these Regions, and these Regions encompass all the lower regions and creation, i.e. the entire creation is below them and is encompassed by them. The Radhasoami Region is referred to as the Indescribable Region and also as the Nameless Region, because this Region is infinite, eternal and without a beginning and all other regions have originated from it. And Radhasoami is the Deity Who is really not confined to any region and His Region cannot really be called a region.

The Art of Seeing --- Inner Light

The Art of Seeing --- Inner Light

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{"Repeat the Name of your Beloved, day and night, again
and again. With care in thought, word and deed, you will
cross to the other shore." -- Dadu}

The Art of Seeing
By Shri Santseviji Maharaj

Shortly before Shri Santseviji Passed from this world he collected many of his essays and poems which he had composed over the years into a book that has been named The Holy River (Ganges or Knowledge). There are 121 essays and poems. Below is a translation by Veena Howard of essay number 112.

What is the use of beautiful eyes when you do not understand the art of seeing. Just as a flower is beautiful, without a fragrant scent it is not so appealing. Sant Paltu Sahab says: "What is the use of decorating your eyes if you do not know the art of seeing". By 'art of seeing' he is not talking about how to see beautiful scenery or magnificent sights. But rather he is referring to the practitioner (sadhak) on the spiritual journey. He is referring to the sadhana (spiritual practices) which allows one to develop the art of seeing. One may ask whether it is a practitioner of what—and what kind of art is Paltu Sahab speaking about?

There was a Fakir who lived in Allahabad in the 1600’s by the name of Malukadas Ji. He says: If we do not see the Divine Beings then these eyes are worth nothing. Without that ability to see the celestial he considers the eyes as of little value. Also he says: Who has not conquered desires how is that person able to love the Divine. If we can not see the unseeable then we are not using our eyes to the fullest extent possible. What kind of eyes are we speaking about here. Are we talking about the physical eyes composed of flesh-—-no. Sant Kabir says you can not see the celestial subtle with these physical eyes of the flesh. Rather, we must acquire the inner eyes----the eyes of the soul.

The saints say if God could be realized in the physical world then the physical eyes would be sufficient to see these celestial sights. However, this is not the case. Even though, God is all pervasive he can only be seen within. Once we can see Him within then and only then can we see him outside. Therefore, it is important to turn the attention from outside to the inward. Swami Vivakanda explains: What is the meaning of seeing the divine inside. He says all the worldly things are beautiful but looking at them is not the way to see the divine. We should turn our Dristi (power of seeing) inward. First one has to curb the eyes desire to look outward and then one must have a desire to look inward. When the desire to look outward diminishes then one is able to see the grandeur of God within. In this regards Sant Charandas Ji says: Only a bird can understand the birds language, other animals are unable to understand the birds. A female saint named Sahjo Bhai had a pure heart. In her happiness to understand she says that her Guru became happy with me a told me the secret of seeing the Divine. No one can see the subtle celestial by looking into this physical world, only by looking within using the art of seeing can we understand the celestial. Therefore one must turn inward to understand this Formless Atman the inner self.

In the Katha Upanishad it is said that the Divine has created these senses to go outward and away from our true identity. Some patient and persevering practitioner desires the nectar of the inner world and brings the outward senses to the inward journey.

If after hearing about the possibilities of the inner journey how do we behold and experience this. Seeing in this way is called Dristi----that is the art of seeing.

There are five kinds of Dristi:

1. The sight of the waking state. That is seeing things in the everyday world.
2. The sight of dream state in which we see the dreams.
3. Manasi Dristi which is seeing with the minds eye. This is the realm of the imagination and seeing while imagining.
4. Divya Dristi is divine sight. Through which the vision of the celestial worlds is seen.
5. Atman Dristi is the state of seeing the Absolute Self.

In considering these five types of seeing everyone in this mundane world experiences the first three. The last two are only developed through meditation. In regard to Divya Dristi Sant Paltu Sahab says that without this one cannot see the Absolute Atman. Therefore, it is important to learn how to obtain these last two. There are two methods for achieving this.

First, to begin the process of experiencing Divya Dristi and Atman Dristi the saints say that by controlling and stopping the first three types of seeing then the mind becomes under control and it will be possible to experience Divya Dristi. So when the first three types of seeing are halted and while in a conscious state we attain Divya Dristi. In the process of curbing these first we must curb sight in the waking state as the mind constantly is considering what it has seen. (The more enticing a scene is, the stronger will be our attachment to it and accordingly it will be more difficult to rid oneself of such thoughts.) The dream state is also affected by the sights we see in the waking state. So by controlling sight in the waking state the dream state is also controlled. Therefore, we should see and experience those things which will help our spiritual journey. We should not witness those things which are counterproductive to the spiritual life and which increase our desire to experience more and to go outward. Sant Goraknath said: We should be careful in each action performed each day, careful of what we say and what we do. We should watch our path carefully. Mahatma Gandhi says: God has given us these eyes, we make them impure and we do not learn what is proper to see. There is a difference in seeing, between a disciplined yogi and a person seeking pleasure. The Yogi uses his eyes to see the Divine and goes inward. The pleasure seeker looks at those things which give enjoyment and pleasure and goes further outward. Gandhi says not to waste our time in seeking after these pleasures of the world, he does not recommend movies even. Someone has said that in regards to the senses that we should enjoy things but do not be attached, talk but do not gossip, see the things of the world but do not be attached.

The second method for controlling the seeing is to sit in a clean place with the back and spine erect, the asana (seated position) firm with the eyes closed, however do not stress the eyes or pinch them or strain them in any way. Since we are always seeing things and events during the waking state they naturally these same events come to us during meditation. Therefore, through pratyahara (1) we constantly are bringing the mind back to the object of the meditation and focusing intently on that. Then we begin to abandon these scenes of the world. The object should be on the holiest object. A divine image or an image of the Sat Guru should be employed. We must stare at the form intently without flickering the eyes or moving the eyes, simply and firmly focused. We should focus without thoughts on this holy form without having any thoughts. In this practice the mind begins to be controlled and focused and we gain some power to enter the subtle celestial realms. We begin to know the thoughts of others etc. To make further progress we use the minute Bindu (infinitesimal point). The Tejabindu Upanishad says that the meditation on the light bindu requires perfect focus, it actually exists and is established within each of us. We have only to realize it. By meditating on this point (bindu) full concentration of the mind becomes possible. Once full concentration is accomplished the mind then goes upward and we pierce the realm above. When consciousness is directed inward and we are in the dark realm of this gross world then we are brought to the realm of light through the focus on bindu.

Maharishi Mehi says: Dristi is the power of seeing by uniting beams of both eyes on the point. Only then the mind becomes focused. Now there is no difference between opening up the Divya Dristi and the art of seeing they are the same. Sant Paltu Sahab speaks about Bhungi which is the method of mediation where one stares at one place without interruption as instructed by the Guru. This results in Divya Dristi. Once the Divine sight is attained then the practitioner automatically begins to experience the divine sound and the Divya----Divine seeing is less prominent and the sound becomes dominant. This is so because of the power of the sound to attract, and through the use of divine sounds one transcends and rises to higher and higher realms until one becomes established in the Divine and one then is seeing ones own inner essence from the level of Atman Dristi, the fifth type of seeing.

(1) Pratyahara is one of the eight limbs of Yoga according to Patanjali. It is in reference to meditation and admonishes the practitioner to return constantly to the object (single thought) of the meditation. This strengthens the mind and prepares it for Dhyan or continuous uninterrupted focus on a single thought.