Tulsi Sahib (1763–1843), also known as Param Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, was a
Sant Mat
Sant Mat was a spiritual movement on the Indian subcontinent during the 13th–17th centuries CE. The name literally means "teachings of sants", i.e. mystic Hindu saints. Through association and seeking truth by following '' sants'' and their tea ...
spiritual leader. He was also known by the moniker Dakhani Baba (meaning "sage from the south"). Many Radha Soamis regard him as being the teacher of Shiv Dayal, yet there is no record of him initiating Shiv Dayal and his prime student was rather Girdhari Das instead. During his lifetime, various
Sant Mat
Sant Mat was a spiritual movement on the Indian subcontinent during the 13th–17th centuries CE. The name literally means "teachings of sants", i.e. mystic Hindu saints. Through association and seeking truth by following '' sants'' and their tea ...
Nirankari
Nirankari (, ''lit.'' "formless one") is a Sects of Sikhism, sect of Sikhism.Harbans Singh, Editor-in-Chief (201Nirankaris Encyclopedia of Sikhism Volume III, Punjabi University, Patiala, pages 234–235 It was a reform movement founded by Bab ...
s and Namdharis, were influential. The teachings of Tulsi Sahib were mostly in-agreement with the doctrines that had been espoused by
Kabir
Kabir ( 15th century) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Gar ...
,
Guru Nanak
Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...
Very few details of his life can be reliably authenticated, much of what is known is based on Radhasoami accounts. According to popular tradition, his birth name was Shyam Rao and he was born into a Brahmin family of royal Maharashtrian-origin, who originated during the reign of
Akbar
Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
. He was the son of ''Peshwa'' Doona of the
Maratha Empire
The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...
. He was forcibly married against his wishes as a child to a girl named Lakshmi Bai. He would renounce the material world as a young boy to seek the spiritual truth of life. It is believed he later settled in Hathras, where he discovered the truth he was seeking, establishing an ''
ashram
An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism.
Etymology
The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< It is unknown who the spiritual guru of Tulsi was.
Tulsi Das taught that life consisted of a struggle against ''kal'' (mortality) and the negative power (personified as demonic force). The forces of goodness (personified as
Kabir
Kabir ( 15th century) was a well-known Indian devotional mystic poet and sant. His writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti movement, and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahib, the Satguru Granth Sahib of Saint Gar ...
) were in battle against the evil forces of Kal (time). Tulsi believed that kal could be combated by following the teachings of a '' satguru'' ("true teacher"). He believed these teachings were hidden in everyone as a "remarkable interior sound" and that a seeker must find it within themselves. Once found, the seeker must focus on it and cultivate it to reach ever-higher stages of spiritual awareness.
This inner-reality is described by Tulsi Sahib as follows:
Tulsi Sahib was a proponent of the concept and practice of '' shabad yoga''. The three main practices espoused by Tulsi Sahib were as follows:
# Repetition of sacred name(s)
# Contemplation of the initiating guru or the inner-light
# Listening to inner-sounds
The most famous of his works is the ''Ghat Ramayan'' (meaning "The Interior Ramayana"), which documents the dialogue held between Tulsi Sahib and Phul Das, a follower of Dharamdas of the Kabirpanthi tradition (specifically the Dharamdasi sub-tradition).
The chief disciple of Tulsi Sahib was Girdhari Das. After the death of Tulsi Das, the mantle of leadership of his Sant Mat lineage was passed to either Girdhari Das, Shiv Dayal, or Sur Swami, with the true successor being disputed depending on the Radhasoami branch. David Lane believes it is likely that Tulsi Sahib had instructed Shiv Dayal on listening to the inner sound current.
Guru Gobind Singh
Guru Gobind Singh (; born Gobind Das; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708) was the tenth and last human Sikh gurus, Sikh Guru. He was a warrior, poet, and philosopher. In 1675, at the age of nine he was formally installed as the leader of the ...
, and therefore the lineage of
Sikh gurus
The Sikh gurus (Punjabi language, Punjabi: ਸਿੱਖ ਗੁਰੂ; Hindi: सिख गुरु) are the spiritual masters of Sikhism, who established the religion over the course of about two and a half centuries, beginning in 1469. The year ...
, to Tulsi Sahib of Hathras by claiming that Guru Gobind Singh passed on leadership to a supposed individual named Ratnagar Rao, who then passed on the mastership to Tulsi Sahib of Hathras. The claim postulates that Guru Gobind Singh visited a ruling family of
Peshwa
The Peshwa was the second highest office in the Maratha Empire, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary when Shahu gave t ...
s whilst he was in the
Deccan
The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...
, which is how Tulsi Sahib became acquainted with the Sikh guru after he stayed with the family. However, there is no evidence that Ratnagar Rao actually existed and this claim first arose with Kirpal Singh, possibly as an effort to link the Radhasoami movement to the lineage and teachings of Sikhism. However, this belief of a connection between Guru Gobind Singh and Tulsi Sahib is not widely accepted by Radhasoami branches aside from the Ruhani Satsang branch.
Legacy
Tulsi Sahib was highly regarded by Shiv Dayal, who regarded him as being his antecedent. It is believed that the parents of Shiv Dayal were ''sehajdhari'', non-Khalsa Sikh followers of Tulsi Sahib. Some Radhasoamis believe that Tulsi Sahib had foretold of the coming of Shiv Dayal and predicted his coming leadership, which is not corroborated in surviving literature and accounts. It is likely that Tulsi Das' probable immediate successor Girdhari Das, had groomed Shiv Dayal and instructed him for some time, seeing as there is a noticeable gap between the death of Tulsi Das (died 1843) and the establishment of Shiv Dayal's ''satsang'' in 1861. Girdhari Das had died in July 1860, shortly prior to the establishment of Shiv Dayal's ''satsang''. Shiv Dayal would go-on to establish the Radhasoami movement, which in-turn led to numerous other groups, such as
Eckankar
Eckankar ( ) is an American new religious movement founded by Paul Twitchell in 1965. The group’s spiritual home is the Temple of ECK in Chanhassen, Minnesota. Eckankar is not affiliated with any other religious group.
The movement teache ...