Shiv Dayal Singh (25 August 1818 – 15 June 1878), known by the honorific "Param Purush Puran Dhani Huzur Soami Ji Maharaj" by his disciples and devotees, was an Indian spiritual guru and founder of

Radha Soami Rādhā Soāmī Mat or Sant Mat is a sampradaya, spiritual tradition or faith founded by Shiv Dayal Singh in January 1861 on Basant Panchami Day in Agra, India. p. 90 note 5, Quote: "The date of Seth Shiv Dayal's first public discourse is Ba ...

, a 19th-century spiritual sect. SethShivDayalSingh

Early life

The parents of Shiv Dayal Singh were residents of Punjab, but moved to

Agra Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the ...

before his birth at the behest of the colonial British government who had set up a major military center there and relied heavily on Sikhs from the Punjab region to staff the base. At the age of five, Shiv Dayal Singh was sent to school where he learnt

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

and

Gurumukhi Gurmukhī ( , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official scrip ...

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

. His father, Seth Dilwali Singh was a Sahejdhari Khatri. His mother's name was Mata Maha Maya. He had two brothers named Seth Partap Singh (alias Chachaji Saheb) and Seth Rai Bindraban. His marriage to Mata Naraini Devi (later called "Radha Ji" by followers and devotees), daughter of Lala Izzat Rai of

Faridabad Faridabad () is the most populous List of cities in Haryana by population, city near NCT of Delhi in the Indian state of Haryana and a part of National Capital Region (India), Delhi National Capital Region. It is one of the major satellite citie ...

was arranged at an early age. He had no children. His family were devout Vaishnavite Hindus. During Shiv Dayal Singh's childhood, the family also sought the spiritual tutelage of as a living guru from

Tulsi Sahib Tulsi Sahib (1763–1843), also known as Param Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, was a Sant Mat 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 ...

. But, he didn't take initiation from him. Shiv Dayal Singh acquired no spiritual guru in his life.

Adulthood

After Shiv Dayal Singh completed his education, he became a Persian language translator to a government officer. He left the job and became a teacher of Persian language. Once his brother gained an employment at Indian post office, he left his Persian language job, and joined his father's moneylending business. He spent increasing amount of his time, to religious pursuits. He began giving spiritual discourses based on the scriptures of

Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...

and writings of Tulsi Sahib of Hathras.

Practice

After the death of Sant Tulsi Saheb in 1843, Shiv Dayal Singh practised

Surat Shabd Yoga Surat Shabd Simran is a type of spiritual meditation in the Sant Mat tradition. Etymology ''Surat'' is "attention" or "face", that is, an outward expression of the soul; '' Shabd'' or ''Shabda'' has multiple meanings including ‘sacred song’, ...

for 17 years in almost total seclusion in a room within a room. He started holding

Satsang Satsang () is an audience with a satguru for the purpose of spiritual or yogic instruction. The ''satsanga'' is a gathering of good people for the performance of devotional activities. Meanings The word is derived from the Sanskrit ''sat'' mean ...

(spiritual discourse) publicly on

Vasant Panchami Vasant Panchami , also rendered Vasanta Panchami and Saraswati Puja in honour of the Hindu goddess Saraswati, is a festival that marks the preparation for the arrival of spring. The festival is celebrated in Indian religions in different ways ...

(a spring festival) in 1861, and continued for 17 years. Thus Basant Panchami is a very special day for the followers of the Radhasoami Faith.

Teachings

Shiv Dayal Singh originally referred to the Supreme Being with the names "Sat Nām" (True Name) and "Anāmi" (Nameless). The term Rādhāsoāmi was used after

Salig Ram Salig Ram, successor of Shiv Dayal Singh second Sant Satguru of the Radha Soami Satsang Sabha, Radhasoami Satsang popularly known by the honorific "Huzur Maharaj" and by the government-conferred title "Rai Bahadur," was born in Peepal M ...

became a disciple. On the request of Salig Ram, Singh declared Satsang open on the dat of

Basant Panchami Vasant Panchami , also rendered Vasanta Panchami and Saraswati Puja in honour of the Hindu goddess Saraswati, is a festival that marks the preparation for the arrival of Spring (season), spring. The festival is celebrated in Indian religions i ...

in 1861. The spiritual practice taught by Shiv Dayal Singh is called as Surat Shabd Yoga by his followers. He used to consider Sat Nām, Sār Nām, Sār Shabad, Sat Purush and Sat Lok the same thing, which he would call formless. Shiv Dayal Singh also used to smoke '' Huqqa'' and asked his disciples to prepare it for a guru as a service. Dayal-bagh-12

His ''bani'' (poetical compositions) and sayings from satsang were published in two books after he died. Both are called ''Sar Bachan'' or ''Sar Vachan'' (meaning 'conclusive utterances'):"I have a book in my collection called the Sar Bachan written by Sardar Seva Singh, which is the teachings of the Sound Current, and acts as practically my Bible!" —

Paul Twitchell Paul Twitchell (born Jacob Paul Twitchell; October 22, 1908 or 1909 – September 17, 1971) was an American writer and spiritual teacher who created and directed the development of the new religious movement known as Eckankar. Twitchell describe ...

in a letter to future wife Gail, 8 July 1963; in Paul Twitchell, ''Letters to Gail'', volume II, Menlo Park:

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 ...

, 1977, page 149. ("Sardar" Seva Singh was the

Radha Soami Satsang Beas Radha Soami Satsang Beas is a spiritual organisation in Radha Soami movement. It is headed by Gurinder Singh and Jasdeep Singh Gill. The main centre of Radha Soami Satsang Beas is located on the banks of the Beas River in the northern Indian ...

translator of the ''Sar Bachan'' into English.) * Sar Vachan Vartik (Sar Bachan in prose) * Sar Vachan Chhand Band (Sar Bachan in verse) Sar Vachan Vartik is in two parts: part one being an introduction written by

and part two compiled of notes taken from the discourses of Shiv Dayal Singh, which he delivered in satsang up to 1878. They cover important teachings of the faith. His poems in Sar Vachan Chhand Band are replete with emotional appeal - a blending of popular poetic expressions from different languages of north India such as, Khari-Boli,

Awadhi Awadhi may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Awadh or Oudh region in Uttar Pradesh, northern India ** Awadhi people, ethnic group of India *** Awadhi language Awadhi, also known as Audhi, is an Indo-Aryan language belonging ...

, Brijbhasha,

Rajasthani Rajasthani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Rajasthan, a state of India * Rajasthani languages, a group of Indic languages spoken there * Rajasthani people, the native inhabitants of the state * Rajasthani architecture, Indian ar ...

and

Soami Bagh and Dayal Bagh

The locality called "Soami Bagh" ("Soami Ji's Garden"), the former home of Shiv Dayal Singh and the present location of his tomb-shrine, is currently owned by the Radha Soami Satsang Agra branch, and controlled by the twin organisations known as the Radhasoami Satsang Central Administrative Council and the Radhasoami Trust (called "the Council and the Trust" for short). Its across-the-street neighbour "

Dayalbagh Dayalbagh or Dayal Bagh means 'Garden' (bagh) of 'Merciful' (dayal), inferring "Garden of the Merciful", is a locality in metropolitan Agra in western Uttar Pradesh, India was founded by fifth revered sant satguru of the Radhasoami faith, Para ...

" ("Garden of the Merciful") is owned and controlled by the organisation Radha Soami Satsang Dayalbagh. Dayal Bagh and its founder-guru

Anand Swarup Anand Swarup (6 August 1881 – 24 June 1937), honorifically known as Param Guru Huzur Sahab Ji Maharaj, was the founder of Dayalbagh and the fifth revered leader, or Sant Satguru of Radhasoami faith also known as Radhasoami Satsang Dayalbagh ...

, Kt. were broadcast to the Western public by

Paul Brunton Paul Brunton is the pen name of Raphael Hurst (21 October 1898 – 27 July 1981), a British author of spiritual books. He is best known as one of the early popularizers of Neo-Hindu spiritualism in western esotericism, notably via his be ...

in his famed ''A Search in Secret India''. Sir Anand Swarup received a knighthood for the massive social construction work performed at Dayal Bagh. The two organisations, Council/Trust and Dayalbagh, are both existent and functioning. The major dispute between the two groups is due to two divergent views: The members of Council/Trust claim that Council/Trust is the "parent stock" of Radhasoami faith. The members of Dayalbagh Sabha want access to the tomb-shrine of Shiv Dayal Singh. The tomb-shrine (called ‘Samadh’), was built over 100 years by efforts of the Council/Trust. Soami Bagh Council/Trust allows all satsangis and tourists to visit Samadh, but does not allow religious processions in the Holy Samadh from anyone outside the Council/Trust. In this light, Dayalbagh Sabha organised "SPIRICON 2010", a conference of various organisations who revere Shiv Dayal Singh (boycotted by Council/Trust), to promote mutual respect and to petition access to the tomb-shrine of Shiv Dayal Singh.

References

External links

* http://www.radhasoamisatsang.org * https://web.archive.org/web/20080410220324/http://www.radhaswamidinod.org/faith.htm * http://www.aors-dbbs.org/index.html * http://www.sikh-heritage.co.uk/movements/radhasoamis/The%20radhasoamis.htm * http://malankazlev.com/kheper/topics/chakras/chakras-SantMat.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20080509170243/http://www.seekersway.org/seekers_guide/radhasoami_1_g.html * http://www.radhasoami-faith.info/Books_Frame.shtml
Radha Soami Satsang Beas

Science of the Soul

* http://radhasoamidayal.net/GuruIntro.html * http://eacharya.inflibnet.ac.in/data-server/eacharya-documents/548158e2e41301125fd790cf_INFIEP_72/110/ET/72-110-ET-V1-S1 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shiv Dayal Singh 1818 births People from Agra Radha Soami Sant Mat gurus Surat Shabd Yoga Indian yoga gurus Indian spiritual teachers Founders of new religious movements People considered avatars by their followers 1878 deaths