Spiritual Awakening Radio/Sant Mat Satsang Podcast

“Listen within day and night; you will hear blissful inner Sounds. Within everyone, reverberates Shabd [Sound Currents], about which no one knows. The Brahmand [cosmos, inner planes] is represented in the body in every respect. Says Tulsi, open your inner eyes, and the Sant will show it to you.

“Glittering Light shines in the region of the Sky, which only a brave one can behold. If one seeks the Truth, one will not go down the transmigratory cycle. If one meets the Merciful Sat Guru, one will come to know of all the secrets from Him. If one renders service to a Sant, he will tell one of the whereabouts of the Abode. Says Tulsi, it is only by being dead whilst alive* that one can find the Perfect Guru.” (Sant Tulsi Sahib)

*NOTE: “Being dead whilst alive” or “death before dying”: a popular saying used by Sants and Sufi poets espousing the view that rising above body-consciousness or soul travel during meditation practice is a preparation or rehearsal for the afterlife. Hazrat Sultan Bahu: “Let us die before dying, O Bahu, only then is the Lord attained.”

A Spiritual Life: Light and Sound on the Path — Sant Mat Satsang Newsletter/Blog/Digest


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New Podcast: Satsang Edition: The Mystic Poetry and Teachings of Param Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, India: Poetry Musically Accompanied With Sitar, Flute, Tambura and Tablas — Program Length: 60 Minutes. To Stream or Download, GO TO: http://bit.ly/vTy4qD

In the collection of links above is “Earth Channel”. Go there to access more podcasts: A Vegan Diet of Kindness; Buddhism and Inner Sound Meditation; Ode to the Unknown God - Mystic Poetry & Teachings of Ravidas; Exploring The Path of the Masters; History of Mystics, Parts 1, 2, and 3; Kabir — the “Rumi” of India Parts 1-5.

AND, at the same Earth Channel page there are also instructions on how you can subscribe to podcasts using the ‘RSS’ url or ‘podcasts’ url they provide, pasting one of those addresses into a site like Google Reader, great to use for subscribing to blogs and podcasts.





Mystic/Gnostic Christianity and Sant Mat: In the July 1976 edition of Sat Sandesh magazine is a nice article by Michael Raysson about the life and teachings of Jacob Boehme, the German Mystic: http://www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/pdf/ss76/ss197607.pdf





The Purpose of Life: “With Swamiji there is no such thing as idle chatter; he talks of the impermanence of the body and the purpose of life — attaining spiritual enlightenment to avoid samsara (endless rebirth). He reminds me that when I die nothing will go with me; I will have to leave everything behind, except the accumulated spiritual wealth of my personal sadhana [meditation practice].” (from the article, Meeting an Enlightened Master, Rishikesh, Sanctuary of Sadhus, Sages and the Occasional Enlightened Master)


“O Lord! How will I be able to see you?
You are beyond all illusions,
But lingering in body and guided by my senses,
I always stay deluded;
My intelligence, mind and other senses catch only illusions,
And thus I remain totally immersed in them,
I can’t step-forward, forsaking these illusions,
Kindly shower your grace and deliver me from their captivating influences,
So that I may go beyond non-living nature;
Mehi prays that the Lord will share His grace,
So that he may behold Him and get a surfeit or abundance of happiness.” (Padavali of Maharshi Mehi)





“The reason that they attend Satsang is a fervent desire for meeting the Lord and for the welfare of their soul.” (Huzur Maharaj)


“Human beings are multifaceted jewels. We have many important dimensions to our being. These include the physical, emotional, mental, intellectual and the spiritual. Seek your perfection in all of these together, and neglect none. Seek balance and harmony in all aspects of yourself.” (Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya)


“The desire of an individual to be free from sufferings and to attain the happiness of absolute peace is naturally present in the hearts of all. The purpose of Sant Mat is to provide a system which fulfills the desires of attaining absolute peace.” (Maharishi Mehi)





Masters say: “An intense longing to meet the Lord during one’s lifetime is the first and foremost qualification for Initiation. ‘Seek, and ye shall find’, is the principle.”


“The love which comes in one moment and goes away in next is not a true love. The Love, which is not lessened anytime, remains always filled in the body (and heart) — is the true Love.” (Kabir)


“Those who believe the Lord abides in some far away place remain distant from Him, but those who are afire with His love, they are never away from Him. God is neither far nor near. Whichever way you seek Him, He too reveals Himself accordingly. Those who think Him to be far off, He appears to be so to them, while those who feel His presence at hand, for them He is quite close and near.” (Bhakti Sagar)


“Only love of the absolute, eternal Truth is the greatest; this love, indeed is the greatest.” (Narada Bhakti Sutras)


“The soul as well as it’s Creator, both are within the physical body. The soul is not required to search for his Creator anywhere else. Ages have passed since the soul has been here in this world. His attention having been diverted by the objects of illusion, he has lost all Knowledge of his Creator. If he now gets the company of the Sant Satguru, hears His spiritual discourses attentively, ruminates upon them, and performs the meditation practices taught by Him, then, of course, he can have a Vision of the Creator within himself.” (Huzur Maharaj, “Prem Updesh Radhaswami”)

“Go on regularly with your [meditation] practice, keeping your mind and senses undisturbed as far as possible; and trust in the mercy of the Supreme Father to grant you strength gradually as you advance. You will progress inward daily. The morning time will be the best for you to practice Bhajan [listening to the Sound Current in meditation].” (Huzur Maharaj)


“The practice of Surat Shabd Yoga is dependent on the love generated in the devotee’s heart for the Supreme Being Radhasoami Dayal [Merciful Lord of the Soul, Anami, Anadi Purush]. The Radhasoami Faith [Sant Mat] therefore advocates the blending of Yoga with Bhakti [devotion].” (Agam Prasad Mathur)


“Look at God within yourself, how ‘God is Light.’ For his Nature is a glorious, many-splendored Light. He manifests the Light of his Nature to those who love Him in all the worlds.” (John of Dalyatha, Syriac Mystic)


“The path leading to God is within your heart. Enter into the ajna-chakra (Third Eye) and you will find your Beloved.” (Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj)





Visions of the Beloved

I lovingly apply myself to the Sound Current. I hear
many sounds.

I collect my Surat [the Attention-faculty of the soul] at the Third
Eye and turn inwards and upwards.
I kindle the flame within.

The pangs of separation from the Beloved
consumes me all day and night.
If Radhasoami [the Lord of the Soul] changes my fate, I can eradicate
and burn all karmas.

On getting the Vision of the Beloved, I became enriched. What can I say of this exalted position?

I turn Kal [the lord of time] out of the way. The world appears to
me like a dream.

The Heavenly Sound becomes audible to me within. The
heat and burning of worldly existence
disappears.

The soul gets to a cool pond of bliss.

I rise to the sky within.

O Radhasoami! My honor is now in Your
hands. I am under Your protection and
shelter.

— Swami Ji Maharaj, “Sar Bachan Radhaswami Poetry,” Volume Two, Agra





Satsang Discourse by Swami Sant Sevi ji Maharaj

(Below is from an English rendering of a Satsang Discourse by Maharshi Santsevi ji Maharaj delivered on the auspicious occasion of his 82nd Birth Anniversary (20.12.2002) at the Satsang Hall of Maharshi Mehi Ashram, Kuppaghat, Bhagalpur in the State of Bihar, India. This was translated by Pravesh K. Singh.)

Our life is like a coin. We see one face of the coin at a time while the other face is hidden from us. We don’t call a coin genuine if its only one face is genuine. We check the other side, too, and only after we find this also to be genuine, we accept it as a legal tender. Similarly, there are two halves of our lives, too. The life with this body is manifest, explicit, and, hence, visible to all. The other life is that which will remain, even when this body of ours will be no more. We make herculean efforts, try to earn happiness for the life with this body; but we must ponder over what we are doing for the sake of the long life that is to follow after this body will be left or shed here? If we are making no efforts for the after-life, then the (coin of) our life is not genuine, it is not complete. How will we remain happy there (in the after-life)? Just as all of us surely do something for this life, do some trade and commerce, jobs, etc…, exactly in the same manner we must do some meditation and prayers for our next life, too, so that both this worldly and the other-worldly life may be blissful! In the other world, meditation alone is our companion; but who will teach us (the art or the right way of) this (meditation)? Sant Kabir Sahab has uttered,

“Bin Satguru nar rahat bhulaanaa.
Khojat firat raah nahi jaanaa.”

[In the absence of a True Guru, man keeps on wandering aimlessly here and there without knowing or finding the right path (leading us unto the desired destination).]

Without seeking the refuge of the Guru, man keeps on wandering in search of God, gets ‘pareshaan’ (worried, stressed, annoyed or vexed) in search of true well-being, but without any success. Who becomes ‘pareshaan’ (‘pare’ + ‘shaan’)? He who forgets ‘pare’ (He who is beyond everyone and everything) and remains falsely mesmerized in his own ‘shaan’ (glory or attainments) remains ‘pareshaan’. Where is the true happiness, peace, well-being? Whatever we may get here is temporary, passing happiness, evanescent peace. If we place all our joys and sorrows (experienced by us in our lives) separately on the two pans of a weighing balance, we will find the pan with miseries on it to be the heavier of the two. How can we get happiness after all? You have earned everything in this world — a lot of wealth, a lot of respect, a beautiful spouse — even then your life is ultimately dominated by sorrows or miseries only. Explaining the right way to get the truly blissful peace, our Gurudev (Maharshi Mehi Paramhans) says that when you are in ‘jaagrataavasthaa’ (physically awakened state), you are with fourteen ‘indriyas’ or organs (five organs of action, five organs of senses, ‘mana’ (the mind), ‘buddhi’ (the intellect), ‘chit’ (that which renders the feeling of consciousness in us) and ‘ahankaar’ (ego), so that a large variety of anxieties or worries keep on haunting your mind. When you transit from the awakened state to ‘swapnaavasthaa’ (the state of dream), only four organs (the mind, the intellect, the chit and the ego) are there with you and naturally, therefore, there are significantly less worries in that state. However, when you move further from the ‘swapnaavasthaa’ to the ‘sushuptaavasthaa’ (the state of deep dreamless sleep), only one organ (‘chit’) remains. Going into this state, you forget even your pains and pleasures that existed in the state of dream. You experience deep sleep and upon waking up you feel calm and happy and say, “Last night I had a good, uninterrupted sleep”. That means that we get pleasure, relief and peace on detaching ourselves from our ‘indriyas’ (organs). Even in the state of deep sleep, there is still one ‘indriya’ left. However, Sants tell us that when you move even beyond these three states (awakened, dream and deep sleep) into the fourth state, ‘turiyaavasthaa’ (the state of pure consciousness), all the ‘indriyas’ are left behind. Tulsidas ji says,

“Teen awasthaa tajahu bhajahu bhagwant. Man kram vachan agochar, vyaapak vyaapya anant.”

[Meditate upon God (who is beyond the reach of mind, worldly actions and faculty of speech, and is infinitely pervading as well as pervaded) by rising beyond the three states.]

God, being all-pervading, is there within you, too, and you yourself are also within you. If you (for instance) want to meet someone who is present in this very Satsang (spiritual gathering) Hall, you don’t have to go out of this hall to do so. You can meet him while remaining in this hall. Similarly, the Absolute Lord resides within us (our bodies) and we too live within us (our bodies). Then why all this wandering in the outside world to search for Him? Learn the right way or technique from a Satguru or a true teacher, travel within yourself, and rid yourself of all the worries, all the stresses and strains, all the sorrows by meeting and merging with the Supreme Soul. In accordance with the Mundak Upanishad, we can say,

“Ek vriksha par do pakshee, ati sakhya bhaav se the rahate. Khaate ek falon ko the, aur ek binaa khaaye hansate.”

(The meaning of the above couplet is that) two birds, named ‘Jeevaatmaa’ (individual unliberated soul) and ‘Paramaatmaa’ (The Supreme Soul or God), live together in a tree (called ‘shareer’ or ‘kaayaa’ or our body). God is like an onlooker who does not eat the fruits (of the tree) himself and keeps smiling at the ‘Jeevaatmaa’. The ‘jeevaatmaa’, on the other hand, eats (reaps) the fruits and suffers from the (alternating) pains and pleasures. If you want to save yourself from this agonizing state of affairs, you will have to purify your mind by keeping it detached or removed from the sensory objects. Maharshi Mehi Paramhans ji:

“Guru jaap maanas dhyaan maanas, keejiye dridha saadhakar. Inakaa pratham abhyaas kar, shrut shuddha karanaa chaahiye.”

[The right way to meditate first consists of purifying our surat (meaning our individual soul here) by rigorously or firmly practicing the ‘maanas jap’ (mentally reciting or chanting – without using or moving the lips or the tongue [simran] — the sacred mantra given by the Guru repeatedly with the fullest attention), and the ‘maanas dhyaan’ (fixedly gazing at the visualized form of the Guru within us, keeping our eyes closed)]





At another place Maharshi Mehi says:

“Prathamahi dhaaro Guru ko dhyaan.
Ho shruti nirmal, ho Vindu jnaan.”

[Focus your attention, in the first place, on your Guru’s image. This purifies the ‘surat’ and takes us to experience the ‘Bindu’ (the primeval perfect Refulgent Point from which all the grossly and subtly visible creation has come to be formed.]

So, firmly practice attentively chanting of the holy name or mantra of the Guru and meditating upon the Guru’s form. Thus the ‘surat’ will be pure and you will get prepared for practicing ‘Bindu Dhyaan’ (Yoga of Divine Light [inner seeing]). Maturing in or becoming adept at ‘Bindu Dhyaan’, you would move from Darkness into Light, from the Gross (Realm) into the Astral (Realm). There are three layers, namely the layers of Darkness, Light and Sound, which keep shrouding our soul. Therefore, our Gurudev said further,

“Ghat tam prakash va shabd pat traya, jeev par hain chhaa rahe. Kar drishti aru dhvani yoga saadhan, ye hataanaa chaahiye.”

[The ‘jiva’ (the individual soul) is enveloped by three layers: Darkness, Light and Sound. To remove these shells/veils hiding the soul, we should practice ‘Drishti Yoga’ (Yoga of Divine Light) and ‘Dhvani Yoga or Shabda Yoga or Naad Yoga’ (The Yoga of Divine Sound).]





Practice ‘Drishti Yoga’ (Yoga of Light) and ‘Naadaa-nusandhaan’ (Yoga of Sound). This will remove the layers of Darkness, Light and Sound (that conceal your Soul from the Supreme Sovereign Soul, i.e. God). You will, thus, get to know “Who You Are”. And, when you know yourself, you will also know God. Therefore travel within yourself, not without.

And for this, there is no need to quit your household, family or job. Living in your house with your family members and earning an honest, truthful living, you can attain to Him via meditation. This meditation can be done by everyone alike — rich or poor, learned or illiterate, male or female, kid or aged. Maharshi Mehi Paramhans ji:

“Jitane manush tan dhaari hain, prabhu bhakti kar sakate sabhee. Antar va baahar bhakti kar, ghat — pat hataanaa chaahiye.”

[All human beings are capable of performing devotion to God. One should do inner or internal meditation (by practicing the ‘Maanas Jap’, ‘Maanas Dhyaan’, ‘Drishti Saadhan’, and ‘Naadaa-nusandhaan’ as discussed earlier) as well as outer or external meditation (seek the company of Sants and reading and/or listening to Sacred Scriptures).]

Believe in One God. Have firm, unwavering, indefatigable faith in that He shall be found within (us). Do some honest earning for meeting your and your family’s needs. Donate some portion out of your earnings to some righteous, noble cause. This will do well to this world as well as the other world (of yours). Thus, I explained to you the gist of my Gurudev’s teachings. I thank you all. (Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj)





From, The Night is a Jungle, By Kirpal Singh, RuhaniSatsangUSA Website

“The Vedas say: Awake, arise and stop not till the goal is reached. We are sleeping, as it were. Our superficial life is nothing less than sleep. We are identified with the bodies. We have been receiving impressions from the outside, through the organs of sense, so much so that when we close our eyes we see the same impressions reproduced. When we go to sleep, those very impressions are again reproduced within us in the form of dreams. We live a sort of superficial life, blind to Reality.

“We are in physical bodies. We are conscious entities. We are so much tied up with mind and matter that we cannot differentiate ourselves. We have to leave the physical, transcend the astral, go further beyond the causal, supercausal, and reach the true home of our Father. That is the true destination for each one of us.

“What have we done for it? We have simply devoted ourselves to the physical bodies and its relationships. This is what the Masters are always telling us. They do not say we should leave the world altogether and sit in the wilderness and follow the life of a recluse. Not the least. They say: “You have physical bodies. Maintain them. These are the temples of God. Keep them clean and tidy from outside and inside.” Again, they say: “All right, you have an intellect. Develop intellectually as well. But, remember, you are souls, the in dwellers of the bodies. Just know yourself so that you may know the Overself. You will know yourself only when you rise above body consciousness.” We are now, as it were, identified with the body. We cannot differentiate ourselves.

“So there are different values of life. The physical body has its own value, the intellect has its own, but the spiritual life has the highest of all. Out of the 24 hours of the day, we pay so much attention and spend so much time for the development of the physical side and its environments and intellectual attainments. We should also devote some time to our development in the way of knowing our own Selves. This is what all Masters have stressed.

“What is God? In truth, He is not Light, He is not Sound; but when He expressed Himself these two principles emanated from Him and came into being. Our soul being a drop of the wave of that God-into-Expression Power, a direct connection with It will take us back to the source from which It emanated-which is Anami or Absolute God. This is the message extended by all true Masters who have come, in different mode or language, according to the time. Everything has a natural inclination to return to its original state and source.” (Kirpal Singh)


“Let silence take you to the core of Life. All your talk is worthless when compared with one whisper of the Beloved.” (Rumi)


Kabir says: “For millions of years you have slept. This morning, will you not wake?”.


In conversation with Swamiji, he suddenly bursts out enthusiastically with “Brahmamuhurta!” This, I learn, is the time between 3.00 AM and 6.00 AM known as the most favorable time for Sadhana (one’s spiritual practices). During Brahmamuhurta, so called as it is considered the most auspicious time for meditating on Brahman (God), the mind is calm and less engaged with worldly thoughts, worries and anxieties. Also the atmospheric energy during this time is more charged with sattva (purity), increasing the likelihood one’s practice will go deeper, with the corresponding health and well-being benefits. (from the article, Meeting an Enlightened Master — Rishikesh, Sanctuary of Sadhus, Sages and the Occasional Enlightened Master)


Everything in the universe has come out of the One — the branches, the leaves, the fruits and the flowers (from the One — the root). Kabir says what is left behind when I have grabbed the root of all — the One?

The Mandaean Messenger of Light

The role of the Heavenly Messenger is to give the mystic experience of LIGHT to souls and eventually guide them back up to the Place of Light, the Mandaean term for the highest heaven where the Great Life (God) resides. Here are a couple of passages from Mandaean holy books on Manda-d-Hiya — the great heavenly redeemer:

The Illuminator of the Worlds of Light

IN THE NAME OF THE GREAT LIFE,
SUBLIME LIGHT BE PRAISED

“From the Place of Light I came forth,
from you, Bright Habitation.
I come to touch hearts,
to measure and try all minds,
to see in whose heart I dwell.
Whoever thinks of me, of him I think;
whoever calls my Name, his name I will call.
Whosoever prays my prayer from the earth,
his prayer I will offer from the Place of Light.

“I came and found the truthful
and believing hearts.
When I was not dwelling among them,
yet my Name was on their lips.
I took them and guided them up
to the World of Light.

“I became the Illuminator
of the Worlds of Light.
I became a king to the Nazoreans,
who receive praise and stability
through my Name.
And by my Name they ascend
to the Place of the Light.
As for the elect righteous
who put me on as a garment,
their eyes were filled with Light,
and Manda-d-Hiya [Knowledge of Life]
was established in their hearts.”

Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast (9-6-11): A History of Mystics, East and West, Part 1: The Mandaean Religion of Iraq (Aramaic Gnostic Texts), Ancient NDE’s (Near-Death Experiences), also Meditation Practice. Click to Stream or Download MP3: http://bit.ly/oFVTiy

“The word ‘Consciousness’ means conscious and aware. As per the Hindi dictionary, four different meanings of the word ‘Consciousness’ are: intelligence, tendency of the mind, awareness, and memory. It is clear that the word ‘conscious’ is used to denote intelligence, tendency related to knowledge, tendency related to memory, and awareness. Consciousness is that element in human beings which differentiates them from other inanimate objects. Consciousness basically refers to that power which helps one in understanding and evaluating one’s surroundings and environment. By the terms ‘Spiritual Consciousness’ is meant the relationship between individual Spirit and God. The human body is endowed with the divine spark in the form of spirit. The aim of human life is to recognize that divine element present within and reach the heavenly abode.” (Abstract of a Paper by Prem Kali Sharma, Professor Emeritus, Del, Agra, International Seminar on Religion of Saints — Spircon 2010)

“Music is religion for me. There’ll be music in the hereafter, too.” — Jimi Hendrix

The Infinitesimal Point — Opening To Realms of Inner Light

“This calls for a motionless, still gazing ahead right in front of the center of the two eyes in the inner dark void that is seen upon closing our eyes gently. The art of gazing in the inner dark vastness that the currents of consciousness present in the two eyes, meet at a Point, so the gaze gets fixed in a Point, has to be learnt from an accomplished Guru and practiced regularly with utmost faith and sincerity. It must be noted here that Sants warn strictly against any kind of imagining of the presence of a Point within. Whenever the two currents meet, a bright Point is automatically seen — it does not have to be imagined or visualized. Whenever this happens, breathing adjusts automatically. Awareness of own body and surroundings is lost even as the meditator is fully alert and conscious internally. Ascension or transcendence is a direct corollary of concentration, collection of attention. As a result, thus, of awareness shrinking completely into an absolute Point, the ‘jiva’ or ‘Surat’ (non-liberated individual soul that is combined with the mind, etc…) pierces through or transcends the gross sphere, and ascends into the astral sphere where countless varieties of Sounds called Anahad (‘ana’ meaning ‘no’, and ‘had’ meaning limit or boundary) Nada (Sounds) are heard. Brilliant lights, innumerable worlds, stars, moon, sun, advanced souls, etc…., etc…. are seen by the practitioner, who has become completely oblivious of, or has left behind the gross universe (that his physical body exists in) behind. The soul keeps flying in the inner sky like a bird, sighting all the magnificent scenes. Hence Bindu Dhyan or the Yoga of Light is also known as the ‘vihangam marg’ (vihangam means ‘bird’, and marg means ‘path’). The perceiver becomes indescribably enthralled, ecstatic by the mesmerizing  sights. But he has to move on, resisting these temptations, and rise still further to accomplish his ultimate Goal, which is Self-Realization or God-Realization.”

— From the Preamble of, Yoga of Inner Light and Sound, by Swami Achyutanand, translated by Pravesh K. Singh

RUMI: “The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you; Don’t go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want; don’t go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don’t go back to sleep.”

May Spiritual Awakening Radio Show Titles

May 3rd: Supreme Master Ching Hai - From Crisis To Peace, Part 2
(CHSR Program #254)

May 10th: Sant Mat, Christian Mysticism, and Eastern Religions, Pt 1
(CHSR Program #255)

May 17th: Sant Mat, Christian Mysticism, and Eastern Religions, Pt 2
(CHSR Program #256)

May 24th: Sant Mat, Christian Mysticism, and Eastern Religions, Pt 3
(CHSR Program #257)

May 31st: Sant Mat, Christian Mysticism, and Eastern Religions, Pt 4
(CHSR Program #258)

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