Shiv Dayal Singh

Shiv Dayāl Singh Seṭh (IAST: Śivdayāl Siṃh Seṭh), called by the honorific "Soāmījī Mahārāj" by his disciples and devotees, was a 19th-century mystic and spiritual teacher of Āgrā, India. Although he had been taking pupils and disciples even before, he started conducting public discourses in 1861, and continued this until his death in 1878.
In 1866, one of Shiv Dayāl Singh's disciples, Salig Rām, had a personal realization that his guru was God and started teaching this belief to others, giving birth to the Rādhāsoāmī Faith. Hence, in the Rādhāsoāmī Faith, Shiv Dayāl Singh is worshiped as the first physical incarnation of the Supreme Being, named "Rādhāsoāmī":

The Rádhásoámí mat or faith derives its name from its original Founder, the Supreme Being, Rádhásoámí who appeared in this world in human form and designated Himself Sant Sat Guru or perfect Saint or true Guide and Preceptor... –Salig Rām, Radhasoami

 Devotees who believe in the divinity of Shiv Dayāl Singh consider it disrespectful or even blasphemous to refer to him by name or without honorifics. Although he did not refer to himself with these, the following appellations and honorifics have been applied on Shiv Dayāl Singh:
Shiv Dayāl Singh was born on 24 August 1818 in Āgrā in the Ceded Provinces of British India (present-day Āgrā, Uttar Pradesh, India). Shiv Dayāl Singh's father, Dilwali Singh Seṭh was a Sahajdhari Khatri and Nānakpanthi. Shiv Dayāl's father, mother, and sister were followers of Sant Tulsī "Sāhib" of Hāthras. At the age of five, Shiv Dayāl Singh was sent to school where he learnt Hindī, Urdū, Persian, Gurumukhī, Arabiyyah, and Saṃskṛta. 

Adulthood

Shiv Dayāl's marriage to Nārāiṇī Devī (later called "Rādhājī" by followers and devotees), daughter of Izzat Rāi of Farīdābād was arranged at an early age. Nārāiṇī and her mother were also followers of Sant Tulsī.
Shiv Dayāl Singh was selected direct from school to act as a Persian expert to a government officer in Banda, Uttar Pradesh. As the job did not suit him, he gave it up and took another job as a teacher of Persian with a taluqdar of Ballabhgarh estate. His spiritual cravings, however, were so intense that worldly attainments no longer attracted him and he gave up even this lucrative job. He returned home (later called "Soāmī Bāgh") to devote his entire time to abhyās (spiritual practice).

Practice

The spiritual system taught by Shiv Dayāl Singh is known as Surat Shabd Yoga. Sūrat=soul, Śabd=Spirit, Yoga=union, hence Union of the individual soul with the Holy Spirit. After the death of Sant Tulsī in 1843, Shiv Dayāl Singh performed abhyās (spiritual practice) with the spiritual techniques of Śabd Yoga for fifteen years in almost total seclusion in a room within a room, living on the wealth inherited from his parents.

Shiv Dayāl Singh Seṭh
Other names	Soāmījī Mahārāj (honorific used by devotees)
Personal
Born	24 August 1818 Panni Gali, Āgrā, Ceded Provinces, British India
Died	15 June 1878 (aged 59) Panni Gali, Āgrā, North-Western Provinces, British India
Religion	Sant Mat
Citizenship	British subject
Sect	Uttarī Bhārat kī Sant Paramparā (North India Sant Tradition)
Other names	Soāmījī Mahārāj (honorific used by devotees)
Senior posting
Period in office	1861-1878

Teachings

After many years, Shiv Dayāl Singh emerged from seclusion and started holding satsang (spiritual discourse) publicly on Vasant Panchami (a spring festival) in 1861 at his home (later called Soāmī Bāgh), and continued this for some seventeen years Thus Basant Panchami 1861 is regarded by the followers of the Rādhāsoāmī Faith as the Faith's founding date.
Shiv Dayāl Singh described the secret of the True Name (Sat Nām). He originally referred to the Supreme Being as "Sat Nām" (True Name) and "Anāmī" (Nameless) — the term "Rādhāsoāmī" was instituted by Salig Rām around 1866. Shiv Dayāl Singh's banī (pronouncements) and sayings from satsang were published in two books after he died. Both are called Sār Vachan or Sār Bachan
Sār Vachan Rādhāsoāmī Vartik is in two parts: part one being an introduction written by Salig Rām and part two a compilation of notes taken from the utterances of Shiv Dayāl Singh in satsang (discourse) up to 1878. His poems in Sār Vachan Rādhāsoāmī Chhand Band are replete with emotional appeal – a successful blending of popular poetic expressions from different languages of North India, such as Rājasthānī and the Hindī dialects Kharibolī, Awadhī, Braj Bhāṣa, and Pañjābī.

Successors

Succession controversies have plagued Indian religion since time immemorial. In India, a gaddi (throne) and its occupier have always been the center of veneration, influence, and power – and, hence, the focus of power plays and conflicts of succession.After his death in Āgrā on 15 June 1878, various duties were taken up by several of Shiv Dayāl Singh's disciples, namely:

• Nārāiṇī Devī ("Rādhājī") (died 1894) was assigned as head of the sangat (community of disciples):

"...turning to Rai Saligram and all sadhus and satsangis, male and female, Soami Ji Maharaj said: “Look upon Radha Ji in the same way as you look upon me,...” "

• Sanmukh Dās was assigned head of the sādhus (anchorites) living at Soami Bagh:

“About Sanmukh Das, he said that he was appointed the Mahant or the head of all the sadhus...”^[24]

• Pratāp Singh Seṭh ("His Holiness," "Chāchājī Mahārāj," "Dhara Sindhu") (1830-1909) was assigned to hold satsang and as owner of Soami Bagh:

“...Partapa will be the owner of the Bagh...You will live in the Bagh, hold satsang...

• Śālig Rām ("Param Purush Puran Dhani," "Huzūr Mahārāj") (1829-1898) was assigned to answer questions:

“If anyone wants to ask anything, he should ask Saligram.”

Salig Rām (1829-1898) established the Rādhāsoāmī Faith, introducing "Rādhāsoāmī" as the name of God, equating Shiv Dayāl Singh with "Rādhāsoāmī," and initiating people into the repetition of "Rādhāsoāmī."

• Sant Jaimal Singh ("Bābājī Mahārāj") continued teaching the Mat of Sat Nām and Anāmī and the practice of Śabd Yoga in the Pañjāb.
• Garib Dās was Sant Tulsī's disciple who had a following in Sarai Rohilla. Opposing opinions claim that Shiv Dayāl Singh attended his satsang and that Garib Dās recognised Shiv Dayāl's spiritual stature.

Pratāp Singh Seṭh had three successors:

• His son Sudarshaṇ Singh Seṭh ("Lāla Sāheb") (1858-1936) who continued satsang at Soāmī Bāgh, Āgrā.
• K. A. Bhāvananī who established his satsang elsewhere.
• Shyāmlāl Gupta ("Data Dayāl") (1872-1940) who started the Shabd Pratap Satsang in Gwalior

Salig Rām had three successors:

• His son Ajodhyā Prasād ("Param Purush Puran Dhani," "Lālajī Mahārāj") (1866-1926) who continued Rādhāsoāmī satsang at Salig Rām's home "Huzuri Bhavan" in Pīpal Mandi, Āgrā.
• Brahm Shankar Misra ("Param Purush Puran Dhani," "Mahārāj Sāheb") (1861-1907) who founded the Radhasoami Satsang Central Administrative Council and the Radhasoami Trust at Soāmī Bāgh, Āgrā.
• Shivbratlāl Varman ("Data Dayāl," "Mahāṛṣi") (1860-1939) who started satsang in Mirzapur, and spent his life writing books, claimed to be in the hundreds if not thousands.
• Shivdayal Singh

A few dozen branches of the Rādhāsoāmī Faith have sprung from them, with each generation springing a new branch. After the death of Salig Rām, religious authority rested on "Lāla" Pratāp Singh Seṭh and "Lāla" Ajodhyā Prasād, while the Soāmī Bāgh property was owned by Pratāp Singh. Brahm Shankar Misra founded (1902) the Radhasoami Satsang Central Administrative Council which sought to place all Rādhāsoāmī branches under his control. Misra then named Pratāp Singh, Ajodhyā Prasād, and himself as the three with the authority to initiate people into the Rādhāsoāmī Faith, placing himself on the same exalted platform as the two revered elders. Finally, Misra set up a separate legal corporate body called the Radhasoami Trust that wrested ownership of Soāmī Bāgh. The Council and the Trust have since claimed to be the "parent stock" of the Rādhāsoāmī Faith by virtue of their ownership of Soāmī Bāgh. (The Dayalbagh Sabha challenged this ownership and control, taking the issue all the way to the Privy Council, but lost the case due to the Radhasoami Trust's legal status that gave it a solid hold on the Soāmī Bāgh property.) Misra also started the construction of the "holy samādh," the most visible component of his legacy, that cemented his standing in the Rādhāsoāmī hierarchy.^] President Pratāp Singh and Vice President Ajodhyā Prasād's power in the Council at Soāmī Bāgh steadily eroded and gave way as Misra's influence increased. Ultimately, Misra attained total control, while Pratāp Singh and Ajodhyā Prasād lost all religious and temporal authority at Soāmī Bāgh. Pratāp Singh and Ajodhyā Prasād are no longer acknowledged as gurus by the Council and the Trust. Shiv Dayāl Singh's heirs lost ownership of the ancestral home. In the aftermath, "Dhara Sindhu" Pratāp Singh is today recognised as God^. and guru at Shabd Pratap Ashram in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, while "Param Purush Puran Dhani" Ajodhyā Prasād is regarded as the third guru at Huzuri Bhavan, Pīpal Mandi, Āgrā.

Soāmī Bāgh and Dayāl Bāgh

The locality called "Soāmī Bāgh" ("Soāmī's Garden"), the family home of Shiv Dayāl Singh's and the present location of his samādh (tomb-shrine), is currently owned and controlled by the twin organizations known as the Radhasoami Satsang Central Administrative Council and the Radhasoami Trust (called "the Council and the Trust" for short). Their across-the-street neighbor "Dayāl Bāgh" ("Dayāl's Garden") is owned and controlled by the organization Radhasoami Satsang Dayalbagh Sabha. Dayāl Bāgh and its founder-guru Sir Ānand Swarūp, Kt. ("Param Guru Sāhabjī Mahārāj") (1881-1937) were introduced to a wider Western public by Paul Brunton in his famed work A Search in Secret India. Sir Ānand Swarūp received a knighthood for the massive socioeconomic development initiatives at Dayāl Bāgh. The two rival organizations, Council/Trust and Dayalbagh Sabha, are both existent and functioning.
The major dispute between the two groups is due to two divergent views: The members of Council/Trust insist that Council/Trust is the "parent stock" of the Rādhāsoāmī Faith, and hence must be the ruling entity of the Rādhāsoāmī religion. The members of Dayalbagh Sabha feel slighted by the unjustified religious hegemony which they feel Council/Trust is asserting on everyone. Also, the members of Dayalbagh Sabha feel that they have as much right as anyone to the tomb-shrine of the revered Shiv Dayāl Singh. In this light, Dayalbagh Sabha organised "SPIRICON 2010", a conference of various organizations who revere Shiv Dayāl Singh (boycotted by Council/Trust), to promote mutual respect and to assert rights of access and participation in the management of the tomb-shrine of supreme guru Shiv Dayāl Singh.

Shiv Dayāl Singh's Samādh (tomb) under construction, 2001

Distinction and mix-up

There are two fundamentally distinct beliefs about Shiv Dayāl Singh that need to be understood objectively in order to clear up the confusion fueled by sectarian claims: the Sant Mat view and the Rādhāsoāmī view.
 
Shiv Dayāl's Samādh, Soāmī Bāgh

The Sant Mat view

In Sant Mat, Shiv Dayāl Singh was not a unique personality, but only one among a number of non-sectarian spiritual teachers in North India who eschewed the religious beliefs and practices of Hinduism and Islām. Most of them were quite outspoken in their exposé of religious superstitions and the pretensions of religious leaders, and consequently received the condemnation of the religious establishments. Commonly, they were explicit in explaining that rituals, pilgrimages, tomb-shrines, sacred threads, circumcision, sacred relics, deity images, caste, groups (social, ethnic, religious), sacred organizations, sacred councils, and sacred scriptures did not grant salvation – not even the writings and teachings of Sant Mat itself. For the Sants, it was the un-producible Sound (Anhad Śabd) or unspeakable Name (Dhunatmak Nām) or True Name (Sat Nām) alone that granted liberation, which was accessed by true initiation from a living Sat Guru (True Master) and practice of the technique of Sūrat-Śabd Yog (Soul-Spirit Union). In this view, written words, spoken words, human-made words and names cannot be the True Word (Sār Vāc) or the True Name (Sat Nām)which sustains the universe. These saints have been collectively termed in academia as the "Uttarī Bhārat kī Sant Paramparā" (Sant Tradition of North India), and included Nāmdev of Ghuman,Kabīr, Guru Nānak, Ravidās, Dādū, Dariyā of Bihār,Jagjīvan Dās, Paltū, Maluk Dās, Sant Tulsī, Shiv Dayāl Singh, and Sant Jaimal Singh. Their Mat (Teaching) has been termed "Nirguṇ Bhakti" by a number of scholars. In this view, very importantly, Sant Shiv Dayāl Singh was a disciple of Sant Tulsī.

vipul koul