Is Sant Mat a Religion?
No! Sant Mat supports the purpose of all religions. The Sant Mat adepts encourage their students to remain in whatever social system they belong, religious or otherwise. They ask us to achieve the true purpose of religion: to know our essence, and reunite with the Source from which we sprang. Learning the Sant Mat practice does not obligate us to join any group or to follow any person. A competent Master of Sant Mat reveals the truth already existing within us, and asks that we follow that truth.
These basic tenets are explained in explicit detail in the books of Sant Kirpal Singh.
Universal Truth: Light & Sound
If we go through the scriptures of various religions, we find clear references to the basic common factor, the Divine Light and Sound Current. The Sound Current has been referred to as Word or Logos, Shabd, Naam, Nad, Kalma, Ism-e-Azam, Music of the Spheres, Audible Life Stream, Voice of God, etc. [See also the book by Kirpal Singh, Naam Or Word.]
From Saint Kabir and Guru Nanak through the ten Sikh Gurus to Guru Gobind Singh, as well as many others (Dadu, Jagjiwan, Tulsi, Darya Sahib, Baba Lal Das, and Paltu, to name a few)– enlightened Saints have preached of Shabd, the Inner Sound.
Examples of References to the Inner Light & Sound in World Religions:
Buddhism
Christianity
greek philosophy
hinduism
islam
sikhism
Taoism & Jainism
Theosophical Society
The Path of Yoga
Zoroastrianism
Buddhism
The following is an extract taken from the Surangama Sutra, illustrating the spiritual experiences of some of the highest Bodhisattvas:
“And I have lately attained to the degree of Arhat by means of the development of my hearing, by reason of which I am conscious of the Transcendental Sound of the Dharma reverberating like the roar of a lion.”
Purna Metaluniputra
The spiritual experiences of the highest Bodhisatvas and Mahasatvas and great Arhats testify to the inner purple-golden brightness and the Transcendental and Intrinsic Hearing, leading to the indescribable and mysterious Sound of Dharma, like the roar of a lion or the beating of drums:
“…intrinsic brightness shining spontaneously in all directions.”
Manjusri, the prince of Dharma
“Why do you not learn from your own self by listening to Sound of the Intrinsic Dharma within…?”
Christianity
The following are extracts taken from the Bible. Many other references to inner seeing and hearing can be found in the visions of the prophets, the gospels and in the Revelation of St. John.
“In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God.”
John 1:1
“The Word was the real light that gives light to everyone…”
John 1:9
“His eyes were as a flame… His voice as the sound of many waters… His face was like the sun shining with all its force.”
Revelation 1:15-16
“I heard a sound coming out of heaven like the sound of the ocean or the roar of thunder; it was like the sound of harpists playing their harps.”
Revelation 14:2
“I am the light of the world as long as I am in the world.”
John 9:5
“If your eye is clean, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is unclean, your whole body will be darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkened, what darkness that will be!”
Matthew 6:22-23
“See to it then that the light inside you is not darkness.”
Luke 11:34-36
“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”
Acts II 1:2-3
Greek Philosophy
The ancient Greeks also spoke of Shabd. In the writings of Socrates, we read that he heard within him a peculiar Sound which pulled him irresistibly to higher spiritual realms. Pythagoras also talked of Shabd: he described God as Supreme Music of the nature of harmonies. Plato spoke of it as the Music of the Spheres. In the Greek language we have the term Logos from Logo to speak which stands for the Word, or Second Person of the Trinity.
Hinduism
According to the Hindu theological books, the whole creation was made through Nad (sound). They also refer to it as Akash Bani (song coming from the heavens).
“Meditation on Nad or the Sound Principle is the royal road to salvation.”
Hansa Nad Upanishad
“In the beginning was Prajapati, the Brahman, with whom was the Word and the Word was verily the Supreme Brahman.”
Rig Veda
“First the murmuring sounds resembling those of the waves of the ocean, the fall of water and then running rivulets, after which the bhervi will be heard, intermingled with the sounds of bell and conch.”
Nad Bind Upanishad
Islam
Among the Muslim Sufis, it is known as Sultan-ul-Azkar (prayers). Another order of Sufis calls it “Saut-I-Sarmadi” (the Divine Song). They also call it Kalam-I-qadim (the Ancient Sound) and the Kalma (Word).
“Grow not skeptical, but attune yourself to the Sound coming down from the Heavens, Your soul shall have revelations from afar. Rise above the horizon, O brave soul, and hear the Melodious Song coming from the highest heaven.”
Jalaluddin Rumi
“Creation came into being from Saut (Sound or Word) and from Saut spread all light.”
and also:
“We should be able to see God with our own eyes and hear the voice of God with our own ears.”
Shamas Tabrez
“You have to open the inner eye to behold the glory of God within. It is already there.”
Moieen-ud-Din Chishti, a Muslim Saint
“The Great Name is the very essence and life of all names and form.
Its manifest form sustains creation;
It is the great ocean of which we are merely the waves.
He alone can comprehend this who has mastered our discipline.”
Abdul Razaq Kashi
Sikhism
The inner light (antar jot) and the inner music (pancha shabd), or the five melodies of the Word, whose music is limitless (anhad bani) are recurring themes in nearly all the compositions contained in the Granth Shahib, the holy book of Sikhism.
“The Word causes the beginning and the end of the creation. The world is again created by the Word after dissolution.”
Adi Granth
“The sweet symphonies of the Music float without the aid of hands and feet.
Whoever communes with this Music beholds the Truth.”
Guru Nanak
“By hearing the Sound Current, one knows the Truth and escapes the angel of death; By hearing the Sound Current, one becomes self-luminous, and all darkness departs; By hearing the Sound Current, one becomes the knower of self and reaps the full benefits of Naam; By hearing the Sound Current, one is washed of his sins and meets pure Truth! O Nanak, by hearing the Sound Current, one glows with the Divine Light.”
Guru Ram Das
“Within you is Light and within Light the Sound, and the same shall keep you attached to the True one.”
Gurbani
Taoism & Jainism
In Chinese scriptures it is known as Tao. In the Jain scriptures we find:
“Hearing the Sound resembling that of the conch and witnessing the lotus light like that of a newly blossomed flower between the two eyebrows, one faces his Ishta, the Satguru.”
Theosophical Society
Madam Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society has described it as the Voice of God. In her book, Voice of Silence, she states that several sounds are heard when holding communion:
“The first is like the nightingale’s sweet voice chanting a parting song to its mate. The next resembles the sound of silver cymbals of the Dhyanis awakening the twinkling stars. It is followed by the plain melodies of the ocean’s spirit imprisoned in the conch shell which in turn gives place to the chant of vina. The melodious flute-like symphony is then heard. It changes into a trumpet-blast vibrating like the dull rumbling of a thunder cloud. The seventh swallows all other sounds. They die and then are heard no more.”
The Path of Yoga
Yoga means “union of soul with the Oversoul or God-power.” There are so many forms of yoga: Mantra Yoga, Hatha yoga, Ashtang Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Raja Yoga, Laya Yoga…
Another form of yoga, Surat Shabd Yoga (Communion with the Holy Word, Sound Current, or Shabd) is at the root of all religions and yet it is not properly understood by the theologians. It takes one to the Ultimate Goal–Anami, or the Nameless Absolute, who is the foundation of the entire creation, as its material and efficient Causeless Cause. As the Ocean of Pure Consciousness heaved, the Formless and the Nameless Absolute came into expression in many idfferent forms with many different names by the Power of Its own heaving vibrations. The Sound Current, whereof, came to be called the Holy Word.
How to get into direct touch with the Spirit and the Power of God, the Primal Creative Principle (the Light of Life), is the subject of mysticism. While all philosophies deal with the manifest aspect of the Unmanifest and the creation of the Uncreate, mysticism, on the other hand, deals with the first Creative Principle itself, the vibratory force characterized by Sound and Light.
Surat Shabd Yoga begins at the point where other yogas normally end. By contacting the Sound Principle, the sensory currents are automatically drawn upward without the practitioner laboriously striving to achieve this end, and the motor currents are left untouched.
The Surat Shabd Yoga practitioner achieves concentration at will under controlled conditions through Simran (esoterically, repetition of the names of God) and Dhyan (meditation, contemplation). And as soon as he contacts the reverberating Word, the sensory spiritual current that is still in the body is drawn irresistibly upward and complete physical transcendence is achieved.
Not only does this simplify the process of entry into the state of Samadhi (a state in which the mind is completely absorbed in the Lord, or God), but that of returning from it as well. The adept in this path needs no outer assistance for coming back into physical consciousness as is the case with some other yogic forms. Spiritual ascension and descent are entirely voluntary and can be achieved by him with the rapidity of thought.
Zoroastrianism
In the Avestic writings of Zoraster we come across the word Sraosha (“that Power of God which can be heard”): “I cause to invoke that Divine Sraosha (the Word) which is the greatest of all Divine gifts for spiritual succour.”
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