Spiritual Awakening Radio

A Summary of, Introduction to, Sant Mat Spirituality and Meditation about: Where God Is, How to Merge With the Divine Through Meditation Practice, The Philosophy of Liberation (Moksha Darshan) According to Maharshi Mehi Paramhans   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami, Jai Guru James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Becoming Free From Illusion - Leaving the Matrix, Merging With the Divine Beloved: This human condition is a story about the limited perception of relying solely upon the outer five senses and being deceived, existing with a severely limited ability to know the full picture, to find what is Real. However, according to the mystics of all generations, there's another means of spiritual knowing, another way of seeing and hearing available to us. There is hope of finding Light in the darkness, and the Music of the Spheres playing beyond, on the other side of silence. In my soul I am free. (Peace Be To You)   The true devotee has an internal focus. The human body is the true "temple of the Spirit". Thus, one closes their eyes and looks within, entering the 'door' to the temple via the Third Eye Center, also referred to as the Single Eye and, the Seat of the Soul. In other words, we have the ability to see and hear spiritually if we did but know it. Instead of allowing these abilities to remain dormant, unused, the devotee develops his or her ability to see and hear spiritually during meditation practice, as revealed in Sant Mat, the Path of the Masters. Sant Kirpal Singh: "The greatness of a Master lies in the fact that when one meets Him, He initiates him into the Mysteries of the Beyond and gives Him first-hand experience of being born anew, and then by regular practice the initiate may transcend into the Beyond at will and enjoy the ineffable sweet symphonies of the Word which no ears have heard and no eyes have seen on earth." (Spiritual Elixir) In the Gospel of Thomas, the Master said to his living students at the time, "I will give you what no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, what no hand has touched, and what has never occurred to the human mind." (Coptic Gospel of Thomas, Saying 17)   "Do the repetition of God's Name and forget Him not. Fulfil the purpose of your birth by practicing concentration. Be steadfast in the remembrance of God. He alone attains who is wakeful. For the devoted disciple of the Master Darkness and delusion are dispelled. He reverts not, and is well-set on the Path." (Sant Dadu Dayal)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Today, an Introduction to the Sant Mat Approach to Meditation, the Goals and Methods of Spiritual Practice. (Peace Be To You)   Seven Teachings of Sant Mat: 1) God is Real. 2) God is Love, the Ocean of Love and Compassion. 3) All of the world scriptures teach about the same manifestation of God as inner mystical Light and Sound. 4) Our true identity is the soul, the self, and the soul is part of God and, like God, pure love. 5) During this human existence, we have an opportunity to experience God. 6) The Third Eye is the Seat of the Soul, thus there is the need to look within in order to get in touch with our soul and God. As we experience communing with God's love during meditation -- Surat Shabd Yoga -- we can rise above body-consciousness and explore Inner Space, the "Kingdom of the Heavens" that are within us. "We travel back from the Realm of Darkness to the Realm of Light, from the Light to Divine Sound, and from the realm of Sound to the Soundless State [Anami, Radhaswami]." (Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj) The drop merges back into the Ocean of Love. 7) As we get initiated into the Mysteries of the Spirit by a Living Teacher (Master, Sant Satguru), the purpose of our life is fulfilled. Reuniting with God is our reason to be here: "It was for the sake of the God-conscious beings that our True Lord created this earth, and began this play of death and birth." ("Adi Granth") Guru Kabir says: "For millions of years you have slept. This morning, will you not wake?" (Seven Teachings of Sant Mat, from the Sant Mat section of SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com)    "By practicing devotion through these four techniques: Manas Japa (Simran, recitation of a divine name or names), Manas Dhyana (Dhyan, focus on the divine form), Dristi Sadhana (Yoga of Inner Light, Inner Seeing, Inner Light Meditation, focus on the Infinitesimal Point), and Nadanusandhana Yoga (Surat Shabd Yoga, concentration on the inner divine Sounds) - the practitioner consecutively transcends the realms of darkness, Light, and Sound which cloak the Supreme Truth - the Divine Reality." (Maharshi Mehi)   "Make the mind quiet as only a quiet mind can meditate. Don’t understand meditation as a burden, do it lovingly. Don’t pay any attention to the outer sounds during the meditation; concentrate at the Eye Center." (Santji, The Ambrosial Hour)   "If we set a fixed time for our meditation, and we also set a fixed place for sitting for that meditation, then the mind also gets used to it. If we keep changing the time of our meditation, or keep changing the place of our meditation, then that gives an opportunity for the mind to also create havoc with us. And then the mind also reminds us of so many other things that have to be done. And that way, it keeps disturbing us. So, if it is used to sitting at a fixed time, it realizes that, 'Yes, this is the time for meditation,' and then, it leaves us alone for that time." (Baba Ram Singh)   Note: In the Sant tradition, the complete methods and secrets of the full meditation practice are communicated at the time of INITIATION (Diksha) by a living Master (Sant Satguru, Competent, Qualified Teacher) or a representative of a Master. (Jai Guru)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com/sant-mat    

Not A Caveman Fixated on Bugs and Bees After All: John the Baptist's Wilderness Vegetarian Diet - Locust Beans Not Bugs - An Exploration of Early Christian Writings and Scholarly Texts Today on This Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcast. Nevermind the old Sunday school notion of John the Baptist being some weird caveman dude dining on bugs! John may have a tarnished caveman reputation of eating locusts and honey out in the wild, but this is really a story about copyists mistranslating a Greek word as "locust" ('a-k-r-i-d-e-s') instead of "carob"       ('e-g-k-r-i-d-e-s'). (Henry Ford: "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young." Albert Einstein: "Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.")   Since my original research on this topic, a couple more early Christian apocryphal writings have come to light, have been made available in English. These add to the surprisingly large collection of vegetarian references in early Christian writings regarding the diet of John the Baptist. New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. III, by Tony Burke was published and some John the Baptist books are included. In one of the earlier volumes there was a John the Baptist text made available for the first time in English that has a vegetarian passage regarding John's diet in the wilderness. Included in the third volume are, The Birth of Holy John the Forerunner, and, The Decapitation of John the Forerunner, both containing plant-based passages about John's diet consisting of "locusts from the tree" (in the Middle east called "the Saint John's Tree", and "Carob Tree") and "wild honey", also "an abundance of bread and wild honey dripping from a rock". Clearly there was an understanding in early Christianity that this was referring to locust beans (carob pods), not insects. Carob pods do look a bit like locusts hanging from tree branches, hence the name. Locust beans can be ground up and used to make a kind of Middle eastern carob flour flat bread. There's a "cakes dipped in honey" reference in the Gospel of the Ebionites. The wild "honey" was not from bees but sticky desert fruit of some kind. So, as you'll hear being documented during this pod...cast, there are all these plant-based references to John's diet coming from many different sources, and scholars have noticed and discussed these: "Probably the most interesting of the changes from the familiar New Testament accounts of Jesus comes in the Gospel of the Ebionites description of John the Baptist, who, evidently, like his successor Jesus, maintained a strictly vegetarian cuisine." (Professor Bart Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew) "His [John the Baptist's] food was wild honey that tasted like manna, like a cake cooked in olive oil." (The Other Gospels, Accounts of Jesus from Outside the New Testament, by Bart Ehrman)   John the Baptist was a prophet with large number of followers in Israel and Transjordan regions. After his passing, several of his successors headed what became various rival Nasoraean (Nazorean) sects, one of those being Jesus and the Jesus movement. "Again Jesus said to his disciples: Truly I say to you, among all those born of women none has arisen greater than John the Baptizer." (Matthew 11:11, George Howard's translation of Shem-Tob's Hebrew Gospel of Matthew, described as "the oldest extant Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew")     May the Blessings Be James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

"The Father's kingdom is already spread out over the earth, and people do not see it." (Gospel of Thomas) This saying is a lament really, about souls in a condition of spiritual poverty unable to recognize the spiritual reality already here and available. This is the Invisible Spiritual Path We Follow, having a spiritual practice, a form of meditation that pertains to seeing the Unseen Realms with another kind of sight. The heavenly regions are not visible to those limited only to the outer material world of the five senses. In order to have mystic-vision, we're going to need another kind of Eye to be able to gaze into those subtle realms beyond. "The Lord will make the pupil of your eye his home, and your eye will expand to contain the entire universe." (Sant Namdev)  The third eye is the gateway which leads to realms above the purely physical world. It is situated behind and between the two eyes. "The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me; my eye and God's eye are one eye, one seeing, one knowing, one love." (Meister Eckhart, Rhineland Mystic)   It is the birthright and evolutionary destiny of each and every soul to participate in the subtle divine worlds within, to become a child of both the outer creation, the cosmos, the universe we see all around us, AND to be a traveler of inner space, the kingdom of the heavens -- the Divine Ocean of Love -- accessed within through a very special kind of meditation of inner seeing and inner hearing. The Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi once wrote in his Bezels of Wisdom: "The Supreme Being brought the Cosmos into being as constituting an Unseen Realm AND a Sensory Realm, so that we might perceive the Inner through our Unseen [facilities] and the Outer through our sensory aspect." We are, in other words, meant to be children of both worlds. (Best Of All Worlds)   "This new life of the Spirit begins from the day of Initiation into the Mysteries of the Spirit... The life of the spirit begins not with the theoretical exposition of the spiritual science but by a practical demonstration on the spiritual plane of the spirit-current made manifest. Here the invisible and inaudible life-stream is made both visible and audible to the Spirit within, converting the atheist into a theist in the true sense of the term. It is imparting the life-impulse and making It throb in every pore of the body. This coming back of the soul to the realization of her true nature and rising into Universal or Cosmic awareness beyond the walls of finitude is the true resurrection or coming to a new birth and a new life. To die in the body while living, is to live in the Spirit." (The Celestial Music, An Introduction to Kirpal Singh, by L. Gurney Parrott)   That last sentence, "To die in the body while living, is to live in the Spirit" is referring to the meditation practice that is followed by those initiated into Inner Light and Sound Meditation on this Path of the Masters. (Go Within)   "We should sit very lovingly in our meditation. We should focus at the Eye Center and do our Simran -- repeat the Simran in the mind. When we do this, the impurity of the mind, which has been cast on the mind by us for eons, for so many millions of lives... that gets washed off." (Baba Ram Singh)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com        

Says Vegan Rumi: "I have existence and I value it so much, so have all the beings on earth and they too, try to preserve it. Then, how can I kill even the tiniest creature just to satiate my palate? Even a seemingly lifeless stone has a degree of consciousness; respect it. To me, even milk is forbidden. Look at all animals as you look at humans. If we consume an animal, its blood and gore will make us act like a slaughterer. We began as mineral. We began as mineral. We emerged into plant life, and into the animal state, and then into being human, and always we have forgotten our former states, except in early Spring when we slightly recall being green again." (Rumi, the King of the Sufi Poet-Mystics and often quoted by Sant Mat Masters)   It's quite significant finding these vegan verses of Jalalaldin Rumi, as many would assume or presume Rumi would have followed the more conventional mainstream halal (similar to kosher) diet. And Rumi is not the only example within Sufism of saints advocating vegan or vegetarian values. In the past I've shared podcasts regarding Rabia of Basra, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, and other Sufi mystics. There's even vegan sayings of Jesus preserved in Sufi circles. But knowledge of these things soon gets forgotten and lost in various traditions of world religions. ("The god of time [illusion] has put a cover over the teachings of Saints and thus concealed them from humanity." - Sar Bachan Poetry of Swami Ji Maharaj)   And not many dairy cows are living blissful happy lives roaming free in the Slovenian countryside or in some idyllic sunny pasture as some might also assume (or would prefer to imagine in order to rationalize defending old customs), but rather end up at the very same slaughterhouses as other factory-farmed animals killed for their meat... when the milk runs dry, when all is said and done. Thus, we must not drink from the tap of illusion (maya) but do the research, become informed by the science pertaining to diet-related diseases, and evolve in our thinking, taking the high road, going in the direction of compassion for all life, both human and animal! (Peace Be To All)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com  

The earliest references to the story of Jesus Feeding the Five Thousand do not include any mentions of fish, only bread. The early church father Irenaeus, writing between 180 and 188 AD, does not say anything at all about the fish, only bread in connection with this Miraculous Feeding of the Multitude as if the gospels he was reading at the time didn't include anything about fishes with the loaves. The historian Eusebius, Arnobius, and several other early Christian writings also never include anything about "fishes" with the loaves, only the loaves, only the bread. It was originally an account about people being given bread. This has lead to some, including Keith Akers, author of the book, The Lost Religion of Jesus: Simple Living and Nonviolence in Early Christianity (also see his wonderful scholarly book, Disciples), to conclude that the making of this popular miracle story into a fish tale must have taken place sometime after Irenaeus and 188 AD. After that date must be when the final edit took place, when fish got added to the story about the Feeding of the Five Thousand, transforming it into the more familiar version people are acquainted with. Today, we examine the case of the missing fish, as well as textual variations between different manuscripts of the New Testament, including the spectacular example of a vegetarian saying of Jesus present in the Old Syriac-Aramaic Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke but not present in the Greek manuscripts. This is another installment in a series of podcasts documenting the vegetarianism of the original Jesus Movement, also known as the Ebionites, Nasoraeans, grandchildren of the Essenes, Hebrew Christians, The Apostles, the Disciples, Christianity-Before-Paul: the folks in the early church Paul was arguing with about diet, including James the Just (of Jerusalem.)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Traditionally, Sant Mat and the yoga philosophy have advocated the lacto-vegetarian diet: abstinence from meat, fish, fowl, and eggs, but allowed dairy. Vegan means complete abstinence from all animal products and strictly adhering to a plant-based diet: no dairy, eggs, or meat of any kind, or products made from animals. Based on the current cruel practices of the dairy industry in India and around the world that violate the principle of ahimsa or non-violence, plus all the scores of medical studies showing that dairy consumption adversely affects our health and well-being, I believe if they were here today, the classic Saints such as Mahavira, Guru Kabir, Guru Nanak, Tukarama, Ravidas, Tulsi Das, Namdev, Dariya Sahib, etc...  would not only be advocating a vegetarian diet, but a vegan diet. These days, many are making this transition to vegan, including a growing percentage of those following Sant Mat. This is the compassionate direction that the vegetarian movement is headed in. (Vegetarianism is going vegan!)   In the East as well as in the West, the Gnostics and other advanced mystics: those serious practitioners of soul travel, inner Light and Sound meditation, have universally adhered to a plant-based diet. It’s hard to reach more subtle states of tranquility in meditation on an animal flesh diet based on the suffering of other beings. "A man of spiritual intensity does not eat corpses." (George Bernard Shaw)    Today a satsang edition of Spiritual Awakening Radio about the spiritual and ethical reasons for going veg, or better still: vegan. There are readings from Pythagoras, Kabir, Swami Sant Sevi Ji Maharaj, Darshan Singh, Kirpal Singh, Sawan Singh, Diet and Spirituality, by Dona Kelley (from Lotus Leaves), and... a document called, "My Visit to a Dairy Farm -- The Reality of Dairy Cruelty -- the Final Destination of Dairy Cows is the Slaughterhouse", published by Pravin K. Shah of the Jaina Education Committee of Jainism (the Vegan Jain movement.)     In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

For many, the term "meditation" suggests merely a practice about attaining a more relaxed state and only represents a series of techniques about stress reduction. For the Initiate of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven however, meditation represents a Portal to the Divine, a Door in the Heavens leading to Realms Beyond, is a Bright Star in a Mystic Sky that turns into a Tunnel of Light or River of Divine Light that flows into the Eternal Ocean of God! (Gnosis)   "A Light of utmost splendor glows on the eyes of my soul. Therein have I seen the inexpressible ordering of all things, and recognized God's unspeakable glory - that incomprehensible wonder - the tender caress between God and the soul... the unmingled joy of union, the Living Love of Eternity as it now is and evermore shall be." (The German Mystic Mechthild of Magdeburg, Flowing Light of the Godhead)   "Now has Divine Light delivered me from captivity, and joined me by gentility to the Divine will of Love" (The French Mystic, Marguerite Porete, The Mirror of Simple Souls)   "Those who transcend the realm of mind and the senses and enter the regions of Pure Spirit come to know, as a Living Reality, that dwelling within all forms of life, human and otherwise, is One Pure Light and Love... though encased in so many types of veils due to karmic impressions." (Baba Somanath)   "This 'Single' or 'Third Eye' provides an ingress into the spiritual worlds - the Kingdom of God - now a lost realm to most of us... Of this inlet or ingress little is known by the people at large." (Sant Kirpal Singh)   Swami Sant Sevi Ji: "What is the glorious destination that we are striving for? When we see darkness with our eyes closed we are in the realm of death and re-birth because we are not aware of our true nature. When we come out of the realm of darkness and enter into the Realm of Light, we will at the same time escape the web of death. If we remain in darkness it is not possible to be free from the cycle of birth and death. Only when we achieve the Inner Light - the Divine Light which represents the glory of the Divine - can we be liberated from the cycle of birth and death." (Peace)   "Seek the refuge of the Satguru, O Dear One, for He will free you from your karmic debt. The entire world is consumed by forgetfulness and confusion. No one appreciates the unique message of the Saints. The unfortunate ones of this world are dominated by Maya [illusion], and they do not attain the Immaculate State. Those upon whom the Grace of the Primal Creator is showered, alone have the desire to drink the Nectar of Immortality." (Baba Somanath)   "So, the point of telling you is that this Path, which has been sent by God Almighty Himself - the Surat Shabd Yoga [Inner Light and Sound Meditation Practice] - that can be attained only by initiation from a True Master... Therefore, all the Masters, at all times, have always talked and sung the praise of Surat Shabd. And that has been the message of the Masters in various yugas [epochs of time]... Therefore, when we are initiated by our Masters, it is necessary for us to get connected with the Shabd [the inner Light and Sound Current] every day - to do our meditation every day. And, by doing so, we are helping our Master to help us..." (Baba Ram Singh)   Asks Kabir: "For Millions of Years You Have Slept, This Morning Will You Not Wake?"   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com      

Today... explaining the rule in Sant Mat about not sharing one's own personal inner experiences with others - why is that? It's all about keeping experiences private, authentic, free from ego and free from outside contamination or mental phantasmagoria, also free of pressures and expectations about what one "should" be experiencing. Everyone is at their own unique level or place in Inner Space. We need only to focus on our own inward journey, stay in touch with That, and keep it real, keep it 100! (Namaste')     Seek To See God Now - Liberation During This Life - Mystic-Poem of Sant Tulsi Sahib   "In this life, the concept of salvation all describe;  To meet the Lord by dying while living [meditation], none discloses.  They all speak of the goal of salvation after death;  How to attain it while living, no one says.  Were they to reveal the method of achieving release while living,  Then alone would Tulsi be convinced of their words.  Who speaks, after seeing with their own eyes,  and teach the method of salvation during life,  They are of the stage and stature of Saints,  for they reveal the quintessence of the soul."   The Expanse Above, from Saint Isaac the Syrian's Spiritual Works, Translated by Mary Hansbury      "By stillness of the body and ceasing from this world, solitaries imagine the true stillness and the withdrawal from nature which will occur at the end of the corporeal world. By means of the mind, the solitaries are united with the world of the Spirit. By means of meditation, they are involved in the expanse above." (Peace)   Awaken to the Resplendent Light Within You - Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, Mystic Verses from the Book of Shabdavali     "Listen, O swan-soul, ascend to your true abode. So says the Master again and again. You do not pay attention to his words; O finish your sorrows and joys and transmigrations. If the deluded soul were to unite with her Source, Never again would she be encumbered by body and mind. From the Source of the Divine Ocean opens a Portal to the Light; O awaken that resplendent Light within you." (!)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

One of the Greatest of Spiritual Masters and Poet-Mystics of Sant Mat in the History of India: Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar, today on this edition of Spiritual Awakening Radio, a Sant Mat Satsang Podcast. (Namaste', Sat Naam Sahab, Jai Guru, Radhaswami)   From the "Love Chapter" of Saint Dariya    "Blessed is the eye which is permeated with love. Without love it is like a pebble or stone. Like a gardener without a garden,      the eye remains empty without love. What is the state of a human being without love? He is like one who is denied all delicacies,      and whose mouth is filled only with dust. Without love one does not find the flow      of the Sound Current. But when the flower of love blossoms,      its fragrance is praised by all.   "Many are the paths prevalent in this world Knowing the proper wisdom, work out your own salvation. He who obtains a wise and discriminating Saint, Recognizes the path of salvation.   "The technique of love is truly the root of spirituality. Follow this technique as imparted by the Master. When with his grace the inner lamp is lighted, The true Naam, the support of all, comes to sight.   "Just as the lotus resides in water, It does not come to bloom by water. Only when the light of the sun appears, Does the lotus open its petals, As the contemplative (inner) eye opens to see.   "The spiritual lotus likewise resides in the human body      which is like a pond. Its sustaining water is close to the lotus. But only when love for the Satguru arises, Does the inner lotus bloom, And one becomes a devotee of the Lord's holy feet.   "Without love, there is no spiritual path. The path lives in love.   "With intensification of love, one comes in contact      with the True Sound, And like a lotus in water, abides in its peace and bliss.   "When love and endearment are firmly ingrained, One attains the elixir of Naam, and enjoys its bliss. Being firmly entrenched in love and endearment, And being well-steeped in devotion,      one obtains the true love.   "Without love one does not find the flow      of the Sound Current. But when the flower of love blossoms,      its fragrance is praised by all."   -- Mystic Verses of Sant Dariya Saheb of Bihar   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com   Spiritual Awakening Radio (and Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts) with James Bean, heard on various community, public radio stations and the web, explores the world of spirituality, comparative religion, world scriptures and other books, East and West, God, meditation, out of body or near death experiences (inner space), the vegan diet and other ahimsa ethics -- education for a more peaceful planet. (Peace!)  

By developing a spiritual practice, on demand we are able to find respite from the madness of the world, this turbulent ocean of samsara, gaining our freedom from serving as pawns of a demiurgical, kalistic culture of conflict and agitated minds. (Peace Be To You)   "What our modern world has suffered from most of all is runaway ideology, the agitated attachment to ideas that thereby become the playthings of infrahuman energies. This is the great danger of all ideologies, whether political, religious, or academic." (Jacob Needleman expressing some thoughts about the Gospel of Thomas)   "Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it." (Thomas Merton)   The goal of this Sant Mat Satsang discourse is to shed more light on the meditation practices of the Sants which liberate the soul, provides a spiritual oasis for souls to be free from the agents of the negative power, ever-and-always agitating minds in this world, keeping them off-center so they never get around to going within, finding their true self and exploring the Divine Realms available inside during spiritual practice. (Meditate!)   We must rise above during our meditations in order to ultimately return to the Ocean of Love and All-Consciousness known as God... above this bodily existence, above this material plane, above time or KAL, above mind, above maya or illusion and all these outer planes of creation. As it says in the Greek Gospel of Thomas "we enter into Rest." And as Rumi has written in his mystic poetry, To Him We Shall Return. (Peace)   "If the soul is to see God, then it must see no temporal thing, for as long as the soul is conscious of time or space, or of an idea, it cannot know God." (Meister Eckhart, German Mystic)    This discourse is also deliberately mindful of the lineage of Sant Mat Masters spanning many centuries, tracing this Path of the Masters back through time to Satguru Kabir. (Satnaam Saheb)   References, Subjects, Sources and Segments Include: Rumi, Gospel of Thomas, The Empty Tomb of Satguru Kabir (The Story of Kabir's Body Turning Into Lotus Flowers), Plucking Flowers of Spirituality Within Your Body Through the Meditation Practice of the Sants, The Anurag Sagar (Ocean of Love) and Sant Dharam Das), the Prakash Mani Gita on Inner Sound Meditation, Sat Saheb and Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar, Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras, Maharaj Girdhari Sahib of Lucknow, Swami Ji Maharaj of Agra (Sar Bachan Radhasoami Poetry), Sant Garib Das of the Radhaswami Satsang, Rohilla, Delhi (book of Anmol Vachan), Baba Jaimal Singh of Beas, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, Baba Somanath, Sant Kirpal Singh, Sant Ji (The Light of Ajaib), and Baba Ram Singh's Satsang Discourse on Kabir and Sant Dharam Das - Anurag Sagar commentary: The Saints are Instructed by The Almighty to Fetch the Troubled Souls. "The Almighty has promised the souls who have left Him and into the world of Kal, that if they are in trouble, or if they remember Him, He shall come to fetch them." (Baba Ram Singh on the liberation of souls during this Kali Yuga age)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

"A heart devoid of love or affection is as hard as stone, and does not form a suitable receptacle for the light of Heavenly Grace and Mercy... Where pure love dwells there sheds the light of Grace, as it forms a link with the Spirit or Love Current from It's Source, the Supreme Being...  Love or the power of attraction is the basis of the whole creation and the cause of its sustenance and preservation... Every wave of love rising in a lover’s heart brings tidings of goodness and joy from the Beloved, and every thought springing up in such a heart is a harbinger of good works and good services for the sake of the Beloved." (Huzur Maharaj Rai Saligram Bahadur)   "In a nut-shell, the Radhasoami Faith is a Gospel of Love. Love towards the holy feet of Radhasoami Dayal [Merciful Lord of the Soul], love towards the Guru of the time and love with all the human beings is its cardinal message." (Agam Prasad Mathur, Petals of Love)   "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 Purush]. The Radhasoami Faith [Sant Mat] therefore advocates the blending of Yoga with Bhakti [devotion]." (Agam Prasad Mathur)   Sant Mat Devotional Practices   "It should be noted that all the following activities are included in devotional practices (Abhyas)     (1) Sumiran [Simran: Repetition of the Holy Name] (2) Sumiran and Dhyan [Repetition of the Holy Name along with Contemplation of the Holy Form] (3) Bhajan [Listening to the Sound Current] (4) Recitation of holy books or listening to their recital in Satsang intelligently (5) Discussing the principles of the Radhasoami Faith or listening to such discussion (6) Thinking about and reflecting on matters pertaining to the Radhasoami Faith and its practices and pondering them; and (7) Examining the ways of one's mind and senses daily, keeping them under control as far as possible." (Huzur Maharaj, Prem Patra Radhasoami, Volume I)   Huzur Maharaj published the writings of Shiv Dayal Singh as well as his own writings. Huzur was one of the great prolific writers of the Sant Mat tradition of India. I was greatly influenced by his many volumes, especially Prem Patra Radhaswami, volumes one through six, an encyclopedia of Sant Mat teachings, Prem Bani Radhaswami (bhakti hymns and mystic poetry), volumes one through four, Prem Updesh Radhasoami, Jugat Prakash (instructions for initiates), Radhasoami Mat Darshan, Huzur's Letters to Satsangis, and Radhasoami Mat Prakash, which was the very first Sant Mat publication from India to appear in the English language, near the beginning of the 20th Century. (Radhaswami)    In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Essential Key Teachings According to the Satgurus in the Sikh Scriptures, the Guru Granth   ONE - Living Masters Having Living Disciples - The Need For The Living Satguru and For Initiation Into the Meditation Practice    "There can be no jnana (true knowledge) without meeting a Master-soul, nor meditation without a first-hand experience." (Guru Arjan Dev, Bhairon M5)   “Meet a Satguru and take his initiation. Surrender thine all and peep within.” (Guru Nanak, Gauri M1)   "Prays Nanak, But for Society of the Saints, the whole world is false." (Gopal Singh translation)   "In the Guru-given Gnosis is contained the wealth of the Lord’s Name, and the Lord’s Name, the Guru imprints in the man’s mind." (Manmohan Singh translation)   “In utter darkness, the Master’s Word (Guru-Mantra) shines forth into Light. In the company of the Master, all are rescued and saved.” (Guru Arjan Dev, Gond M5)   “The Master has given me the perfect Word or Mantra.” (Guru Arjan Dev, Bhairon M5)   TWO - Surat Shabd Yoga, in Meditation Hearing the Unstruck Melody of the Sound Current (Anhad Shabd, Naam, Nada According to the Sikh Scriptures)   Living Masters have always initiated their disciples into meditation practice (Naam Dhan), and this includes the practice of hearing the Anhad Shabd (Unstruck Celestial Melody) within one’s self during meditation practice. "The Unstruck Melody that one seeks to hear, hear it thou in the instruction of the Guru's." (Sri Rag M. 1)   "Within me rings the Unstruck Melody of the Lord’s flute, yea, He in whose presence one's mind is attuned to the Sound of the Inner Music." (Sri Rag, Kabir)   "At the (tenth) door rings the Unstruck Melody. The Lord echoes thus in every heart." (Vadhans M. 5)   THREE - Non-Violence (Ahimsa) in Thought, Word, and Deeds Including Following a Non-violent Vegetarian Diet in the Adi Granth and Other Texts   Shri Guru Nanak Dev abstained from animal food and enjoined against cruelty to animals: "Having prohibited his disciples to drink wine and eat pork, he (Nanak) himself abstained from eating flesh and ordered not to hurt any living being." (Mohsin Fani, Persian Scholar of Comparative Religion, Author of the, DABISTAN-E-MAZAHIB)   "Kabeer says, the dinner of beans and rice is excellent when flavored with salt. Who would cut throats to have meat with his bread?" (Guru Granth Sahib Ji, 1374)   "One who does not steal, commit adultery, slander anyone, gamble, eat meat or drink wine will be liberated in this very life (i.e. Jeewan Mukt)". (Guru Gobind Singh, 10th Sikh Guru, Sudharam Marag Granth)   "Living by neglect and greed, the world eats dead carcasses. Like a goblin or a beast, they kill and eat the forbidden carcasses of meat. Control your urges, or else you will be thrown into the tortures of hell." (Guru Arjan Dev, Guru Granth Sahib Ji, 723).   Bhai Gurdaas Ji said: "They eat meat by cutting throats, what will their own condition be?" (Vaar 24, Pauree 17)   “To take what rightfully belongs to another, is like a Muslim eating pork, or a Hindu eating beef. Our Guru, our Spiritual Guide, stands by us if we do not eat those carcasses. By mere talk, people do not earn Liberation. Salvation only comes from the practice of truth." (Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Guru Granth Sahib Ji, 141)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com  

"The goal is to catch and rise up on the Sound Current to our Eternal Home. The Saints have only one message to give and that they give in the manner that suits the times. Their message is: "Soul! Thou has forgotten thy Source. That Source is Sach Khand. The Sound Current within you is the way to it, and we guide you to That." (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji)    Today, the wisdom of the Great Master Hazur Baba Sawan Singh covering several major subjects central to the spiritual journey of the soul back to God: prayer to, and faith in, the Supreme Being Radhaswami (The Lord of the Soul, also spelled Radhasoami); Each Soul is a Drop from the Ocean of God, a Soul-Drop from the Ocean of Love; A Discourse on the Spheres of Kal, the Demiurge, Ruler of the Lower Planes of Time, Samsara, Impermanence and Illusion, and the Means of Salvation, of the Liberation of the Soul Through the Word, also Known as the Logos, the Shabda, The Sound Current; Why Does Sant Mat Follow Vegetarian Ethics? The Fleshless Diet of Those Whose Goal is God-Consciousness, to... in Spirit... Rise above the Flesh, to Rise Above Body-Consciousness and Make Heavenly Ascents Upwards via the Third Eye Center; The Way of the Sound Current: Our Duty to Follow the Sound Current Back to Sach Khand During Meditation Practice (Surat Shabd Yoga); Hazur Baba Sawan Singh on Our Spiritual Mission During This Life to Find the Pearl of the Soul and the Soul's Natural Habitat: Sach Khand, the Sphere of the Soul, and Ascend Back to that Heavenly Spiritual Realm Again Through The Hymn of the Pearl, The Audible Life Stream, The Holy Stream of Sound, also called The Sound Current, the True Name or Naam of God. (राधास्वामी)   Other texts quoted during today's satsang podcast include: the Gnostic Parable known as the apocryphal Hymn of the Pearl, The Hymn of the Soul, embedded in The Acts of Saint Thomas in India, the 2023 edition of the Sant Mat Glossary, Rumi, Kirpal Singh, Baba Devi Sahab of Hathras and Moradabad, and a saying of Jesus from an unknown Coptic language gospel fragment discovered in Egypt: "Now therefore have faith in the love of My Father." (RadhaSwami)    In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

A rarely discussed amazing history of vegetarianism and even veganism in the great world religions and philosophies:    Akhenaten the "Heretic" Egyptian Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, who ruled for 17 years   Hebrew Bible, First Book of Moses: Genesis   Yoga Shastra, a sutra or scripture of Jainism   Bhagavad Gita of Krishna   Srimad Bhagavatam   The Laws of Manu, a kind of "Hindu Torah" or Book of Laws   Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans   Porphyry,  a 3rd century AD Neo-Platonist philosopher   The Vegetarian Prayer of Thanksgiving in the Epilogue of Asclepius of the Corpus Hermeticum, and the same prayer again, as it also turns up in the Nag Hammadi Library of Egypt, the Gnostic Gospels   Early Church “Heresy Hunters” that used to require meat-eating on Sundays as a way to discover who the veg Gnostics were in their midst   Philo of Alexandria's description of veg meals at a Jewish Therapeutae monastic community in Alexandria perhaps related to the Essenes   The Bahai Faith: Baha’u’llah, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, and Shoghi Effendi -- prophecies of a vegan future of humanity   Vegetarianism in Islam: The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Rabia of Basra, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and the Sufis   John the Baptist, who ate locust bean (carob) flour, not locusts -- BEANS NOT BUGS   And blessed are the textual variants: the Mystery of the Missing Veg Saying of Jesus found in Luke 21: 34 of the Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe --  the Old Syriac-Aramaic manuscript of the New Testament Gospels but is no longer present in Greek manuscripts. (Peace Be Upon You)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com   Spiritual Awakening Radio (and Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts) with James Bean, heard on various community, public radio stations and the web, explores the world of spirituality, comparative religion, world scriptures and other books, East and West, God, meditation, out of body or near death experiences (inner space), the vegan diet and other ahimsa ethics -- education for a more peaceful planet.   

"O Guru Sawan, work Your alchemy on Your disciple Somanath. Touching this iron with the philosopher’s stone, transform it through and through into purest gold. Going beyond the astral and causal realms, I have become absorbed in Your holy lotus feet."   -- Hymn (Bhajan) of Baba Somanath   Hazur Baba Sawan Singhji was very pleased with Somanathji's seva and behavior and initiated him into the path of Surat Shabd Yoga in January 1928. He stayed at Beas for three and a half years, practicing Surat Shabd Yoga and achieved his cherished goal. In 1932, He sought the gracious permission of his Satguru to return to Mumbai. Sawan Singhji blessed him and commanded him to propagate the principles of Sant Mat in South India, where it was almost unknown.   When Hazur Sawan Singh instructed Baba Somanath to leave the Dera and return to South India to propagate the teaching of Sant Mat, He said: "Somanath, the body in which your soul dwells is highly suitable for spreading the teaching of Sant Mat in South India for you have both the understanding of the ways of the people of the South and with the Grace of the Masters have perfected the meditation after passing through every lower stage of the journey. Go and commence the work of Satsang."   Christopher McMahon: "I would like to mention here that it is entirely possible that there have been souls of the highest spiritual order in the Sant Mat tradition living in South India in the past, but they were simply not well-known and could even have come from a different lineage." (The Life of Baba Somanath Ji, Sant and Sage of South India)   "During the time of Swami Ji, the British were in control of the outer life of the Indian subcontinent. They avoided religious persecution and kept communal tensions at bay, and so the Sant Mat teachings could be presented in an open way, unlike in earlier times when Saints often cloaked their teachings in an esoteric language for the sake of avoiding confrontation with religious zealots of all persuasions. It is said,'Those who see God face to face shall all tell the same thing.' The differences come in only because of the means of approach in each case, the language of the time employed, the mode of expression then prevailing, and the intellectual level of the age. Again, these differences are not in essentials but only in non-essential details." (Kirpal Singh)   "O Protector of the lowly ones, most merciful Lord, Self-Existent, Bestower of Light, Somanath has contemplated upon Your lotus feet. Unceasingly, he will sing Your praises. You free all the jivas [captive souls] from the desires and afflictions of this world."    -- Hymn (Bhajan) of Baba Somanath   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Santmat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com/sant-mat   Spiritual Awakening Radio (and Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts) with James Bean, heard on various community, public radio stations and the web, explores the world of spirituality, comparative religion, world scriptures and other books, East and West, God, meditation, out of body or near death experiences (inner space), the vegan diet and other ahimsa ethics -- education for a more peaceful planet.    

The great Masters teach that the Sound of God is within everyone -- this Holy Stream of Sound is within every living thing. This is why those given to exploring Inner Space through a contemplative meditation practice, be they from the East or the West, have discovered this Reality playing within themselves. (Go Within) This Sant Mat Satsang Podcast is a spiritual gathering, a satsang without walls, dedicated to exploring this ancient school of spirituality, the Path of the Masters, Mystics, Gnostics, and Saints, today focused upon the spiritual practices of inner seeing and hearing, finding the inner Light and Sound of God present within the soul. The form of meditation making it possible to access the mystic Light and Sound is freely taught and communicated via the guidance of a competent Living One, a Living Master who is fluent in the spiritual experience of not only transcendental seeing and hearing, but also of traversing Inner Space, the Kingdom of the Heavens within, the inner regions, heavens, realms of consciousness beyond the physical-material confines that hold captive the attention of most people. The Sufi mystic and philosopher Ibn Arabi once wrote in his Bezels of Wisdom: "He [the Supreme Being] brought the Cosmos into being as constituting an Unseen Realm and a Sensory Realm, so that we might perceive the Inner though our Unseen [facility] and the Outer through our sensory aspect." We are children of both worlds. We human beings are a Tree of Life with roots in the earth and branches rising into a Mystic Sky! "The planes of heaven are about us everywhere. One has only to know this simple truth consciously, and then we will be free." (George Arnsby Jones, disciple of Kirpal Singh) As with the Gnostic Universe, the cosmos and multiverse of the Surat Shabd Yoga Tradition of Inner Light and Sound Meditation has the lowest or outermost plane being the realm of matter and dark matter, followed by progressively more subtle and luminous astral and akashic or causal regions, also a Universal Mind or Demiurgical (pronounced "Demi-urge-ah-KAL") plane. Above these lower and middle regions of mind and matter are levels of pure spirit, eternal, above time and space, and these are considered to be the True Home or Paradise of the soul, where we prodigal souls came from before the beginning and, full-circle, where we will return to again, as we awaken from the soul-slumber of the ages. "We have come from the Light and will return there again." (Gospel of Thomas and Mandaean Ginza Rabba paraphrase) As Kabir once said, "For millions of years you have slept. This morning, will you not wake?" (Peace Be To You) Today, readings from the mystic divine love poetry of Bhai Nand Lal Ji, disciple of Guru Gobind Singh, The Acts of John (New Testament apocryphal writing), the Sikh scriptures (Adi Granth, Gurbani), Naam Or Word authored by Kirpal Singh, Baba Ram Singh from a January, 2023 collection of satsang discourses on Naam: Sant Mat Meditation of the Inner Light and the Sound Current, the Sufi poets Rumi and Shah Niaz, Ajahn Sumedho on "The Sound of Silence" (from the Buddhist world), also from Anmol Vachan, a rare book of Q and A by Sant Garib Das of the Radhasoami Faith (another spiritual successor of Swamiji Maharaj), Shiv Brat Lal's Radhaswami spiritual classic Light on Ananda Yoga, Kirpal Singh's Spiritual Elixir, and... the mystic poetry of Edmond Bordeaux Szekely. (Namaste')  In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhasoami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

"Blessed are the souls who in today's materialistic world have an inclination towards spirituality." (Swami SantSevi Ji Maharaj)    Today, A Spiritual Talk (Satsang Discourse) by Swami SantSevi Ji Maharaj at Maharshi Mehi Ashram, Kuppaghat, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India   The Seven Stages of Ascension to Heaven According to Swami SantSevi Ji and a Living Spiritual Path Called Sant Mat   1. Praise or Bhakti (singing praises: banis, bhajans, kirtans, odes, psalms, hymns)   2. Prayer (Communion With God -- Conversations With God)   3. Manas Jap (Simran, "Praying Without Ceasing", Mentally Repeating/Chanting the Name or Names of God -- Mantra -- the First Stage of Meditation)   4. Manas Dhyana (Visualizing the Form of the Master * -- the Second Stage of Meditation)   5. Dristi Sadhana (Seeing Inner Light at the Third Eye Center -- the Third Stage of Meditation)   6. Nada Sadhana (Hearing the Inner Sounds -- Surat Shabd Yoga -- the Fourth Stage of Meditation)   7. Reaching Kaivalya: Oneness with Soundlessness, the Nameless One (ANAMI), the Formless Supreme Being, Supreme State, the Ocean of Love (beyond all forms, lights and sounds) -- the Fifth Stage of Meditation -- the Isht or Goal   *NOTE: Visualizing the Form of the Master: “In Kali Yuga no other spiritual activity will succeed. It is only the contemplation of the Satguru’s Form, repetition of the Name of the Supreme Being, and concentration on Shabda [Spiritual Sound] that will be successful and beneficial”. (Soamiji Maharaj)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com https://SpiritualAwakeningRadio.libsyn.com    

After expressing some thoughts about war and peace, selected readings from many masters, mystics, and spiritual classics or scriptures of the East & West    1) one of the most mystical passages from the Psalm-scroll of the Dead Sea Scrolls composed by the unknown master or right-teacher, who was the founder of the original Essene Community   2) back to eden, return to paradise: a plant-based passage from the Hebrew Book of Genesis on the vegetarian ideal at the beginning   3) readings about Kabbalah -- Jewish mysticism, and meditation in the Hebrew scriptures: "Be still and know that I am God", Psalm 46: 10   "The first century Rabbi Akiva ascended through the seven heavens and the seven palaces in the highest heaven by means of passwords uttered to the angelic gatekeepers. His meetings with God were characterized by luminosity."  (Joan Borysenko, "Seven Paths to God: The Ways of the Mystic")   4) The Five Sacred Mantra Names of the Sethians, a Jewish Gnostic sect of antiquity and their meaning   5) "I am merely a guest born in this world, to know the secrets that lie beyond it." (Rumi)   6) George Arnsby Jones, The Pilgrimage of James, An Odyssey of Inner Space   7) "No mission is of greater importance to a person than the awareness of his own consciousness, the profound significance and purpose of his existence on earth and to find out the path for ultimate bliss, eternal happiness and cheerfulness i.e. the quest for truth." (quote from the Shabd Pratap Ashram website)   8) "Be regular and lovingly devoted to your holy meditations, as that is the central pivot around which the whole sacred teaching revolves and therein an all around development of the soul is granted." (Kirpal Singh)   9) a reading from, Radhasoami Mat Updesh, by Huzur Maharaj Rai Saligram Bahadur   10) A Spiritual Seekers Guide, Dayal Sahab, Dayalpuri Radhasoami publication   11) The Saakhi Granth of Kabir, "1008 Kabir Vani" and another passage of Guru Kabir; also, "The Anurag Sagar"/Ocean of Love of the Sant Dharam Das/Kabir Panth   12) Huzur Baba Sawan Singh's parable of, A Man Trapped in a Well Arguing with the Person Above (the Master) Holding a Rope   13) readings from the Surangama Sutra, a Buddhist scripture: "I will appear as a Buddha to teach them the Dharma to liberate them..." and   14) about being rescued by the Light, a passage from, The Book of Faith-Wisdom -- Pistis Sophia, a Gnostic Gospel from Egypt   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Return to the Source, The Path of the Masters, Julian P. Johnson: "The message of the Masters fills the world with hope, and at the same time it offers a rational foundation for such hope. It not only tells people what they should do, but it offers them a definite method of doing it... (Johnson)   "In the march of the ages, cycle after cycle, in every planet where human beings reside, the great Masters are the Light-bearers of that world. Until the end of the ages, they will remain the friends and saviors of those who struggle toward the Light... (Johnson)   "The world has never been without a living Master. Beneath all other impelling forces in the creation, spirituality is the primary cause. That, and that alone, is the driving force that always leaps up to join its source. In every living being, from tiny plant up to man, the spiritual flame of life is struggling upward and onward toward its source of being, and this process and this struggle must go on until the last speck of dust returns to the central fires of Infinite Being... (Johnson)   "...The Divine Spark in each one, always struggling for freedom, striving hard against adverse currents, reaches out a feeble hand toward the Master. In great kindness the Master takes that hand, unclean though it may be. After that, it may require years of patient hard work to build up the character, to strengthen the will and throw off the evil passions." (Johnson)   "The Audible Life Stream is the cardinal, central fact in the science of the Masters. It is the keystone of the arch. It is the cornerstone of the structure. It is the structure itself. And it IS the Path of the Masters. One might say that the Master and the Life Stream constitute the Path of the Masters... (Johnson)    Authored by Julian Johnson in the 1930's, Path of the Masters became a spiritual classic of Sant Mat and remains popular to this day. It's a kind of "theosophical" presentation of Sant Mat and Radhasoami, if you will, and has been a very influential book. Over the decades many have been introduced to this living mystic and gnostic path as a result of encountering Johnson's amazing book, The Path of the Masters. (RADHASOAMI)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Before the main segment, The Opposite of "Not One Of Us" is "We Are All One”, I begin the program by sharing spiritual readings covering various topics from several sources: The Hidden Words of Baha'u'llah; a Saying of Jesus from, The Book of the Gnosis of the Invisible God, An Unrecognized Dialogues Gospel Embedded in the Bruce Codex Placed at the Beginning of the First Book of IEOU; also, readings from: The Ghat Ramayan of Sant Tulsi Sahib; Sar Bachan Radhasoami Prose of Soami Ji Maharaj; 1008 Kabir Vani (Saakhis of Guru Kabir); Baba Ram Singh on meditation practice; Saint Isaac of Nineveh; and mystic poetry * of Sant Charandas. (* Bhajans, Hymns)   One of the most mysterious passages recorded in the New Testament is: "'Teacher', said John, 'we saw a man driving out demons in your Name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us *.' "'Do not stop him,' Jesus said. 'No one who does a miracle in my Name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.'" (Mark 9: 38+39) One may wonder who this mystery person was and what unknown sect or faction of the Jesus Movement he belonged to, since the disciples had apparently never encountered him before. (* The Not-One-Of-Us Treatment.)   The main segment is titled: The Opposite of "Not One Of Us" is "We Are All One”, an essay documenting how Sant Mat historically has never been limited to only "one" living master (Sant Satguru) at a time but there have always been multiple lineages of masters alive in the world contemporary with one another. As Hazur Baba Sawan Singh once said: "It is not necessary that there should be only one * Master in the whole world or even in a single country. There have been different Masters in different countries at the same time, and even in the same country. Thus Guru Nanak and Kabir were contemporaries, and so also Dadu and Guru Arjan. But their teaching is the same at all times and in every country." (* The Path is One.)    In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami   James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com        

One thing that might be rather surprising to most people that can be learned by doing a study of the gospels, acts and other literature of the Hebrew Christians -- the Ebionites -- the Christianity that Existed Before Paul -- is that, rather than some imagined Sunday school notion of a fish market in the village of Galilee being operated by the disciples of Jesus, there is significant evidence that the Original Jesus Movement and well-known apostles became vegetarians. And furthermore, this vegetarianism of the disciples and Jesus Movement is fairly widely known and mentioned by the early church fathers. It's not that this information is coming from recently discovered writings dug up in the Middle East. Rather, these are old texts that have been with us since the early days of Christianity but didn't seem all that meaningful and significant to a pro-meat carnistic population. Vegetarians however would indeed be most interested finding this out! (Peace be to you)    "Jacobus [James], the brother of Jesus, lived of seeds and vegetables and did not accept meat or wine." (Saint Augustine)   "The consumption of animal flesh was unknown up until the great flood. But since the great flood, we have had animal flesh stuffed into our mouths. Jesus, the Christ, who appeared when the time was fulfilled, again joined the end to the beginning, so that we are now no longer allowed to eat animal flesh." (pro-vegetarian early church father Hieronymus [St. Jerome] who apparently read the Gospel of the Hebrews and was influenced by Ebionite views)   "Sacrifices were invented by men to be a pretext for eating flesh." (Clement of Alexandria)   "The steam of meat meals darkens the spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts. In the earthly paradise [Eden], no one sacrificed animals, and no one ate meat." (Saint Basil the Great)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami   James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

What a delight it is this week to be sharing with everyone in our satsang community and gathering of spiritual seekers readings about Baba Ram Singh's spiritual search when he was young, his prayers to the Hidden Power, a wonderful name for the Supreme Being, and how he found the Radhasoami Satsang presided over by Baba Somanath, making use of, In the Lap of the Supreme Father, The Biography of Sant Baba Ram Singh. By the way, Hidden Power is a very Gnostic type term for the Supreme Being so I also share from the Nag Hammadi Library of Egypt, and from another ancient Gnostic library further to the East, the Ginza Rabba (Great Treasure) of the Mandaean Nasoraeans, with references to God as the Hidden Great Power, and about the role of the Living One, the Living Master, as being a co-worker of the Divine Plan in the lower planes and material realm to guide souls back to their True Spiritual Home Above, sharing the secrets of spiritual practice and Divine Names with those souls seeking true spiritual freedom. Also today, mystic bhajans and prayers of Baba Somanath, wisdom and guidance from the Radhasoami publications: A Spiritual Seekers Guide, Anmol Vachan of Sant Garib Das, Sar Bachan Radhasoami Prose on the Teachings of Soami Ji Maharaj, Prem Patra Radhasoami and Prem Bani Radhasoami of Hazur Maharaj Rai Saligram Bahadur, as well as excerpts from a January 6th, 2023 Meditation Talk by Baba Ram Singh Ji titled, When We Sit For Meditation In The Frame Of Mind Of Love And Affection, Then It Helps Us To Sit, on how love, devotion or bhakti helps develop high-quality concentration during meditation and is the proper approach to successful Inner Light and Sound Meditation Practice (Surat Shabd Yoga). Being a Lover of the Beloved as well as spending enough time in meditation, according to the Masters (Sant Satgurus), are absolutely essential for getting to have inner experiences and truly exploring the Inner Regions (Inner Space, the Kingdom of the Heavens Within You).  (Namaste', Jai Guru, HU, Satya Raam, Sat Naam Sahib, Radhaswami)    In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

"One thing which Chachaji did and which will be always remembered was that one day, heaven knows what brainwave he had, he tied up into a bundle many letters of Soamiji Maharaj in His own handwriting, His other papers, as well as many articles of His use, and dropped the bundle into the well at Soami Bagh sanctified by Soamiji Maharaj. He then went to Lala Tote Ram and told him what he had done. Hearing him, Lala Tota Ram gave out a shriek and said, 'O Chachaji Saheb, what have you done?' Chachaji Saheb replied, 'Brother, I know the value of these things. There is no knowing in whose hands these precious things will fall and whether they will be preserved with due care. That is why I thought that I should rather drop them in the well sanctified by Soamiji Maharaj Himself '." (Bhaktmal of the Radhasoami Faith, by S.D. Maheshwari, pages 25 and 26 -- NOTE: "Bhaktmal" means: biographical accounts of Bhaktas or devotees)   Today represents two programs in one. The first part pertains to some Radhasoami history. I explore the mystery of Soami Ji's well, the LOST letters and other documents... what some of them might have been, and the politics behind the destruction of those sacred writings. The second part is a satsang consisting of spiritual readings from the surviving letters of Soami Ji Maharaj, which are very wonderful, spiritually uplifting, containing much authentic wisdom for spiritual seekers and devotees on the Path. (Namaste')   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Today we explore: The Goal of Sant Mat Spirituality and Meditation: Our Path Back to the Source; The Six Stages of Inner Sound Meditation; The Traveler of the Inner Subtle Path; The Five Precepts or Moral Requirements for Initiation Cultivating Stillness and a Spiritual Way of Life; Also a Word About Vegetarianism, Veganism, and Sant Mat.   "Blessed are the souls who in today's materialistic world have an inclination towards spirituality." (Swami Santsevi Ji Maharaj)   "Sant Mat is not the Path of information; this is the Path of Transformation." (Swami Santsevi Ji Maharaj)   "We are children of both worlds. We human beings are a Tree of Life with roots in the earth and branches rising into a mystic sky. Meditation is the portal to the realm within and allows us to know ourselves, our original nature." (Agochar)   "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)   "In meditation, the true condition of the soul is exposed, and God can reveal our failings in order to heal and bless us... If we spend more time in meditation, we can recognize the relationship between the visible and invisible world ever more distinctly and clearly." (Wisdom of the Sadhu, The Teachings of Sundar Singh)   "Saints come into this world and They enlighten us. They remind us of our True Home of God Almighty -- our True Father. They encourage us to go back. And They motivate us to go back. So, we are indeed fortunate to get this human body and get this life. And it is with the Grace of God Almighty that we have the company of the Masters. Now, we should make the most of that and follow the Teachings of the Masters and make the efforts to go back to our True Home... It is, therefore, incumbent on a disciple, once he has been initiated, to prioritize his meditation. He should always keep that to the forefront and do his meditation first, and then all of the other activities should follow that... Morning time is ideal for meditation. But anytime is good if we are sitting for meditation." (Baba Ram Singh)    In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

This Path of the Masters Has Been Created By God Almighty. It Has Not Been Created By Any Mahatma or Saint or Sect.   "When our soul came from God Almighty into this world, it came via the Sound Current and, at each plane, it came by the connecting Sound Current into this world. And when the soul has to go back to God Almighty, it will also ascend on this same Sound Current and, plane by plane, it will go back to God Almighty. This Path has been created by God Almighty. It has not been created by any Mahatma or Saint. And God has set this Path for the soul to come into this world and also to go back to God Almighty." (Baba Ram Singh)   "According to Sant Mat, having crossed these realms or levels, we achieve the final goal called Mukti (i.e. salvation). To attain liberation/salvation, Sant Mat does not follow numerous complicated practices, but two essential methods:   1) Drishti Marg (i.e. the Path of Inner Light/Vision) and,   2) Shabd Marg (i.e. the Way of Inner Sound/Transcendental Hearing).   "Unlike other worship methods popular in religions and sects with different names, these two methods are not man-made. God himself is the founder and operator of these methods. Since the beginning God has kept these two methods inside human beings with full qualifications. The way of redemption of jivas (i.e. bounded souls) is available within all human beings." (Baba Devi Sahab of Moradabad)   Today, readings from Sant Brahmananda of Rajasthan, Baba Devi Sahab of Moradabad, from the Satsang Discourses of Baba Ram Singh, Kabir, Swami Ji Maharaj, Baal Shem Tov (Jewish Mystic), The Gospel of Thomas, Martin Buber, Moses Luzzatto (Kabbalah), Adi Granth (Sikh Scriptures), Mystic Poetry of Sant Janardan Swami of Maharashtra and the Padavali of Maharshi Mehi Paramhans.   Baba Ram Singh: "God Almighty sends these Saints for the salvation of the souls who He had sent into this world and to whom He had said, 'Whenever you call out to Me, I will come to fetch you.'"   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Unaffected by the West, in rural India spiritual paths such as traditional Sant Mat continue to preserve and communicate the wisdom of the Masters about living a spiritual way of life. At the heart of their spirituality is the meditation practice known as Inner Light and Sound Meditation (Surat Shabd Yoga). There are references to this form of meditation dating back to the time of the Upanishads and other ancient scriptures, also more recently with the various Sant movements populated by bhakti poet-mystics and spiritual masters such as Sant Namdev, Guru Kabir, Guru Nanak, Sant Ravidas, Sant Dharam Das, Sant Tukaram, Sant Dadu Dayal, Sant Dariya Sahib of Bihar, Goswami Tulsi Das, Sant Tulsi Sahib, Sant Radhaswani Sahib up to the living present. Today we explore the teachings of Santji, Baba Devi Sahab, and Maharshi Mehi Paramhans about successful meditation practice and the journey of the soul back to God.  In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com  

The Importance of Spiritual Gems, Letters from Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji: Here we have letters from a successor of a successor of Sant Radhasoami (Radhaswami) Sahib, looking to the West and communicating with some of the very first initiates (satsangis) in the US and Canada. Spiritual Gems: "The Great Master wrote these letters in response to the questions and queries of his American and European disciples and seekers, so nearly all the questions and doubts that crop up in the minds of seekers after Truth and Reality have been amply dealt with in this volume, which makes it extremely valuable."   "I assure you that I do not mean to neglect any of our American Satsangis. I think I answered your last letter. It may have gone astray. But in any case, you should write to me every few months and give full account of your progress and ask any questions you may wish to ask. I shall be glad to hear of your inner progress on the Path. No doubt you are making some headway and I am anxious to see you go inside, truly, and find the Great Light and Joy which awaits you there." (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh)   "We are expecting much from America. The average person in America is much nearer to this Teaching than in any portion of Europe. The day will come when your people will turn to Sant Mat... Some day the Great Work there will assume much larger proportions. You may look confidently for it, in your own time. Be ready for it." (Hazur Baba Sawan Singh)   Other Key Points Made   Sant Mat in America is not a path only for the affluent that can afford to frequently travel long distances. Avenues for learning, satsang, and pathways for initiation for those who qualify must always be available. Nobody left behind.   The language barrier issue: There must always be new satsang material being translated and published in English.    There are not two Sant Mat paths: a Sant Mat "lite" for new age Americans or westerners, and the traditional full Sant Mat for Indians, but the complete Sant Mat for all.   This includes adhering to the vegetarian diet: "I never gave permission to anyone to eat meat in my life. A mother does not administer poison to her own children. In R.S. Faith animal food cannot be allowed under any conditions. It hardens the heart, and makes the soul dull and heavy." (Spiritual Gems, Sawan Singh)   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts Sant Mat Radhasoami A Satsang Without Walls https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com    

Spiritual seekers are faced with many possible choices and detours along the way. If the genuine seeker finds spiritual sustenance in the luminous wisdom of the saints and mystics, they will reach the first level of satsang (association with eternal truth) and make serious spiritual progress during this life. With such a developing reverence for the higher wisdom of great souls of the ages, one may eventually encounter a living mystic path in the world of today, discover a living gnosis now, a school of spirituality lead by a living one, a living master (Sant Satguru). Today's satsang podcast features reflections about what is playing out in the vast world of spiritual paths and world religions based on the spiritual classic known as the Anurag Sagar (Ocean of Love), how the various planes of creation, states of consciousness and temperaments are all being represented by avatars and archons affiliated with a multitude of paths and practices in the marketplace of ideas, seeking to draw souls to material, astral, causal, or mental regions. Countless are the idols made of wood and stone. Countless are the ceremonies, holidays, and rituals. Countless, the doctrines, the prophecies, sectarian politics and struggles, tethering souls to realms of mind and matter, but what of you, the soul, and the God that is All-Spirit residing beyond these worlds of form and time?   Says Rumi, "Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth."   "Who speaks, after seeing with their own eyes, and teach the method of salvation during life, They are of the stage and stature of Saints, for they reveal the quintessence of the soul." (Sant Tulsi Sahib of Hathras)   "Seeing that Kal is deluding all the jivas and entangling them in this world and seeing the jivas suffer in this world of Kal, God Almighty sends the Saints into this world to enlighten and awaken the jivas and bring them Home." (Baba Ram Singh)    "Seek to behold the Living One while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him and be unable to do so." (Gospel of Thomas, saying 59)   "Whoever joins the Immortal becomes Immortal. Whoever delights in the Living One becomes Living." (Odes of Solomon, ode 3)   Today there are readings from: the Gospel of Thomas (both Greek and Coptic manuscripts), the Odes of Solomon, Kabir (1008 Vani, the Ethical Teachings of Kabir), Soamiji Maharaj (Sar Bachan Radhasoami Poetry), Maharshi Mehi Paramhans (the Padavali), Baba Somanath (a bhajan, mystic poem/hymn), and a satsang discourse by Baba Ram Singh (excerpted from. Seeing The Jivas And Entangled And Suffering In This World Of Kal, God Almighty Sends The Saints To Awaken The Jivas And Bring Them Home, shared during the afternoon of January 20th, 2023).    Says Kabir: "Love is like a deep ocean. Only that lover of God who will dive into it fearlessly shall be able to get the pearl of ultimate happiness. And one who will not be able to muster up enough courage to dive into it, shall remain sitting at the beach. He will remain without love in this world or the next. How will he get the pearls of ultimate happiness then?"   In Divine Love (Bhakti), Light, and Sound, At the Feet of the Masters, Radhaswami, James Bean Spiritual Awakening Radio Podcasts Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts A Satsang Without Walls Sant Mat Radhasoami https://www.SpiritualAwakeningRadio.com