RELIGION/ASIAN STUDIES
RELIGION/ASIAN STUDIES
With a new preface by the author
A TRANSNATIONAL CULTURE 207
The teachings of the Divine Light Mission, led by the boy guru Maharaj-ji, are essentially those of Radhasoami as well,20 and other spiritual leaders of the time were also influenced by Radhasoami teachings.
The groundswell of Western interest in Asian religion began to subside in the 1980s, and so did the expansion of Radhasoami membership in Western countries, with the exception of those branches associated with Kirpal Singh. The slack in overseas membership in the Beas branch was soon taken up, however, by a new group of Westerners: members of Indian immigrant families that had settled in the United States, England, and elsewhere abroad. There have been Indian immigrants in the West for most of this century, and some of them, like Kehr Singh Sasmas, the man who brought the Brocks to the faith in 1910, and Bhagat Singh Thind, a teacher of spirituality in Southern California who published twenty books on Radhasoami-related themes in the 1950's were longtime admirers of Radhasoami thought. The great wave of Indian immigration to
20 For a summary of Maharaj-ji's teachings, see Jeanne Messer, "Guru Maharaj Ji and the Divine Light Mission," in Robert Bellah and Charles Glock, eds., The New Religious Consciousness (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976), pp. 54-55.
See also the short introduction to Sant Mat
Prem Rawat's "Knowledge" has three parts: regularly listening to his speeches, doing voluntary work for organisations serving him or donating money and daily meditation correctly practicing the four techniques he recommends. The techniques are so simple it's hard to see how they could be practiced incorrectly. First technique ("Divine Light") involves sticking your thumb and middle finger on your eyeballs (NB: with eyes closed) and your index finger between your eyebrows. Second technique: ("Heavenly Music") poking your thumbs into your ears and listening. Third technique: ("Holy Name") thinking about your breathing (NB: continue to breathe). Fourth technique: ("Nectar") curling your tongue backwards and tasting. Rawat's father taught slightly different techniques but either way it's difficult to see how these could produce the benefits claimed for them especially as Rawat claims His Knowledge is the only method of attaining real happiness and love in this life.