Teachings

An Introduction To
Baba Ram Singh Ji Maharaj
And the Tradition of Sant Mat and God Realization

SANT MAT, or SURAT SHABD YOGA, has at its core the ideal of the soul’s immersion into the Shabd of God Almighty. This Shabd is also known as Sound Current or Audible Life Stream, and It flows directly from God Almighty, creating and sustaining the entire expanse of Creation. It is by traversing this flowing stream of Shabd, with the Guidance, Grace, and Protection of a Living Master, that the soul can return to its origin and, while living in this world, complete its journey and reach the ultimate goal of complete self-awareness and finally understand its true relation to its Creator. It provides the pathway to answering maybe the two biggest questions. Who are we? Why are we here?

With the Guidance and Grace of a Living Master, this Shabd can be experienced within in the form of Inner Light and Inner Sound. References to this Shabd can be found in the esoteric teachings of all the world’s major religions and were, indeed, taught to those who were blessed to be present when the original Teachers were initiating Their disciples into Its manifold secrets. This Shabd is known as Word or Logos to the Christian faithful, Ruach in Judaism, Sultan-ul-Azkar or Bang-i-Asmani in Islam, Akash Bani or Nad in Hinduism, Intrinsic or Transcendental Hearing in Buddhism, Sraosha in Zoroastrianism, Saut-i-Sarmadi or Kalma in Sufism, and Naam, Dhunatmak, or Anahad Bani, as well as Shabd, in Sikhism*.

* Singh, Kirpal (1974). Naam or Word. Tilton, NH: The Sant Bani Press. Excerpts from pp. 39-83

A Living Master is One Who has manifested this Shabd within His Being to the extent that He can, at will, consciously travel the entire Path, from the physical plane to the True Abode of God Almighty, Sach Khand (The True Realm), a place of indescribable Love, Light and Blissful Intoxication in God’s Presence. Reconnecting souls with the full awareness of God Almighty is a Living Master’s sole purpose and destiny, and He gives this service freely to dedicated aspirants. He has no other worldly desires or motives. Through spiritual discourses (Satsangs) He inspires the faithful attendees (sangat) to sit in remembrance of the Masters and God Almighty. His personal guidance inspires the sangat to reawaken and focus on the benefits of devotion and surrender to the Master’s loving guidance and obtain the real objective of human birth, to return to the True Home and Abode of Eternal Peace by bringing into active practice the teachings of Sant Mat. It is through the meditation practices of Simran, Dhyan and Bhajan that the process of reawakening the soul’s, heretofore, dormant faculties of Inner Seeing and Inner Hearing can begin and the higher inner experiences can manifest. With the additional blessings of the Master’s Darshan and Prashad, and living an ethical life of nonviolence and charitable giving, the entire Path back to God Almighty becomes completely accessible in this very lifetime.

SANT RAM SINGH JI MAHARAJ, or ‘Babaji’ as He is known to His followers, currently earns His living farming at His ashram in southern India. After many years of dedicated meditation and devotion, initially, with guidance from His Master, Baba Somnath Ji Maharaj and, later, with guidance from another Living Master in the form of Sant Ajaib Singh Ji Maharaj, He achieved perfection in the practice of Surat Shabd. He was, subsequently, instructed by these two Great Masters, from within and outwardly, to give Satsangs and initiate devoted souls, those committed to a lactovegetarian diet and abstinence from all intoxicants, into the practice of Shabd through connection to the Light and Sound Principles of Surat Shabd Yoga.

His spiritual commitment continues now throughout India each year, including two programs with English translations to devotees from around the world at Channasandra Ashram in southern India.

Excerpts from various talks given by Babaji about Sant Mat:

“Sant Mat is a Path of love and a Path of affection. This is the Path created by God Almighty Himself. It is not a path created by any Mahatma. It has always been the Path and it has existed from the time that the human form first took shape. It is the Path through which, plane-by-plane, the soul has descended from God Almighty by way of the Sound Current and has now come into this current human form. And when it goes back also, it will go plane-by-plane, through the Sound Current. The Path has been there, latent, uniquely within the human form, at all times. It is on this Path that the Saints have gone back to God Almighty with the Grace of Their Masters. And it is on this same Path that we will go with the Grace of our Masters.

So, Saints have adopted a very straightforward and very simple process. It is for all the people who are, otherwise, engaged in worldly pursuits. And, from the age of six to ninety or above, anybody can do this.”