This book was written by Daryai Lal Kapur, and it is an account of the teachings of Sant Mat, or Surat Shabd Yoga, as presented by Maharaj Sawan Singh (1858-1948), who was known as ‘the Great Master’ by his disciples, and who consolidated the teachings in a line of Masters founded by Shiv Dayal Singh (Soami Ji) in 1861 in Agra, India, also known as the Radha Soami tradition, which continues to this day. The book is in the form of answers to questions posed by visitors to the Radha Soami headquarters in Beas, in the Indian state of the Punjab. Some of these were European Christian teachers at a nearby college, and the responses frequently refer to aspects of the Christian Bible, as well as discussion on how Surat Shabd Yoga differs from the six schools of Indian philosophy and spiritual practice. (Please consult https://www.bookfinder.com/ or https://scienceofthesoul.org/books-english.html for availability of this title).
One chapter is entitled Miracles, and gives a clear account of why a true spiritual Master will pay little attention to any of those supposed demonstrations of mental powers that can effect a change in this physical world, and if there are any exceptions, he will keep quiet about them. Now, the writer was present at the discussions between Sawan Singh Ji and visiting enquirers, and always keeps a low profile in his account, but he starts this chapter by explaining that the Master delegated to him the task of explaining how miracles are approached in the true Sant Mat tradition. The author says he was : “overwhelmed with a sense of my incompetence to deal with the subject” but did not protest after receiving a piercing glance … “oh, that glance! It was not a glance; it was a flash of light that, passing through my eyes, entered my brain.”
The fundamental position is as follows: “Saints never perform miracles for public exhibition. Sometimes these things just happen, but in every case it is kept a secret.” There are two contrasting examples given in this chapter that I would like to discuss. The first one is a story about how a Master reacted when his son performed a miracle. This is a very well-documented story from the Sikh tradition, and concerns Baba Atal Rai, known as Tal, the son of Guru Har Govind, the 6th Guru in the line of Masters founded by Guru Nanak. Tal was precocious in the sense of already being noted for insight, wisdom and saintliness beyond his tender age.
Tal was only nine years old, when his friend Mohan died from a snake bite. Tal went to his friend’s house and found the deceased boy’s family deeply distressed by the death of the child. He claimed that Mohan was just feigning death as he did not want to lose at a game the two boys were playing from day to day. He circled the body, prayed, and called on Mohan: “Why do you sleep so soundly?” Mohan stirred, and got up. The revival of the boy, a reversal of death, was reported to his father, the Guru, who sent for Tal and said: “My son, you have not done well. Now, either you must leave this world, or I shall have to go.” The boy perfectly understood the implication of his action, and the following day performed ritual prayers and ablutions, went into meditation, and left his body.
The narrator of this book now gives another example, just to make us wonder. The Great Master, that is Sawan Singh Ji, was travelling on horseback from Sikanderpur to Sirsa, with a small group of devotees walking on foot. A Muslim disciple of the Master called Mian Shadi was bitten by a viper. There are various poisonous snakes in that area and the Russell’s Viper is one of the most potent, a bite being fatal unless an antidote is given. Shadi changed colour and could not walk, but he implored his companions not to bother the Master with his stricken condition, even though this was their natural reaction. He fell down senseless. However, the Master looked back and returned to the group. They tried to put Shadi on the horse, but he could not support himself. The Master stated that the leaves of a Neem tree had healing properties, but in this open space there were no trees. Finally, the Master asked for a branch from a shrub to be brought saying: “I have heard that passes of a green branch like this remove the poison.” The author then comments: “But we all knew what was removing the poison.” After ten minutes the stricken man revived, but still complained that he did not deserve to live, though the initiative had been taken by the Master alone.
Neither of these examples will impress a rationalist, who would state: “You see, these examples are contradictory. The whole business in incoherent!” You can imagine how easy it is to construct a sceptical position in both cases. In the first case, apart from the doubt that such a resurrection is ever possible, there would be outrage that a father could say to the child, repeating a religious belief, in this case the inviolability of the law of karma: “Either you or I shall have to die.” The implication is that the child is able to accept the unlawfulness of harnessing spiritual energy for a mundane resurrection, and a payment in balance is due, and that it should be the child who pays, as the father is in the middle of his spiritual mission as the 6th Guru, with a huge community dependent on his leadership, in temporal and spiritual matters.
The other example is also poignant, since the devotee begs the others to do nothing to inform the Master. Persisting in this attitude, on revival he is disappointed, believing himself to be unworthy of life, showing an immense detachment from this earthly sphere. It is clear that he thinks he deserves to die. Nevertheless, in this case, the intervention was judged permissible, in terms of the law of karma. We know nothing about the karmic debts from former lives of Tal’s friend Mohan, except that according to this belief, the snake bite was a necessary event in karmic balance. But in the case of Mian Shadi, despite his self-deprecating lamentation, he was an initiate, therefore his fate karma is now under the administration of the Master, who judges that his development is best served through continuation of life in the physical sphere. The contradiction can be resolved.
The theme of ‘a miracle is a changed consciousness’ is also embraced in this chapter, with a notable example, that I will leave to the reader’s curiosity to discover. Perhaps all of us can think of some event that changed the course of our lives for the better, that event most powerfully being a change of attitude or a realisation. That is the real miracle.