Origin from 1861
Radha Soami, also called Radha Soami Mat or Sant Mat, is a guru-lineage spiritual order founded by Shiv Dayal Singh, honorifically titled Soami Ji Maharaj, who was born on 25 August 1818 in Agra, India and founded the order there in January 1861, on Basant Panchami Day. With an estimated three million followers today, based mainly around Agra, Uttar Pradesh and Beas, Punjab, the order holds that a living guru is essential to spiritual guidance, practices Surat Shabd Yoga, a meditation on inner light and sound, does not install scripture in its sanctums but has its gurus teach followers directly, rejects caste distinctions, and has attracted followers from Dalit communities; it has fragmented into numerous branches and lineages since its founder's death in 1878.
Facts
Belief
Defining Doctrinal PositionSant Mat Formless Devotion 2 Classification
ApostolateContemplative or Monastic Prayer 2 ApostolateSpiritual Direction and Dhikr 1 Practice
Liturgical LanguageGurmukhi script and Sant Bhasha, the shared literary language in which Sikh scripture is composed 2 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Origins
Origin Period Organisation
OrdinationAuthority conferred by initiation rather than by ordination 2 Connections
Rooted In
Uses Liturgical Language
Entity-backed identity for the language enum value this record already carries, resolved to the live divinity language entity that value names, per the phase 3 entity-backed browse bucket conversion (docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md, owner decisions 2026-09-28, w-bucketconv-divlang2-0929, mapping corrected). The language fact itself, with its own citation, stays on the record unchanged; this relationship only adds the durable entity identity the value already names.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Radha Soami
Wikipediapage categories
Category:1861 establishments in British India
Introduction, apostolate
Rādhā Soāmī Mat or Sant Mat is a spiritual tradition or faith founded by spiritual master Shiv Dayal Singh Ji Maharaj in January 1861 on Basant Panchami Day in Agra, India.
View the Source 2. Islamic Mysticism: A Short History
Alexander Knysh, Brill
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
Choose a year to see this entry's facts and connections as the atlas records them at that moment: what it held then, what it held instead, and what it had not yet adopted. Choose Present for the current record.