Hinduism: Details about 'Radha Soami'
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Radha Soami (also Radhasoami Satsang or Radhaswami) is a faith that has followers among both Hindus and Sikhs. It was founded in 1861 by Shiv Dayal Singh who preached that human beings could reach God realization only through listening to the shabad / shabd (sound), or nam (name), of the Lord. Following the passing away of the founder in 1878, a number of splits of the movement occurred, apparently because Soami Ji Maharaj (the name given to Dayal Singh by his followers) did not name a successor. The three branches are:
There are competing explanations for the meaning of "Radha Soami", the most common of these including plays on the words Radha (a devotee of Krishna) and Swami. Others explain that it is a Dhunyatmak name, that is, an approximate reproduction in human speech of the cosmic sound, which can be heard internally through spiritual practice. (Aum, or Om, is a commonly known example of a Dhunyatmak name.) One way to explain Dhunyatmak Nam (a Dhunyatmak name) is to liken it to onomatopoeia, that commonly used poetic device, where engines are said to whirr, doors are slammed, bells ring and pagers beep. Except that, in this case, the sound one is trying to convey is not physical, but spiritual. See also
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