Sant Mat

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the medieval Sant Mat origins in the 13th century. For comparatively recent Sant Mat movements, see Contemporary Sant Mat movements.

Sant Mat was a spiritual movement on the

Muslims.[1][2] Sant Mat is not to be confused with the 19th-century Radha Soami, also known as contemporary "Sant Mat movement".[3]

The lineage of

Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, who expressed themselves mainly in vernacular Hindi; and a southern group, whose language is Marathi, represented by Namdev and other sants of Maharashtra.[1]

Etymology

The expression Sant Mat literally means "Teachings of the Saints" – the "Path of Sants (Saints)", "Path of Truth", "Right or Positive Path". As "point of view of the Sants", the term Sant is pivotal. Derived from the

sat (सत) and has overlapping usages (true, real, honest, right). Its root meaning is "one who knows(is) the truth" or "one who has experienced (merged into) Ultimate Reality." The term sant has taken on the general meaning of "a good person" but is properly assigned to the poet-sants of medieval India.[4][page needed
]

The Sants

The Sant Mat movement was

heterogeneous, and consisted mostly of the sants own socio-religious attitudes, which were based on bhakti (devotion) as described in the Bhagavad Gita.[5] Sharing as few conventions with each other as with the followers of the traditions they challenged, the sants appear more as a diverse collection of spiritual personalities than a specific religious tradition, although they acknowledged a common spiritual root.[6]

The poet-sants expressed their teaching in vernacular verse, addressing themselves to the common folk in oral style in Hindi and other dialects and other languages such as Marathi, Gujarati and Punjabi. They referred to the "Divine Name" as having saving power, and dismissed the religious rituals as having no value. They presented the idea that true religion was a matter of surrendering to God "who dwells in the heart".[5]

The first generation of north Indian sants, (which included

Vaishnava ascetic who initiated Kabir, Ravidas, and other sants. Ramanand's story is told differently by his lineage of "Ramanandi" monks, by other sants preceding him, and later by the Sikhs. Sant Mat practitioners accept that Ramananda's students formed the first generation of sants.[7]

Sants developed a culture of concern for marginalized in the society. Some of the more notable sants include Namdev (d. 1350),

Mira Bai (d. 1545), Surdas (d. 1573), Dadu Dayal (d. 1603), Tulsidas (d. 1623), and Tukaram
(d. 1650).

The tradition of the sants (sant

Radhasoami.[8]

Only a small minority of religious Hindus have formally followed Sant Mat, but the tradition has considerably influenced Hindus across sects and castes.

Bhajans (devotional songs) attributed to past sants such as Mira Bai are widely listened to in India and in Hindu communities around the world. The sant tradition is the only one in medieval and modern India that has successfully crossed some barriers between Hindu and Muslim faiths. Julius J. Lipner asserts that the lives of many Hindus have been leavened by the religious teachings of the sants, which he describes as liberating.[5]

The Sant Mat tradition teaches the necessity of a living human master, who is referred to with honorific titles such as satguru, or perfect master.[9]

Similar movements

Classical

Sindhi poets, are considered to have many similarities with the poet-sants of Sant Mat.[11]

The

Radhasoami Satsang Beas, situated on the banks of the river Beas, whose current Living Master is Baba Gurinder Singh. According to Mark Juergensmeyer, that claim is also made by the Kabir-panthis, the Satpanthis, the Sikhs and other movements that continue to find the insights from the Sant tradition valid today.[12]

Prem Rawat and the Divine Light Mission (Elan Vital) are considered to be part of the Sant Mat tradition by J. Gordon Melton, Lucy DuPertuis, and Vishal Mangalwadi, but that characterization is disputed by Ron Geaves.[13][14][15][16] The 20th century religious movement Eckankar is also considered by David C. Lane to be an offshoot of the Sant Mat tradition.[17] James R. Lewis refers to these movements as "expressions of an older faith in a new context".[18]

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 0-415-21784-9
    .
  2. ISBN 978-0-8160-5458-9. Archived
    from the original on 2016-12-20.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8160-5458-9. Archived
    from the original on 2016-12-20.
  4. ISBN 0-9612208-0-5
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-415-05181-9
  6. ISBN 0-9612208-0-5
  7. ISBN 0-8147-3650-5
  8. ISBN 0-9612208-0-5
  9. ISBN 0-914829-42-4
    .
  10. ^ For Sant Mat's affinities with Classic Gnosticism, see: Davidson, John, 1995, The Gospel of Jesus. Davidson, The Robe of Glory. Diem, Andrea Grace, The Gnostic Mystery. Tessler, Neil, Sophia’s Passion, on-line.
  11. ISBN 0-520-22821-9
  12. ISBN 0-9612208-0-5
  13. ^ Melton, J. Gordon, Encyclopedia of American Religions
  14. ^ DuPertuis, Lucy. "How People Recognize Charisma: The Case of Darshan in Radhasoami and Divine Light Mission" in Sociological Analysis: A Journal in the Sociology of Religion Vol. 47 No. 2 by Association for the Sociology of Religion. Chicago, summer 1986, ISSN 0038-0210, pp. 111-124.
  15. ISBN 0-7069-0523-7
    .
  16. ^ Geaves, Ron. "From Divine Light Mission to Elan Vital and Beyond: an Exploration of Change and Adaptation" in Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions Vol. 7 No. 3. March 2004, pp. 45–62. Originally presented at 2002 International Conference on Minority Religions, Social Change and Freedom of Conscience (University of Utah at Salt Lake City). At Caliber (Journals of the University of California Press)
  17. ISBN 0-9611124-6-8
  18. ISBN 0-19-514986-6

Further reading
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