Param Dayal

Baba Faqir Chand, (18 November 1886 – 11 September 1981) was an Indian master of Surat Shabd Yoga, or consciously controlled near death experience. He was one of the first saints or gurus of Sant Mat tradition to openly speak and write against the deceptive and harmful practices of modern guruism and religious intolerance. As a highly pragmatic individual, Faqir also strove to explain the various practices and principles of Sant Mat based on his own experiences and in the context of modern science and psychology. He was also the first Sant Mat guru to talk about the phenomena consisting of a believer experiencing a subjective projection of a sacred or holy form of a guru or idol without the conscious knowledge of the person at the center of the experience, i.e., the guru. This was termed the 'Chandian Effect', and described by researcher David C. Lane. Faqir Chand claimed that he had no knowledge of his form manifesting before a person and helping them with their worldly or spiritual problems. He fervently expressed that in his experience, the real helper is one's own true self and faith. Mark Juergensmeyer, another researcher on new religious movements (including Radha Soami Mat), intrigued by the uniqueness of Faqir Chand's experiences, also interviewed him. This insightful interview was included in Faqir's autobiography.

Life

Baba Faqir Chand was born on 18 November 1886 in village of Panjhal, located in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, India. He was brought up in a poor Hindu Brahmin family, and his father was a policeman. As a result, he sought relief in worship of God (Bhakti). At young age, against his family traditions, he became non-vegetarian for some time. Later, his repentance and prayers took him to Radha Soami Mat through a divine vision of Data Dayal Shiv Brat Lal Ji Maharaj. He initiated Faqir Chand into Radha Soami Mat and gave him a book, ''Saar Vachan'', written by Shiv Dayal Singh the founder of Radha Soami Mat. He soon found that the book's positions on various religious movements were contrary to his own impressions and beliefs. However, because of his unshakable faith in Data Dayal Ji he took a vow and honestly followed the path shown by his guru. Faqir Chand started delivering discourses ( Satsang) to his followers only after Shiv Brat Lal died. Among these discourses was his experienced belief that the images and visions (including holy forms, colors and lines, etc.) that seemed to appear to his followers during meditation were only Maya or illusions and did not represent truths as such.http://bhagatshaadi.com/megh/Sant%20Satguru%20Vaqt%20Ka%20Vasiyatnama.pdf . Sant Satguru Waqt Ka Vasiyatnama, Bhagat Munshi Ram, Bhagatshaadi.com, p. 32, Language: Hindi. Retrieved 2009-10-21.

After 1942 Faqir Chand discontinued the traditional practice of Nam-Dan, (a form of baptism).http://elearn.mtsac.edu/dlane/The%20Unknowing%20SageMINI.pdf . p. 91. Retrieved 2009-10-14. Instead, he preached that the description of the higher stages of inner knowledge by an experienced person was Nam Dan. He performed all the duties of a guru without becoming one. In literature, there is mention of miraculous and divine appearances of his form to the followers in need and distress.
But Faqir Chand disassociated himself from all such miracles saying it had happened for the faith of believers and not him. He declared all such followers his Satguru (the teller of true knowledge) because their experiences regarding appearing of his holy form compelled him to think as to who helped them while he had no knowledge of those incidents. Those were projections of mind, he concluded. Such experiences facilitated him to go beyond mind, soul (light) and inner sound current. This lead him to self-realization and eternal peace. His craving for ultimate truth ended. In 1980, in view of his failing health, and at the request of David Christopher Lane, a professor of philosophy in California, Faqir Chand dictated his autobiography to Prof. B.R. Kamal. Originally written in Urdu

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