Salig Ram, popularly known by the honorific "Huzur Maharaj" and by the government-conferred title "Rai Bahadur," was born in Peepal Mandi,

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

, on 14 March 1829. He served as chief inspector of post offices in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, and, in 1881, was

Postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

-General of the

North-Western Provinces The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India. The North-Western Provinces were established in 1836, through merging the administrative divisions of the Ceded and Conquered Provinces. In 1858, the nawab-ruled kingdom ...

, based in

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

. He was the first Indian to hold the position. Salig Ram came in contact with his

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

Shiv Dayal Singh Shiv Dayal Singh, called by the honorific "Param Purush Puran Dhani Huzur Soami Ji Maharaj" by his disciples and devotees, was born on 25 August 1818 in Agra in the colonial era British India (present-day Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India), and died ...

, in 1858 in Agra. Salig Ram recognised his guru as the first physical incarnation of the Supreme Being, whom Salig Ram called by the name "Radha Soami." Salig Ram served Shiv Dayal Singh for many years and, after Shiv Dayal Singh's death, Salig Ram retired from his job, and the Radha Soami sect in Agra took up the role of guru. He died on 6 December 1898.

Successors

Several teaching lineages have descended from Salig Ram. Some of the more prominent are:

The Radha Soami Sect

Located at: Huzuri Bhavan (Huzur's Center), Peepal Mandi, Agra city (now in Uttar Pradesh). This is Salig Ram's home, where his direct descendants conduct

Satsang A satsanga (), also rendered satsang, refers to the practice of gathering in the company of good people for the performance of devotional activities. It also refers to an audience with a Satguru for yogic instruction. Satsangas are group events, o ...

today. The place is also known as Huzuri Samadh which is believed to be a holy place and Satsang takes place every day. The lineage of gurus runs: Salig Ram — Ajudhya Prasad (son of Salig Ram) — Gur Prasad — Agam Prasad Mathur (present guru).

Radha Soami Central Administrative Council

Located at: Soami Bagh, Agra. Lineage: Salig Ram — Brahm Shankar Misra — Maheshwari Devi ( Buaji Saheba) — Madhav Prasad Sinha.

Dayalbagh Sabha

Located at:

Dayalbagh Dayalbagh or Dayal Bagh means 'Garden' (bagh) of 'Merciful' (dayal), inferring "Garden of the Merciful", is a locality in metropolitan Agra in western Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the headquarters of the Dayalbagh subsect of the Radha Soami sect ...

, Agra. Lineage: Salig Ram — Brahm Shankar Misra — Kamta Prasad Sinha —

Anand Swarup Sir Anand Swarup, Kt. (6 August 1881 – 24 June 1937) also known as Param Guru Huzur Sahabji Maharaj was the founder of Dayalbagh. He was the fifth revered leader, or Sant Satguru, of the Dayalbagh branch of the Radha Soami sect, who succeeded ...

(founder) —

Gurcharan Das Mehta Gurcharan Das Mehta (20 December 1885—17 February 1975), also known as Param Guru Mehta Ji Maharaj, was the sixth Revered SatguruMark Juergensmeyer, 1995eality: The Logic of a Modern FaithPage 51. of the Radha Soami Satsang Dayalbagh. He was ...

— Mukund Behari Lal —

Prem Saran Satsangi Prem Saran Satsangi is the eighth and current Sant Satguru of Radhasoami Faith, Dayalbagh. He holds the Emeritus Chair from the East of the Integrated East-West Forum at The Science of Consciousness Conferences since 2012. He is the chairman ...

. Dayalbagh was founded by Sir Anand Swarup, Kt. The present Guru Prem Saran Satsangi is a retired physicist and system scientist of

IIT Delhi The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is a public institute of technology located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technolo ...

. The 200th birth anniversary of Shiv Dayal Singh was celebrated in Dayalbagh from August 2017 to 24 August 2018.

Radha Soami

Located at: Gopi Ganj,

Mirzapur Mirzapur () is a city in Uttar Pradesh, India, 827 km from Delhi and 733 km from Kolkata, almost 91 km from Prayagraj (formally known as Allahabad) and 61 km from Varanasi. It is known for its carpets and brassware industries, and the folk ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

. Lineage: Salig Ram — Shivbratlal Varman (founder).

Be Man Temple

Located at:

Manavta Mandir Manavta Mandir or Be Human Temple in Hoshiarpur, Punjab (India), Punjab, India, was established in 1962 by Baba Faqir Chand (1886–1981). In order to carry forward the mission of his religion of humanity, Faqir, with the financial help from Se ...

Hoshiarpur Hoshiarpur () is a city and a Municipal corporations in India, municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the ...

, Punjab. Lineage: Salig Ram — Shivbratlal Varman —

Faqir Chand Faqir Chand Aggarwal (born 1932) is a leader of Bharatiya Janata Party from Haryana. He was a member of the Haryana Legislative Assembly representing Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state ...

(founder) —

Bhagat Munshi Ram Munshi Ram (19 December 1906 – 29 June 1998), Indian spiritual guru and follower of Faqir Chand. Early life He was born in Meghwal family at village Sundernagar at Sialkot, Punjab (now in Pakistan) in the year 1906. Spiritual Teaching ...

& Ishwar Chandra Sharma.

Radha Soami Satsang, Dinod

Located at: Dinod, Bhiwani, Haryana. Lineage: Salig Rām — Shivbratlal Varman — Ram Singh Arman — Tarachand (founder) — Kanwar Singh.

Books

Salig Ram published "abstracts" of the talks of Shiv Dayal Singh, as well as his own writings. He wrote following books:Santmat-meditation.net: Literature of Hazur Rai Saligram
/ref> *''Prem Patra Radha Soami'' (six volumes) *''Prem Bani Radha Soami'' *''Radha Soami Mat Prakash'' (English) *''Radha Soami Mat Sandesh'' *''Radha Soami Mat Upadesh'' *''Sar-Upadesh'' *''Nij-Upadesh'' *''Guru-Upadesh'' *''Jugat Prakash''

References

External links

* http://www.radhasoamisatsang.org *http://radhasoamidayal.net/GuruIntro.html *http://eacharya.inflibnet.ac.in/data-server/eacharya-documents/548158e2e41301125fd790cf_INFIEP_72/110/ET/72-110-ET-V1-S1__l_.pdf *http://www.dayalbagh.org.in/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Salig Ram Sant Mat gurus Surat Shabd Yoga 1829 births 1898 deaths People from Agra Indian Civil Service (British India) officers