Ruhani Satsang

By: Dr. John Ankerberg, Dr. John Weldon; ©1999

Ruhani Satsang claims to represent the teachings of the saints and the underlying mystical truth of all religions.

Ruhani Satsang

Info at a Glance

Name: Ruhani Satsang.

Purpose: To experience God as sound and to see Him as light.

Founder: Kirpal Singh (1896-1974).

Source of authority: The revelations of “God-Power” through Singh.

Claim: To represent the teachings of the saints (Sant Mat) and the underlying mystical truth of all religions.

Examples of occult potential: Spiritism, astral travel.

Key literature: The Path of the Masters, 2 Volumes (1935) and some 20 other books by Kirpal Singh.

Attitude toward Christianity: Rejecting.

Quotes:

“Christians say Christ is the only begotten Son of God—there are no others. This is, excuse me if I use the word, a fallacy” (Kirpal Singh, Heart to Heart Talks, Vol. 2, p. 238).

“Only two scriptures are valid. One is the Koran of the Mohammedans; there has not been a change of even one word. The other is the Sikh scripture, the Adi Granth, which was compiled by Guru Arjan himself…. Nothing has been added nor deleted from that…. All other scriptures have additions and subtractions. So these two only are valid (Kirpal Singh, Heart to Heart Talks, Vol. 2, p. 173).

Note: All Sikhs in India take the last name Singh (lion) after Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), the last of their gurus and considered the greatest poet, scholar and warrior. Many Sikhs claim that guruship ended with the tenth guru (Gobind Singh) and that the “Guru” today is their scripture, the Adi Granth. Kirpal Singh, although claiming a Sikh heritage, declares that there are six additional gurus, he and his guru among them. “I tell you, Gurudom continued” (K. Singh, Heart to Heart Talks, Vol. 1, p. 72). Obviously, if there have been only six gurus since 1708, Kirpal Singh is a very important figure to disciples (Satsangis). He alleges that the orthodox Sikhs never objected to his idea that Gurudom has continued, and that he was not trying to change the Sikh religion (p. 74). No “orthodox” Sikh, however, would accept this.

The teachings of Ruhani Satsang are very similar to the Radhasoami religion, Kirpal Singh being a disciple of Sawan Singh, leader of the Radhasoami sect at Beas. In many ways the cult of Eckankar comprises a plagarism from Radhasoami teaching.

Doctrinal Summary

God: Divine vibration manifesting as Sound and Light.

Jesus: A man who attained God-Realization through the Christ.

The Christ: Divine Power or God Power.

The Holy Spirit: The divine Sound Current.

Salvation: By out-of-the-body experiences and personal merit.

Man: Inwardly divine.

Sin: Violation of the Law of Nature (Heart to Heart Talks, Vol. 2, p. 194).

Satan: Kal Niranjan, a lower demi-god.

The Fall: Into matter.

The Bible: Unreliable, not genuine scripture.

Death: A beneficial transition.

Heaven and Hell: Positive or negative experiences or states of consciousness.