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MAHAMANANIYA PUJANIYA ŚRI DEVA GURU BHAGAVAN Pandit S. N. Agnihotri

Since matter and force are the only reality that exists, there is no such thing as God or gods. Every conception of God that has been held among men is purely imaginative, and consequently harmful.

The teaching about the guru himself is the key to the whole. life of the sect. He is the highest result of the evolution of the universe. He has evolved the highest powers that any being on this earth has ever had. Nay, he possesses in his soul all the powers of the Complete Higher Life and is its highest ideal. Hence many of the titles used of Hindu gods are conferred upon him. He is Mahāmānanīya Pūjanīya Śrī Deva Guru Bhagavan (the Most Reverend, Most Worshipful, Most Exalted, Divine Teacher and Blessed Lord). Since he became the god of the Samāj, he has tended to withdraw into seclusion. He no longer figures in the public life of Lahore. He seldom instructs any one except his own disciples, very seldom gives outsiders interviews, and delivers addresses only in meetings of the Samaj. Much is made of the vow he is said to have taken in 1882. Much is also made of his sacrifices.

The guru teaches and practises spiritualism. Being the summit of all evolution, he possesses powers whereby he is able to see into the other world, and to have personal dealings, through mediums, with souls there. He states that many of his own dead relatives have become convinced of the truth of his teaching, and have found salvation through him. He delivers addresses to spirits who assemble from time to time to hear him at the Samaj building.

Transmigration is denied. This is one of the elements of Brahma teaching which have been carried over into the new period.

5. Those who wish to become members of the Samāj have to take the following ten vows.1

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1 A Dialogue about the Deva Samāj, 14–16.

I. I shall not commit the following four sins relating to my profession or calling:

(a) I shall not take bribe.

(b) I shall not weigh or measure anything more or less, with a motive of cheating some one.

(c) I shall not substitute one thing for another with a view to cheating some one.

(d) When certain remuneration for a certain work or price of a thing has been agreed upon, I shall not dishonestly pay less or take more than is due according to the agreement.

2. I shall not commit theft.

3. I shall not withhold anything borrowed by or entrusted

to me.

4. I shall not rob any person of his money, land or any other article by force or fraud.

5. I shall not gamble or do any act which involves loss or gain of money or property through betting.

6. I shall not lead a useless life when I am able to do some work.

7. I shall not commit adultery, polygamy, or any unnatural crime.

8. I shall not use, prepare, cultivate, buy or sell, or give to any person any intoxicant such as Wine, Opium, Bhang, Tobacco, Charas, Chandoo, Cocaine, etc., for the purpose of intoxication.

9. I shall not eat flesh or eggs myself, or give or direct others to eat flesh or eggs or anything made thereof.

10. I shall not kill any sentient being, barring certain right occasions.

When any one wants to become a member of the Samāj, he writes a letter to the guru, putting into it a catalogue of all his past sins, telling how he has been brought to a better

mind by the guru, and promising to give them up. From time to time thereafter he writes in a similar strain. All these documents the guru preserves most carefully.1

6. The guru is seldom present at the regular devotional meetings of the Samāj, but his photograph hangs before the congregation. An image would be used; but hitherto the cost has stood in the way. When the people have assembled, all stand up, and the conductor offers a tray of flowers to the portrait,2 or hangs a garland round it. All then bend low in adoration. The stotra, a Sanskrit hymn in praise of the guru, is then sung by all, and a Hindi translation is read by the conductor. All then prostrate themselves before the portrait. When all are seated, the conductor offers prayer to the guru. Then a hymn is sung. This is often followed by a sermon, or a meditation on the virtues of the guru, and another hymn; or a passage is read from the Deva Sastra. The conductor or some other one then closes the meeting with another prayer. The burning of incense and the waving of lights (āratī) before the portrait were originally parts of the service, but they have been discontinued. When the guru himself is present, the service centres in him; and when members call on him, they prostrate themselves at his feet. His birthday is the anniversary of the Samāj.

7. The methods of the Samāj are practically all Christian. Many of them the guru brought with him from the Brahma Samāj; the rest have been copied direct from Christian missions. The Samāj has missionaries, and also lay-workers, both men and women. They have two High Schools, a number of Primary Schools, a School for the Depressed Classes, and a Training College for mission workers, called the Bikashālai, or House of Development. A good deal of attention is given to female education. They have a successful Board1 Cf. p. 182, below.

2 Cf. the Radha Soāmis, p. 169 f., above, and Theosophy, p. 261, below.

ing School for Girls at Firozepore, teaching up to the Matriculation Standard. They do a little medical work, have two Widows' Homes, and have held Industrial Exhibitions. They lay a good deal of stress on social reform, as we have already seen, and endeavour to do a little social service. They have a Temperance League and a Vegetarian League.1

Literature is much used in spreading the teaching of the Samāj. The guru's chief work is a Hindi book, the Deva Sastra, i.e., the Divine Scripture, which, he believes, is destined to eclipse all the sacred books of the world. The portrait of the guru which forms the frontispiece of the Deva Sastra is reproduced in the plate facing page 126. There are a few more books of some size in Hindi which expound the principles of their doctrine; and there are a great many pamphlets in Hindi, Urdū, Sindhi and English. A series of schoolbooks in Hindi has been published. Four journals are published: an English monthly, called the Science-Grounded Religion, an Anglo-Sindhi monthly, called the Sindh-Upakārak, an Urdū fortnightly, called Jiwan Tattva, and a Hindi monthly, called the Sewak, which is meant only for those belonging to the Samāj.

The Reports read at the Anniversary Meetings tell of steady expansion. Lahore and Firozepore are the two chief centres of the work; but members from Sindh, Baluchistan, the N. W. Frontier Province and the United Provinces attend the annual meetings.

8. The sources and connections of the system stand out quite clear. The scientific elements are fairly prominent: the conceptions of life, seed, soil, growth, evolution, progress, degeneration, extinction, are scattered throughout the literature. Originally, the guru seems to have been considerably influenced by Drummond's Natural Law in the Spiritual

1 All this may be found in the Dialogue about the Deva Samaj.
2 ISR., XX, 258; XXI, 207, 257; XXIII, 235.

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