any prominence, he would be looked down upon. Economic, literary or educational progress is no part of the ideal of the sect. This neglect of public affairs is what takes the place of the old ascetic renunciation.

5. The points that attract new members seem to be, first of all, the secrecy of the religious practice of the sect, with the hope connected therewith of gaining supernatural wisdom, enlightenment and power. The living guru, believed to be an incarnation of God in the fullest possible sense, is a distinct attraction. Within the meetings of the sect there is a good deal of freedom. Men of all castes mix freely together, and even on occasion, dine together in secret; and there is no strict separation of men and women. There is thus a sort of free happy fellowship within each group of Satsangīs, as they call themselves. Finally, membership in the sect does not involve any breach with one's own religion. The fact that a man is a member of the sect is often kept secret. As in Theosophy, you may be a Rādhā Soami and yet remain a Hindu, a Muḥammadan or a Christian. People are taught that all religions are true, and that the Rādhā Soāmi faith is an extra, fit to be the complement of any religion, and supreme over them all. Membership is thus made quite easy. Yet it is definitely stated that the religion is for all, and that outside the Satsang there is no salvation.

There is no proselytism in the sect, except in so far as the individual member may express his high appreciation of the guru to his personal friends. One Satsangi tried to make me realize how many miracles had accompanied the gurus throughout their lives. They teach only people who wish to be taught; and they would rather win a few intelligent men than crowds of common people.

6. The affinities of the theology of the sect stand out quite clear. Most of the teaching is purely Hindu; it stands nearer to Vaishnavism than to any other part of Hinduism, and is

perhaps most closely allied to the teaching of Kabir. This is reflected in the practice of the sect. While they profess to find all truth in the books of their own gurus, they do use the writings of certain Hindu and Muḥammadan saints, and amongst these they give Kabir the highest place. But, though the system is in the main Hindu and old, there are modern elements. There is an attempt to place religious leaders in the various spheres of the universe, according to their merit ; and there are a number of Christian elements in the teaching. The unknown Supreme is constantly called the Heavenly Father; His will is frequently emphasized; and Satsangis are taught to seek His approbation. The Sant Satguru, who alone can reveal Him, is called His beloved Son. God created man in His own image. Love is emphasized in the teaching of the sect in such a way as clearly to reveal its Christian origin; for it goes far beyond the old ideas connected with bhakti. Works of faith and charity, the spirit of service and prayer, are laid down as necessary duties. Finally, the forms of worship in the regular services, apart from the adoration of the guru, are Christian.

In this connection, however, nothing is more noteworthy than the many points in which Rādhā Soāmi and Theosophical doctrine and practice coincide. The most important items are the unknowable Supreme, the spheres and their regents, the human revealers of religion, the emphasis on the Word, reincarnation, the use of methodical exercises (sādhanāni) of a hypnotic character for the development of the spiritual powers and of the photograph1 of the guru in meditation, the worship of gurus, the supernatural powers of the gurus, the claim that the teaching of the sect is scientifically accurate and verifiable in every particular, esoteric teaching, secret practice, and all the talk about astral and higher planes, adepts and such like.

1 See above, pp. 169, 170; below, p. 261.

LITERATURE. Radha Soami Mat Prakash, by Rai Salig Ram Bahadur, Benares, 1896, for private circulation, 10 annas. (This is by far the best presentation of Radhā Soāmi Doctrine in English.) Discourses of Radhasoami Faith, by Pandit Brahm Sankar Misra, Benares, The Satsang, 1909. This very verbose volume has a Prefatory Note which contains details about the three gurus. For the other works of the gurus, see above, pp. 114, 115, 116. The Radha Swami Sect, by the Rev. H. D. Griswold, Ph. D., Cawnpore Mission Press.

IO. THE DEVA SAMĀJ

1. Siva Nārāyaṇa Agnihotri was born in a Kanauji Brāhman family in 1850, in a small town in the Cawnpore district of the United Provinces. When he was sixteen, he entered the Government Engineering College at Rurki, and got the degree of Overseer after some years of study and service there. Before the close of his course, he came greatly under the religious influence of the Curator of the Instrument Depot of the College, and through him became convinced of the truth of the Vedanta philosophy as taught by Sankarāchārya, namely, that God is impersonal, and that the human spirit is God. In 1871, while he was acting as a master in the College, both he and his wife underwent a ceremony of initiation and became disciples of the Curator-guru. He also began to see clearly the need of religious and social reform. Hence he banished idolatry from his household and set his wife free from the restrictions of the zenana.

In 1873, now 23 years of age, he was appointed Drawingmaster in the Government School, Lahore; and in that city he has lived ever since. Here he at once came under the influence of the Brahma Samāj, with its doctrine that God is essentially personal. Both he and his capable wife became active Brahma workers. In 1875 he was appointed honorary minister of the Lahore Samaj, and soon became well known in the city as a man of character and a good speaker. Wherever

he went, large audiences gathered to hear him. The Arya Samāj was planted in Lahore in 1877, as we have already seen, and very soon rose to great influence. The following year, Agnihotri began a long-continued crusade against its false pretences about the Veda. In January, 1880, he attended the anniversary meetings of the recently founded Sādhāran Brāhma Samāj in Calcutta ;1 and he and three others were ordained as the first missionaries of the movement.2 For two years longer he gave all his leisure to work for the Lahore Samāj; but in 1882 he gave up the post of Drawing-master in the Government School, in order that his full time might be devoted to missionary labour. We are also informed in the recent literature of the Samaj that on his birthday, the 20th of December of the same year, he took his great vow, expressed in a Hindi couplet, the translation of which runs:

The supreme object of my Life is to serve the world by establishing the kingdom of Truth and Goodness on this earth and by destroying what is opposed to them; may I spend my whole life for the fulfilment of this supreme object!

In any case his full powers now began to make themselves manifest. He proved effective as a writer as well as a speaker. Books, pamphlets and tracts poured from the press. For a little time a sort of simple copy of the Salvation Army, called the Brahma Sena or Brahma Army, was used as an auxiliary. He made his influence felt in every section of public life in Lahore. But it was not long before difficulties arose within the Samāj. His methods displeased the quieter members; and his forceful will and autocratic temper led to constant friction with the other leaders. He wanted to rule. He would often be heard to say, "I am born to command not to obey." Most of the members were apprehensive that he would soon set up as the authoritative guru of the Samaj. The way his followers now express this is: "His life-mission was unique 1P. 55, above. 2 HBS., II, 144.

and quite different from the object of the Brahmo Samāj.” A split became inevitable.

2. Accordingly, he seceded from the Brahma Samāj, taking with him a fair number of followers, and organized, on the Queen's Jubilee day,1 February 16th, 1887, a new society to be known as the Deva Samāj. The name was clearly chosen in order to distinguish the new society from the old, and yet to indicate its close relationship to it. Brahma is an adjective formed from the word Brahman, the name of the supreme God of the Upanishads. Deva is the ordinary Sanskrit word for one of the innumerable gods of the Hindu pantheon, but is probably used in the name of the society as an adjective. So that the whole name means the Divine Society. A creed was soon issued, which showed that the aims and beliefs of the new community were very similar to those of the Brahma Samāj; yet there were significant differences. The Deva Dharma, the divine religion of the divine society, is a special divine dispensation, and so is distinct from the Brahma Dharma. The doctrines are Brahma doctrines; yet the beginnings of a guru-doctrine are perceptible; and, within a few years, the leader could say of himself, "My mission is unique"; "I am free from sin"; and "I am a ship of hope and a leaven for elevating nations." The work of the Samaj ran along the usual lines: only Agnihotri dabbled in spiritualism.

3

In 1893 he became involved in a libel case which, dragging on for five long years, greatly hindered the work of the Samāj. During this period Agnihotri's mind underwent a very serious change; and at its close a new period opens.

3. From 1898 down to the present day the Deva Samāj has been an atheistic society, working for educational and moral ends. Yet the members attribute to the guru such a supreme place in human evolution and give him such a position in their 2 Cf. Keshab's idea, above, p. 55. Dharma Jivan, 4th October, 1892.

1 As celebrated in India.