who was said to have initiated over a million
disciples.
Throughout the 20th century, the Sant Mat
movement emerged into both an important
minority movement in India and a global move-
ment with centers throughout the West. At the
same time, it splintered into a variety of separate
groups, each of which professed to have the true
lineage from Soami Ji. More often than not, when
a lineage holder died, several claimants to suc-
cessorship emerged and vied for the allegiance of
his following. In some cases, those who did not
receive the official sanction as the successor have
been able to win large followings. Such was the
case for Kirpal Singh (1896–1974), founder of the
Ruhani Satsang.
The Indian-based Sant Mat groups all teach
largely the same doctrine. In the West, some
of the more prominent Sant Mat teachers have
been Darshan Singh (1921–89), Rajinder Singh,
and Thakur Singh (b. 1929). The American
scholar David Christopher Lane has catalogued
the dozens of Sant Mat gurus and the move-
ments they led.
Some of the most interesting developments
in the Sant Mat tradition have been created by
non-Indian leaders who have assumed the role
of living master and have built independent
movements. For example, Master Ching Hai Wu
Shang Shih, one of the very few women leaders
in Sant Mat, learned the teachings from Thakur
Singh. She has moved on to build a Chinese Sant
Mat organization and changed the name of surat
shabd yoga to the Quan Yin Method of Sound
and Light Meditation, in order to present the
teaching to a Buddhist Chinese-speaking audi-
ence; as her work has grown, it has expanded
to include people from a variety of backgrounds
and languages.
In the United States, a Westernized Sant Mat
group called ECKANKAR (ECK) was started by Paul
Twitchell (1909–70), a former student of Kirpal
Singh. Twitchell ignored Kirpal Singh’s lineage
and proclaimed himself the 971st ECK Master, the
recipient of a previously unknown tradition said
to reach back into prehistory. Eckankar, Twitch-
ell’s organization, has spawned several groups.
A somewhat similar group is the Movement for
Spiritual Inner Awareness, formed by John-Roger
Hinkins. “JR,” as he is affectionately known,
mixed elements of Christianity and Western eso-
tericism with the Sant Mat teachings, resulting in
a new eclectic perspective.
Indian religions have been carried into Africa
in a similar manner by immigrants throughout
the 20th century. A new branch of Sant Mat
emerged in Uganda in 1957. It was founded by Dr.
Jozzewaffe Kaggwa Kaguwa Kaggalanda Mugonza,
more popularly known as simply Bambi Baaba.
While he traveled to India and met with various
Sant Mat teachers, he claims an entirely indepen-
dent revelation of the teachings in a direct man-
ner. In the 1970s, under the government of Idi
Amin, he was charged with introducing a foreign
religion in the country and forcing his members
into a VEGETARIAN and alcohol-free diet.
Another interesting Sant Mat teacher in the
West is Guru Maharaj Ji (PREM RAWAT) (b. 1957),
who entered the United States in the early 1970s
while still a teenager. His organization, originally
called Divine Light Mission, now is identified as
Elan Vital. He sees his teachings as independent of
cultures, religion, beliefs, and lifestyles. Though
adopting a secular overlay, he continues to pres-
ent the Sant Mat teachings and to offer people
initiation into the secret knowledge revealed only
to initiates.Further reading: Marvin Henry Harper, Gurus, Swamis,
and Avatars: Spiritual Masters and Their American Dis-
ciples (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1972); Mark
Juergensmeyer, Radhasoami Reality (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton University Press, 1991); David Christopher
Lane, The Radhasoami Tradition: A Critical History of
Guru Successorship (New York and London: Garland,
1992); Karine Schomer and W. H. McLeod, eds., The
Sants: Studies in a Devotional Tradition of India (Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass, 1987).K 384 Sant Mat movement