of his generation, Radhakrishnan was
educated at Christian missionary
schools, and the contrast between the
Hindu piety of his home and the
Christian doctrine he encountered at
school sparked his interest in compara-
tive philosophy. He spent the rest of his
life as an interpreter and apologist for
classical Hindu thought, particularly
the Vedantaschool, and as a proponent
of philosophical idealism, the notion
that absolute truth can be found
through intuition alone. Aside from his
work as a college teacher and adminis-
trator, he also served as the vice presi-
dent of India from 1952 to 1962, and as
president from 1962 to 1967. For further
information on his thought, see his An
Idealist View of Life, 1981; Paul A.
Schilpp, The Philosophy of Sarvepalli
Radhakrishnan, 1952; and Robert N.
Minor, “Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and
‘Hinduism’ Defined and Defended,” in
Robert D. Baird (ed.), Religion in Modern
India, 1998.
Radhashtami
(“Radha’seighth”) Festival falling on the
eight dayof the bright (waxing) half of
the lunar month of Bhadrapada
(August–September); this day is cele-
brated as the birthday of Krishna’scon-
sort Radha. Radha is seen differently by
various Vaishnavareligious communi-
ties: For some she is a human woman,
the symbol of the perfect devotee
(bhakta) who forsakes all else to be with
her lover, for others she is considered
the queen of heaven and an equal to
Krishna himself. In either case, her
closeness to him is shown by her birth
on the same month and lunar day as
Krishna, but in the opposite half of the
month. Radhashtami festival is celebrated
with particular fervor in Barsana, the
village in the Brajregion in which Radha
is said to have been born.
Radha Soami
Modern Hindu religious community
founded in 1861 in the city of Agra by
Shiv Dayal Singh, more commonly
referred to as Soamiji Maharaj. Soamiji’s
family had been influenced by Tulsi
Saheb, a devotional (bhakti) saint who
lived in that region, and Soamiji’s teach-
ings reflect the importance of that
contact. The two pillars of Radha Soami
doctrine are the importance of the
spiritual teacher (guru) and the practice
of a spiritual discipline called surat-
shabd-yoga.
According to Radha Soami teachings,
contact with a guru is the single most
important factor in a person’s spiritual
development, and this spiritual progress
hinges on complete surrender to the
guru’s grace. It is essential for the devo-
tee (bhakta) to be associated with a
“true guru” (satguru), since not only
does such an individual have access to
the divine, he is considered a manifesta-
tion of the divine itself. Surat-shabd-
yoga stresses joining (yoga) the
devotee’s spirit (surat) with the Divine
Sound (shabd). The Divine Sound
emanates from the Supreme Being and
is always present. Most people cannot
hear it, due to their preoccupation with
worldly things, but with proper training
and devotion to a true guru, anyone can
eventually become attuned to the
Divine Sound and resonate in harmony
with it.
In the era since Soamiji Maharaj, the
Radha Soami Satsanghas split numer-
ous times, usually based on disagree-
ments over spiritual authority. Given the
Radha Soami emphasis on the satguru
as the Supreme Being, disagreements
over spiritual succession—in effect, dis-
agreements over the identity of the
Supreme Being—made schisms virtually
inevitable. It also seems clear that the
underlying forces in many of these
schisms were disagreements over
far more mundane things, such as
power, status, and property. Various
branches of the Radha Soamis
have made successful missionary
efforts and established centers in
Europe and the United States. For
further information see Sudhir Kakar,
Shamans,Mystics,and Doctors, 1991;Radhashtami