SRCM-Part 1 THE SOURCE OF THE LEGEND

This is the result of many years of research in many languages and will be the definitive historical perspective of the SRCMtm Sufi lineage from outside the Mission. (first draft for comment).

The research was compiled and written by Alexis who was also the main researcher along with Christian, Michael, Elodie and Madeleine and many more, with information coming from many other outside sources in the broader Sufi community. (See references below for more details on the bibliographical sources)

Taken from Elodie's Blog (in the comments section to article "Une Premiere Circulaire de Tiripur" dated Jan 27, 07) http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=20689467&postID=116998012087735021
Translated using "Google Translate".

Intro (Alexis said)

With much delay, here my small summary of the legend of the origins. It is yet but a base, it will obviously be evolutionary according to the information that will come to us.

I wanted to check various things before posting from whence this delay. Arvind Jolly does not answer my questions and Naqshmumra ceased any contact after the very first ones.

Fortunately RK Gupta is much more accessible. I count on 4d for a translation in English on his blog, in order to send it for information and comments to RK Gupta, but also to Thomas Dahnhardt, Oxford researcher (see references).

I count very much on Christian for the continuation of the history thanks to his reading of the autobiography of Babuji, the founder of the mythic Sahaj Marg…

THE ARTICLE

About the sources of Sahaj Marg

(Last version: September 22, 2007)

The current official legend within the SRCM® affirms that Sahaj Marg is a ex-nihilo creation of Lalaji who transmitted it to its only legitimate successor, Babuji. Historical research recently undertaken starts to tell a very different story.


1 Prehistoric origins of Sahaj Marg

Lalaji was first and foremostl the disciple of a Sufi Master, but perhaps he also drew a little of his inspiration from the Hindu Masters of Santmat. He probably did not follow the teachings of one single Master; also, he had many disciples and charged many with spreading his teachings.

a) The Naqshbandiyya Sufi Order

The Sufi order of Naqshbandiyya penetrated in India in the 16th century, after other brotherhoods like Chishtiyya, Suhrawardiyya and Qâdiriyya. In 1526, Baber, descendant of Gengis Khan, founds the dynasty of the Great Mongols. In his footsteps, Baqi Billah (deceased about 1598), 24th Master of the Sufi line is established in Delhi. His successor Shaykh Ahmad Farouqi Sirhindi is the creator of a new Sufi order, Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiyya. The Mongols reign as absolute Masters in India, Sufi teaching is very strict.

1. Prophet Muhammad ibn Abd Allah
2. Abou Bakr as-Siddiq
3. Salman al-Farsi
4. Qassim ibn Muhammad ibn Abou Bakr
5. Jafar as-Sadiq
6. Tayfour Abou Yazid al-Bistami
7. Aboul Hassan Ali al-Kharqani
8. Abou Ali al-Farmadi
9. Abou Yaqoub Youssouf al-Hamadani
10. Aboul Abbas, al-Khidr
11. Abdoul Khaliq al-Ghoujdawani
12. Arif ar-Riwakri
13. Khwaja Mahmoud al-Anjir al-Faghnawi
14. Ali ar-Ramitani
15. Muhammad Baba as-Samassi
16. as-Sayyid Amir Koulal
17. Muhammad Baha'ouddin Shah Naqshband
18. Ala'ouddin al-Boukhari al-cAttar
19. Ya'Qoub al-Charkhi
20. Oubeydoullah al-Ahrar
21. Muhammad az-Zahid
22. Darwish Muhammad
23. Muhammad Khwaja al-Amkanaki
24. Muhammad al-Baqi bi-l-Lah
25. Ahmad al-Farouqi as-Sirhindi
26. Muhammad al-Masoum
27. Muhammad Sayfouddin
28. as-Sayyid Nour Muhammad al-Badawani

The 16th century marks the apogee then the decline of the Mongols.

The Marathes, Indians of the west towards Maharashtra, benefit from it to create a Hindu kingdom in 1674. They become the Masters of India at the beginning of the next century. In this context, Mirza Mazhar “Zanzana” (1701-1781), disciple of the 28th Master of the Sufi line, creates a new branch of the order, Mazahariyya, an attempt at syncretism between the 4 Indian Sufi brotherhoods and certain traditional Hindu teaching. The Sufi order resulting from Mirza Mazhar is firmly established in Uttar Pradesh, an area in northern India.

29. Hadhrat Mirza Mazhar Jaan-I-Jaanan
30. Hadhrat Abdullah Naimullah Shah
31. Hadhrat Mawla' Na Muradullah
32. Hadhrat Sayyed Abul Hasan Sa' eed r.a
33. Hadhrat Mawla' Na Khalifa Ahemad Ali Khan

b) The Hujur-Lalaji Couple

After the Mongols and Marathes, India comes under British domination. Resistance against the invader is organized from within the religious communities in spite of calls for the unity of the Indian people by Gandhi. The end of the 19th century is marked by the Community regrouping, in particular in Uttar Pradesh from where will emerge the Indian national Congress in 1885 and the seeds of the Moslem League (1906) until the partition of 1947.

In this context of inter-religious tension, and contrary to their famous predecessors, Maulana Shah Fazl Ahmad Khan (Hujur or Huzur Maharaj) and his disciple Ramchandra Lalaji try a new synthesis of the Hindu teaching and the Sufi teaching, completely against the current of the recent history dominated by the religious community regrouping.

34. Maulana Shah Fazl Ahmad Khan (1838 or 57-1907)
35. Maulana Abdul Ghani Khan (1867-1952)
36. Mahatma Ramchandra Laalaaji (1873-1931)

Lalaji becomes the first Hindu Master of this Sufi Order, without having to convert to Islam.

The image is very strong, but it masks a work of much more importance by the Hujur-Lalaji couple on their spiritual teaching. They did not only overflow the religious barriers as had done Mirza Mazhar, but according to Thomas Dähnhardt, Oxford researcher, they intentionally highlighted equivalences between the Sufi and Hindu spirituality to abolish the inter-religious boundaries and conflicts.

c) A Multitude of Legitimate Successors

As previously seen, Sufism consists of a multitude of orders, branches and streams. The same applies in the Indian traditions where the guru, Sant Pîr and other great spiritual personalities have many legitimate successors who have themselves several Masters.

It is also what Lalaji would have done, as a disciple, starting with Sufism and continuing with the practice of Sant Mat and of Radhasoami. And according to NaqshMuMRa Nexus, he would have had 212 disciples whom he charged with spreading his teaching called “Naveen Sadhana” in their respective areas, while inviting them to also follow other Masters.

The list of the movements which result is rather long (NaqshMuMra Nexus lists 8 of them), here are some of the better known:

- NaqshMuMRa, contraction of Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiyya Mazhariyya Ramchandriyya, new branch of the Sufi order, resulting from Lalaji and controlled by his direct descendants.

- Ramashram Satsang, a nebula of geographical groups, with local Hindu Masters.

- Akhil Bhartiya Santmat Satsang (ABSS), founded in 1969 in Anangpur (District of Faridabad in Haryana) by the disciple of a nephew of Lalaji.

- The Golden Sufi Center (California), alternative of the Sufi Order passing through another nephew of Lalaji

Other famous personalities also claim lineage from Lalaji, such as Thakur RAM Singhji or Doctor Chandra Gupta (see Sufi Saints and Sufism, Dr. Gupta's site). It is also necessary to mention the movement "Saral Hari Marg" of Dr. Harnarayan Saxena (1908-2003), also asserting lineage from Lalaji, which made a short appearance on the Web before disappearing from it.

There remains finally the direct current apparently resulting from Lalaji (in a dream) which was created most tardily (13 years after Lalji's death), namely the "Sahaj Marg" of RAM Chandra of Shahjahanpur (Babuji), in 1945. But that is another story!

So that his teachings spread, Lalaji entrusted several of his disciples the care of disseminating it in their respective areas.

i) The family of Lalaji and NaqshMuMRa

Lalaji did not follow alone the teachings of Hujur, his Master, but did so with his brother Raghubal Dayal (1875-1947), also called Chachchaji. Also, both had children who spread their teachings. Lalaji had 2 sons and 8 girls, but only one of them (sons) came to my knowledge (showed up in my research). It is Jagmohan Narain (1901-44).

He (Jagmohan Narain) had 2 sons: Akilesh KUMAR (1941-74) and Dinesh KUMAR Saxena (born in 1944). This latter one had a son Himanshu Vikram, who is the administrator of his website “NaqshMuMRa Nexus”. All are from Fatehgarh (District of Farrukhabad - Uttar Pradesh).

Raghubal Dayal (aka Chachaji Maharaj) had 3 sons: Brij Mohan Lal (aka Hudurwala) (1898-1955), Radha Mohan Lal (1900? - 1966) and Jyotendra Mohan Lal. All this family is established in Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh). Radha Mohan Lal and his wife Sushila Devi had 3 sons: Virendra Nath, Satendra Nath and “Baboo” Narendra Nath Saxena. (Note: Apparently, there is another son of Rhada Moan Lal Sri Ravindra Nath Saxsena. He is the only living son of Bhai Sahib. He is 75 now and lives in Kanpur. He is the only child from Bhai Sahib’s first marriage. Bhai Sahib also had 2 daughters. The oldest, Durga, is gone. Sushila Devi apparently named her 2nd son, Satendra to succeed his father.

Lalaji, 36th Master of the Sufi lineage is also the first Hindu Master of a new branch of the Ramchandriyya Order. In summary, NaqshMuMRa stands for Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiyya Mazhariyya Ramchandriyya. It is the family lineage where his (Lalaji's) brother succeeds him for a time before relinquishing the place to his (Lalaji’s) son, Jagmohan Narain then successively to his (Lalaji’s) 2 grandsons.

37. Raghubar Dayal (Chachchaji) Ji Maharaj (1875-1947)
38. Jagmohan Narain Ji Saaheb (1901-1944)
39. Akhilesh KUMAR Ji (1941-1974)
40. Dinesh KUMAR Saxena, (born on October 28, 1944)

ii) Ramashram Satsang

Lalaji did not only have disciples in his family. He apparently had 212 (disciples) according to NaqshMuMRa Nexus, including 9 “functionaries” and 8 organizations would have been given the responsibility to spread his teachings.

The main one is the stream of the “Ramashram’s”. This movement would be managed from Fatehgarh by Ramashram Sansthan of which I did not find a trace, but from I gathered, we could be refering to NaqshMuMRa. It has at least 5 other local variations: prefixes “Ramashram Satsang” + suffix “place name”.

One thus finds in Uttar Pradesh:

-Ramashram Satsang Etah founded in 1923 by Dr. Chaturbhuj Sahai (1883-1957), then moved to Mathura in 1951, the movement is still very active today
- Ramashram Satsang Sikandarabad founded by Dr. Shri Krishna Lal in 1921
- Ramashram Satsang Shyam Nagar founded by Shri Ranaji Saheb a few kilometres from Gursahaiganj, in the district of Kannauj
- Ramashram Satsang Ghaziabad
- Ramashram Satsang in Jaipur in the neighbouring Rajasthan, founded by Thakur RAM Singhji (1898-1971), another movement that is still active today.

iii) Other Current Streams and Known Personalities

Brij Mohan Lal (called Dadda Ji), son of Raghubal Dayal and nephew of Lalaji, had a disciple named Yashpal Ji or Pujya Bhai Sahab ji (1918 -?). This one founded “Akhil Bhartiya Santmat Satsang” (ABSS) in 1969 in Anangpur (District of Faridabad in Haryana).

Radha Mohan Lal (sometimes called Guruji), also son of Raghubal Dayal and nephew of Lalaji, had several known disciples who attained a certain amount of fame

Dr. Chandra Gupta, who also often frequented Thakur RAM Singhji
(see RK Gupta website: http://www.geocities.com/sufisaints/)

Irina Tweedie (1907-1999), founder of the “Golden Sufi Center” in California, which draws up very a totally different lineage than that of the NaqshMuMRa, by erasing Hujur and Lalaji to insert only Radha Mohan Lal, and herself (and her successor) obviously). Irina Tweedie's book Daughter of Fire, published by the Golden Sufi Center describes her Sufi training by Radha Mohan Lal, whom she calls Bhai Sahib. The Golden Sufi Center in California is the vehicle for the work of the Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya Order of Sufism in the West.

29. Mîrzâ Mazhar Jânjânân
30. Na'îmullâh Bahrâichî
31. Muradulla
32. Abul Hasan
33. Ahmad Ali Khan
34. Abdul Gani Khan
35. Radha Mohan Lal (Bhai Sahib)
36. Irina Tweedie
37. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee


Still remaining is the current directly resulting from Lalaji which was created much later (13 years after Lalaji's death (1931), namely the Sahaj Marg of Ram Chandra (Saksena or Saxena) of Shahjahanpur, Babuji, in 1945. But that is another story!

There is also the smaller group of Saral Hari Marg of Dr. Harnarayan Saxena.

2 Syncretism of the Teachings

According to Thomas Dähnhardt, Hujur, the Sufi and Lalaji, the Hindu, voluntarily set up a syncretic spiritual teaching to abolish the barriers between religions. The 11 principles of Naqshbandiyya preached already the silent meditation on the heart and the constant remembrance of the Divine presence. The Master pours divine energy into the heart of his disciple by liberating him from his impure thoughts. The principal responsibility for the spiritual evolution of the candidate rests in the hands of his Master, provided that he comes into daily contact with his guru by the means of the meditation (morning, evening and before sleeping).

Their successors proceeded in this way by dissociating the practice and the spiritual theory. The practice remained nearly identical, while the theory remained Islamic with the adherents of the Sufi Order whereas it was re-hindu-ised in the “Ramashram” stream. The terms in Arabic or Persian were replaced by their Sanskrit or Hindi equivalents. The references to the Q’uran and Muhammed were replaced by the Upanishads and Lord Krishna.

This work had previously been completed already by Kabir providing the foundations of Santmat in 15th century, but also before him by the other famous unknown, Sufism, spreading its roots into Hinduism, and conversely. It still remains, no less, that no other group denies the respective historical contributions of the two religions and all speak about the various Masters who are at their origins. No group except Babuji’s Sahaj Marg…

3) Bibliographical Sources

a) Sufism in India

- R.K. Gupta: Sufi saints and Sufism:
- www.geocities.com/sufisaints/

- Also from the same author:
- “Yogis in silence - the Great Sufi Masters”

- Line Droel: “Sufism in India: Chishtiyya and Naqshbandiyya”
- www.unifr.ch/imr/droel,soufisme.doc

- Thomas Dähnhardt: “Change and Continuity in Indian Sufism”
- (A Naqshbandi-Myjaddidi Branch in the Hindu Environment) - 447 p.
- Islamic Heritage in Cross-Cultural Perspectives No 3 - 2002 - ISBN: 8124601704
- see also:
- http://jis.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/15/3/359

- Golden Delicious Chain Naqshbandi: (French)
- www.naqshbandi.ca/fr/chain/index.shtml

- B.B. Basuk: “Lakshvedhi Genealogy”, 1985 (3rd English edition under reserve) Genealogical Chronology of the Saints in the Naqshbandia Mujaddidia Order


b) Successors of Lalaji

- NaqshMuMRa:
- http://laalaajinilayam.googlepages.com/home

- Ramashram Satsang Mathura:
- www.ramashramsatsang.org
- www.angelfire.com/journal/yoga1/ramashramintro.htm
- www.ramashramsatsang-mathura.com
- www.ramashram.com

- Ramashram Sansthan and Jaipur, by Arvind Jolly:
- http://members.tripod.com/arvind_jolly/
- and
- http://arvindjolly.googlepages.com

- Akhil Bhartiya Santmat Satsang (ABSS):
- www.abssatsang.org

- Golden Sufi Center - California:
- www.goldensufi.org

Lalaji's History:

For Lalaji's comparative history, compare these sites:

Lalaji's History according to Chari's SRCM
From: Sahaj Marg Research and Teaching Institute (SMRTI), controlled by Chari

Lalaji's History according to SRCM (Shahjahanpur) of Babuji's Family
From SRCM (Shahjahanpur)

Lalaji's History according to Institute of Ram Chandra Consciousness (ISRC) Presided by K.C. Narayana, son of Dr. Varadachari's, who was touted as Babuji's suceessor before Chari came along.
From: Institute of Ram Chandra Consciousness (ISRC)

Lalaji's History according to Naqshmumra
From: NaqshMuMRa Nexus