Sant Mat

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Sant Mat

★2326 ★

Ancient Teachings of the Masters (ATOM)

PO Box 68290
Oak Grove, OR 97268

Darwin Gross, previously the leader of ECKANKAR, began teaching independently in 1983, Sounds of Soul (SOS Publishing), used by Gross to identify his writings, was phased out in 1989. He continued to characterize the teaching, as in earlier books and tapes, as the Ancient Teachings of the Masters (ATOM); that the individual soul is an atom. Gross had become active in ECKANKAR in 1968, quickly rising to a position of leadership in disseminating the teachings of Paul Twitchell, founder of ECKANKAR. Gross was selected as the new Eck Master when Twitchell died in 1971. The appointment was confirmed by a formal passing of "the rod of power" in October of that year. Gross married Twitchell's widow in 1973; they were divorced in 1977.

Gross nominated Harold Klemp to assist Gross in 1981 but continued to serve as president of ECKANKAR corporation. In 1983, Klemp took the position that Gross was no longer an Eck Master and terminated his membership in ECKANKAR and all agreements between him and the corporation. Gross responded by declaring that by these actions Klemp lost the "rod of power" nomination previously accorded to him. Gross emphasized he is not founding a separate path or teaching but maintaining the original teachings of Paul Twitchell. Retaining his own books and music copyrights previously published, he published these and others for those studying under his tutelage. Though Gross is known as the "972nd living master" in the line of masters described by Paul Twitchell, by agreement he has avoided specific terms trademarked by ECKANKAR corporation, including "ECK" and "ECKANKAR."

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Gross, Darwin. Awakened Imagination Oak Grove, OR: SOS Publishing, 1987.

——. Be Good to Yourself. Oak Grove, OR: The Author, 1988.

——. The Golden Thread Discourses. Oak Grove, OR: The Author, 1987.

——. My Letter to You Discourses. Oak Grove, OR: The Author, 1987.

——. Treasures. Oak Grove, OR: The Author, 1988.

★2327 ★

Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA)

3500 W. Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90018

The Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA) was founded by John-Roger Hinkins and incorporated as a church in 1971. MSIA teaches Soul Transcendence, by which is meant a person's becoming aware of himself/herself as a soul and, more than that, as one with the Divine.

The focal point of MSIA is the consciousness of the Mystical Traveler, a spiritual consciousness that exists throughout all levels of creation, resides within each person, and is a guide into the higher levels of the Spirit. In December 1963, the MSIA believes that John-Roger received the spiritual mantle as the physical anchor point of the Mystical Traveler Consciousness, and in 1988, this passed to John Morton. John-Roger remains the spiritual wayshower for those he has initiated. The traveler can assist a person in working through karma (balancing past actions) on all the levels of consciousness, and the traveler's work with students is done inwardly, on the spiritual levels. John Morton currently serves as the Spiritual Director of MSIA, the administrative head being Church President Paul Kaye.

Students read a 12-year series of monthly Soul Awareness Discourses (after the series has been completed, study continues through the Soul Awareness Tape Series). Students are also encouraged to do spiritual exercises (silent meditation) for two hours each day. Nothing else is needed for a student in MSIA, although there are many videotapes, audiotapes, and books by John-Roger and John Morton that can support a person's study. Students may gather together to listen to or view a taped seminar by John-Roger, and he has a nationally syndicated television program, "That Which Is," that also shows his seminars. MSIA services are available, such as aura balancing, which helps to clear imbalances in the aura, the energy field around the body.

After two years of study, a person may apply for initiation, and levels of initiation in MSIA correspond to levels of consciousness both within and outside of each person: astral (imagination), causal (emotions), mental (mind), etheric (unconscious), and soul. The soul realm is considered our true home to which we seek to return. Through continued study and spiritual exercises, a person may be initiated to successive levels. After studying for two years in MSIA and receiving the first initiation, a person may apply for ordination. Ministers are ordained to minister to all, regardless of race, creed, color, situation, circumstance, or environment. The ministry is primarily spiritual, and the focus of the ministry is on service—to God, others, and self.

MSIA does not have rules and regulations governing behavior. Guidelines in MSIA are to take care of yourself so you can help take care of others, don't hurt yourself and don't hurt others, and use everything for your advancement and upliftment. Basic precepts include the following: Out of God come all things; God loves all of Its creations; not one soul will be lost; the kingdom of heaven is within; and each person is an heir to that kingdom.

Membership: MSIA has no formal membership. About 5,000 people currently study with the Church of MSIA (which means that they subscribe to Soul Awareness Discourses). About 2,700 are in the United States, and about 2,300 are in foreign countries, including approximately 30 students in Canada.

Educational Facilities: Peace Theological Seminary and College of Philosophy, Los Angeles, California.

Periodicals: The New Day Herald. Send orders to PO Box 513935, Los Angeles, CA 90051.

Remarks: Prior to the founding of MSIA, John-Roger was affiliated with several other groups including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and ECKANKAR. Today MSIA has incorporated strong elements which resemble the sound current teachings of ECKANKAR along with a significant element of Christian piety.

Sources:

Beck, Sanderson, and Mark T. Holmes, eds. Across the Golden Bridge. Los Angeles: Golden Age Education Publications, 1974.

Hinkin, John-Roger. The Christ Within & the Disciples of Christ with the Cosmic Christ Calendar. Los Angeles: Mandeville Press, 1994.

——. Psychic Protection. Los Angeles: Mandeville Press, 1976. Revised 1997.

——. Forgiveness—The Key to the Kingdom. Los Angeles: Mandeville Press, 1994.

——. The Sound Current. New York: Baraka Press, 1976.

——. The Spiritual Family. Los Angeles: Mandeville Press, 1976. Revised 1997.

Interviews with John Morton and John Roger: Religious Scholars Interview the Travelers. Los Angeles: Mandeville Press, 1999.

An Introduction to the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. Los Angeles: Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy, 1999.

Lewis, James R. Seeking the Light. Los Angeles: Mandeville Press, 1997.

★2328 ★

Divine Knowledge Meditation Center

1434 Willow St.
Denver, CO 80220

The Divine Knowledge Meditation Center was founded by Mahatma Rama Nand, a disciple of Param Hansji Maharaj, the Indian Sant Mat teacher and founder of the Divine Light Mission. Following Sri Hans Ji's death, Rama Nand left the mission and, beginning in 1973, traveled through the United States teaching the way to divine knowledge he had learned. The Divine Knowledge Meditation Center is a direct outgrowth of his American work.

Rama Nand teaches the surat shadba yoga common to Sant Mat groups. The center offers a 10-week aspirant program designed to prepare people to learn the specific techniques for the practice. Preparatory practice includes simple hatha yoga, breathing, and meditation.

Rama Nand teaches that the purpose of existence is the realization of our spiritual nature and God, accomplished through surat shabda yoga. The immediate effect of meditation is a release of stress and the reduction of physical symptoms—reduced high blood pressure, hypertension, nervousness, and insomnia.

Membership: Not reported. Rama Nand's work is concentrated through a single center in Denver.

★2329 ★

Divine Light Mission

(Defunct)

The Divine Light Mission was founded in India in the 1920s by Shri Hans Ji Maharaj but became well known in the West in the 1970s after being brought to Europe and North America by his son Guru Maharaj Ji (b. 1957). Guru Maharaj Ji, then still a teenager, had assumed the leadership of the mission following the death of his father. The mission spread rapidly after its introduction into North America and by 1973 it had more than 40 centers and was publishing two periodicals, a magazine, And It Is Divine, and atabloid, The Divine Times.

A former member of the eclectic Brahmo Samaj, Shri Hans Ji Maharaj had met a guru in the Sant Mat tradition, identified only as Dada Guru, who initiated him into surat shabda yoga (the yoga of the sound current) through four techniques, or kriyas, which were to become the trademark of the Divine Light Mission. In the 1920s, following the death of his guru, Shri Hans began to travel in north India and around 1930 first arrived in Delhi. His work grew informally for many years, spreading across the northern half of India from Bombay to Calcutta. In 1950 he commissioned the first mahatmas, assistants who had the authority to initiate as his representative, and a short time afterwards he issued the first copies of a monthly magazine, Hansadesh. His following was formally organized in 1960 as Divya Sandesh Parishad, i.e., the Divine Light Mission.

Shri Hans was considered a sat guru, or perfect master, by his followers. His death in 1965 was experienced as a great loss. However, at his funeral, in the midst of the mourning crowd, the youngest of Shri Hans four sons, then only eight years old, arose and addressed the crowd, "I feel that Maharaji is alive and will always remain." Afterwards, this eight-year-old was acknowledged by both his family and the followers of Shri Hans as his fathers successor and he became known as Maharaji.

Maharaj Ji had been an unusual child. He began meditating at the age of two and gave discourses when he was six. He entered his teen years with a blend of normal childhood urges and the meditative life of a sat guru. On November 8, 1970, at the India Gate in Delhi, he proclaimed the dawn of a new era, and his followers answered his call to mission. Early in 1971 he made his tour of the United States, mixing normal teenage activities (a visit to Disneyland) with meetings with prospective disciples. A second visit in the summer of 1972 centered upon a massive gathering of disciples at Montrose, Colorado. Each trip was accompanied by broad coverage in the media.

Following the Sant Mat tradition, Maharaj Ji was considered a perfect master and, as such, an embodiment of God. He offered initiation (termed the giving of knowledge) into the truth of life technique. Initiation involved instruction in the four yoga techniques taught to Shri Hans by his guru. They were taught to a premie (follower of the guru) by a mahatma (personal representative of the guru). These techniques were practiced daily by premies and were seen as allowing the premie to become attuned to the sound and light current emanating from the divine.

In the early 1970s the mission suffered greatly from its Millennium 73 program which proved unable of attracting enough people to fill (and pay for) the Houston Astrodome. This disaster was followed by an internal dissent within Maharaj Jis family. A month after the Houston event, Maharaj Ji turned 16 and took personal administrative control of the mission. A short time later he married without parental approval, and his mother reacted by asserting control of the Indian branch of the mission and declaring an older brother the new guru. A later agreement gave the family the older mission in India, while Maharaj Ji continued to lead his following internationally. All through this period, the mission was a major target of the anti-cult movement.

In the early 1980s, Maharaj Ji moved to disband the Divine Light Mission and he personally renounced the trappings of Indian culture and religion. After disbanding the mission, he founded Elan Vital, an organization to facilitate his future role as a teacher.

Membership: Not reported. In 1986 it was reported that several hundred people support the work monthly and approximately 4,000 periodically. Supporters are found on every continent and most European countries.

Remarks: Elan Vital is a nonprofit organization established by people who wanted to make available the teachings of Maharaji (the current spelling). Funded by voluntary contributions, Elan Vital holds events at which Maharaji is invited to speak and offers video and audio material of his talks to interested people.

Over the last decade Maharaji has emphasized a central premise that the source of contentment and happiness is within each individual. He continues to offer the set of four techniques as a means to access that inner experience which he calls Knowledge. Offered without charge, these techniques help individuals to focus their awareness inside of themselves. Kim Knott, who studied Elan Vital in the late 1980s, found that those now involved in Maharajis teaching process described the experience as one of being more in harmony with themselves. Maharaji had made every attempt to abandon the traditional Indian religious trappings in which the techniques originated and to make his presentation acceptable all the various cultural settings in which his followers live. He sees his teachings as independent of culture, religion, beliefs, or lifestyles, and regularly addresses audiences in places as culturally diverse as India, Japan, Taiwan, the Ivory Coast, Slovenia, Mauritius, and Venezuela, as well as North America, Europe, and the South Pacific.

Elan Vital may be contacted at Box 6130, Malibu, CA 90264.

Sources:

Cameron, Charles, ed. Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji? New York: Bantam Books, 1973.

Collier, Sophia. Soul Rush. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1978.

Downton, James V., Jr. Sacred Journeys. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.

An Introduction to the Divine Light Mission. London: Shri Hans Production, [1972].

Light Reading. Miami, FL: Divine Light Mission, 1980.

Maharaji. Listen to the Cry of Your Own Heart. Something Wonderful Is Being Said. Visions International, 1995.

Maharaj Ji, Guru. The Living Master. Denver, CO: Divine Light Mission, 1978.

Satgurudev Shri Hans Ji Maharaj. Delhi, India: Divine Light Mission, n.d.

★2330 ★

The Divine Science of Light and Sound

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Divine Science of Light and Sound was formed in 1980 by Jerry Mulvin (b. 1936), formerly a leader in ECKANKAR. The Divine Science of Light and Sound is described as the study of the inner worlds via the movement of one's inner consciousness (attention/viewpoint) from the outer physical world into the Soul Body and then traveling into the inner world. It is considered the safe and natural way to travel into the inner worlds, beyond the known limits or boundaries of one's universe. In order to travel out-of-body, one must first learn the spiritual techniques that enables the individual to gather up the inner attention and shift it to the spiritual eye center.

By practicing the techniques of the Divine Science, Mulvin believes that one can rediscover their child-like innocence which is the attitude that will propel them out-of-body, into the direct experience of the inner realms. Truth derived from such direct experience supplies the opportunity to begin setting one free spiritually.

Mulvin has authored two books. The first describes his early life and his going through a process of raising the kundalini energy (believed to be residing at the base of the spine), and ultimately mastering it via out-of-body exploration. It also describes his past lives which played an important role in his spiritual unfoldment in this life; the disciplines, teachers and masters (such as Fubbi Quantz, a master first introduced in the writings of Paul Twitchell); and the spiritual techniques that led to his current state of spiritual mastership, beyond the raising of the kundalini energy.

In his more recent writings, Mulvin has stressed the goal of leaving one's body to travel beyond what humans call time and space. Through the techniques developed and taught by Mulvin, he claims that students can have direct experience of freedom and truth through contact with and traveling in the Soul Body. Use of these techniques will prove the existence of reincarnation and karma. The movement in the Soul Body is also sharply distinguished from what is commonly called astral or mental projection.

Mulvin teaches students physically by conducting weekly out-of-body workshops, and through Personal Discourses. He teaches them inwardly via the dream state, and while they are traveling outside their body.

Membership: Not reported. There is one center in Marina del Rey.

Sources:

Mulvin, Jerry. The Annals of Time. Manhattan Beach, CA: Divine Science of Light and Sound, 1982.

——. Out-of-Body Exploration. Marina del Rey, CA: Divine Science of Light and Sound, 1986.

★2331 ★

ECKANKAR

Box 27300
Minneapolis, MN 55427

ECKANKAR, Religion of the Light and Sound of God, was founded in 1965 by ECK Master Paul Twitchell (d. 1971). Twitchell, a former journalist, had been a student of various spiritual teachers, among them Sant Mat Master Kirpal Singh, founder of Ruhani Satsang and teacher of the Divine Science of the Soul. In 1964, Twitchell moved to San Francisco, California, and began to teach what was then considered an advanced form of surat shabda yoga, which emphasized attuning the "Soul to the Sound and Light emanating from God."

At that time, Twitchell also emphasized bilocation (later called "Soul Travel"), the ability of the conscious soul to leave the body and travel in the invisible realms. In 1965, Twitchell announced that he was the "Living ECK Master" and formed the first public ECKANKAR group. He is considered by members of ECKANKAR to be the 971st Mahanta and Living ECK Master of the Vairagi Order, taking his place in a line that began before recorded history. Twitchell is believed to have studied ECKANKAR under Sudar Singh in India and ECK Master Rebazar Tarzs in the Himalayas.

In many of its basic concepts, ECKANKAR appears to follow the Sant Mat teachings of Kirpal Singh and Western writer Julian Johnson, a disciple (like Kirpal Singh) of Sawan Singh, head of the Radha Soami Satsang, Beas. ECKANKAR, however, holds that the original teachings of the Light and Sound had been presented in various forms throughout history and that Paul Twitchell reunited them in a single, modern teaching. As presented by Twitchell and current Mahanta and Living ECK Master Sri Harold Klemp, ECKANKAR is distinguished from the Sant Mat tradition in significant ways. ECKANKAR, for example, teaches that the ultimate state for each individual is that of a co-worker with God, not oneness with God; inner techniques are more active spiritual exercises than yogic practices; and Eastern austerities (vegetarianism, extended meditation) are not espoused. Twitchell also presented a different vocabulary than that of Sant Mat teachings.

ECKANKAR considers the Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad to be its ancient scripture residing in the inner worlds. According to the ECK teachings, the original works are located in various Temples of Golden Wisdom, which can only be reached in the "soul body." Two volumes copied and translated by Twitchell have been published. The primary body of ECKANKAR writings has been authored by Sri Harold Klemp, the spiritual leader of ECKANKAR for the last 20 years.

ECKANKAR teaches that all life flows from God (Sugmad) downward to the physical universe. The divine life current (ECK) can be perceived as Light and Sound. This current may be identified with the Sanskrit Nam and the Christian Holy Spirit. A central ECK belief is that each individual is Soul, an eternal spark of God. Soul reaches higher spiritual states of wisdom and love through lessons learned via reincarnation over many lifetimes.

The spiritual exercises of ECKANKAR teach adherents, called ECKists or chelas, to expand their consciousness toward two successive states known as self-realization and God-realization. There are more than 100 spiritual exercises given by the Living ECK Master to aid ECKists in their spiritual unfoldment. Basic techniques involve singing sacred words such as HU, which is regarded as an ancient name for God. Others feature putting attention upon the Light and Sound or the spiritual form of the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master.

ECKANKAR considers itself a living religion rather than an orthodox religion, in that it follows a living spiritual teacher and guide, the Mahanta, the Living ECK Master. The Living ECK Master is respected but not worshipped. It is believed that the Living ECK Master links the chela with the ECK Current, thus leading Soul to total spiritual freedom. The Mahanta guides the chela personally through the lower astral and spiritual realms to the true God worlds and delivers Soul from the wheel of reincarnation. This guidance comes both outwardly through printed discourses, books, and talks, and inwardly via direct interaction. Spiritual travel of the soul body (Atma Sarup) through dreams, imaginative techniques, and direct projection is regularly reported by followers of ECKANKAR.

The international headquarters of ECKANKAR is in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It provides its members with study materials, local ECKANKAR classes, and international conferences that feature the Living ECK Master. After Paul Twitchell's death in 1971, he was succeeded by Darwin Gross. Gross married but later divorced Gail Twitchell, Paul Twitchell's widow. He passed on his position as Living ECK Master to Harold Klemp in 1981. Since 1984, Gross has not been associated with ECKANKAR, which no longer considers him an ECK Master.

Harold Klemp, as the present Mahanta, the Living ECK Master, is responsible for the continued evolution of the ECK teachings and ECKANKAR as a modern religion. For example, Klemp has emphasized that an individual cannot reach the highest spiritual realms without giving divine love and service to others in everyday life. In 1990 he oversaw the completion of a Temple of Golden Wisdom, the Temple of ECK in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The temple is the spiritual home of the religion, and the building and its surrounding grounds are regarded as having special spiritual significance.

Klemp was raised on a Wisconsin farm and trained at a divinity school. He then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he served as a language specialist. He first encountered ECKANKAR during his Air Force service.

Klemp has authored more than 40 books as well as twelve year-long discourse series for members of ECKANKAR. ECKANKAR offers some 70 videocassettes and over 100 audiocassettes of his public talks. He speaks at ECKANKAR seminars in the United States, and for many years has done so in Europe and the South Pacific. In July of 1991, he spoke to a group of over 10,000 at the ECK African Seminar in Lagos, Nigeria.

The organization's Internet site is at http://www.eckanar.org.

Membership: In 2002, there were 164 centers in the United States and 367 worldwide. Members are located in more than 130 countries. Major ECK seminars in the United States routinely draw two to six thousand attendees.

Periodicals: ECK Spirituality Today.

Remarks: In the early 1980s, ECKANKAR became the center of a controversy when religious studies scholar David Christopher Lane made substantive charges that Paul Twitchell had plagiarized materials, especially the writings of Sant mat teacher Julian Johnson, in several of his books. He also charged that Twitchell had in essence fabricated a spiritual career out of his reading of and study with such teachers as L. Ron Hubbard, Kirpal Singh, and Swami Premananda. He presented evidence that articles that originally acknowledged his reliance upon these and other teachers were later republished with the names of former ECK masters substituted instead. The present ECK organization and current ECK Master Harold Klemp have acknowledged this problem in Twitchells writings but have continued the work he began believing that they do not distract from the eminent value of his larger work as an ECK Master.

Sources:

Klemp, Harold. Ask the Master. 2 vols. Minneapolis: ECKANKAR, 1993–94.

——. Soul Travelers of the Far Country. Minneapolis: ECKANKAR, 1987.

——. The Temple of ECK. Minneapolis: ECKANKAR, 1991. 149 pp.

——. What Is Spiritual Freedom? Minneapolis: ECKANKAR, 1995.

——. The Wind of Change. Menlo Park, CA: IWP Publishing, 1980.

Lane, David Christopher. The Making of a Spiritual Movement. Del Mar, CA: Del Mar Press, 1983.

Twitchell, Paul. All About ECK. Las Vegas, NV: Illuminated Way Press, 1969.

——. ECKANKAR, the Key to Secret Worlds. New York: Lancer Books, 1969.

——. The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad. 2 vols. Menlo Park, CA: IWP Press, 1971-72.

——. The Tiger's Fang. New York: Lancer Books, 1969.

★2332 ★

Eureka Society/Elan Vital School of Meditation

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Eureka Society and Elan Vital School of Meditation were founded in 1968 in Eureka, California, by Bruce K. Avenell. After a near fatal experience he was told, while sitting in meditation, that if he did not become a teacher, there was no reason to stay in his body. Since he was the father of five children, he decided to become a teacher. Having been a student of sant mat teachers Bhagat Singh Thind and Kirpal Singh, Avenell began to teach his own version of surat shabda yoga, the yoga of the sound current.

While Avenell acknowledges his roots in the sant mat tradition of India and the similarity of what he teaches with that school of practice, he states that the practices of Elan Vital also draw on advanced techniques from ancient Egypt and, as such, are unique. The basics of the Elan Vital system teach students to reach to the spiritual realms which are termed "heaven." One can reach these realms either by detaching from the physical body or by becoming attached to a spiritual master. Having attained this initial state, one is free to choose whether or not to pursue more advanced techniques.

Members are initiated by Avenell and practice the techniques he teaches through a series of correspondence lessons. There are semiannual gatherings in Texas and Mt. Shasta, California.

Membership: Not reported. There are an estimated several hundred students with the Eureka Society.

Sources:

Avenell, Bruce. A Reason for Being. La Grange, TX: Eureka Society, 1983.

★2333 ★

Kirpal Light Satsang

Merwin Lake Rd.
Kinderhook, NY 12106

Following the death of Kirpal Singh (b. 1929) in 1974 (see biographical sketch in separate entry on the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission), Darshan Singh, Kirpal Singh's son, who most thought would succeed his father, was rejected by Madam Hardevi, who had been chosen the temporal chairman of the Sawan Ashram and the Ruhani Satsang in India. She supported Thakar Singh, a leading disciple who had, in the months following Kirpal Singh's death, developed a growing belief in his commission to serve as the movement's guru. Madam Haedevi died in 1979, and Thakar Singh took complete control of the ashram.

In the wake of the refusal of the directors of the American corporation, the Ruhani Satsang-Divine Science of the Soul, some American followers who recognized Thakar Singh reorganized as the Kirpal Light Ashram and established headquarters in the Bay Area of northern California. The small group has grown in the wake of several visits by Thakar Singh to America, but does not yet approach the size of the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission.

Membership: Not reported. In 1994 there were 45 satsang and meditation groups.

Periodicals: Kirpal Light Satsang International Newsletter. • Sat.

Sources:

Singh, Thakur. Gospel of Love. Delhi, India: Ruhani Satsang, 1984.

★2334 ★

Manavta Mandir

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Alternate Address: International headquarters: ℅ Be Man Temple, Sutehri Rd., Hoshiarpur, 146001 Punjab, India.

Manavta Mandir ("Be Man" Temple) is a Sant Mat/Radhasomi group founded in 1962 at Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India, by Faqir Chand (1886-1981), a spiritual teacher in the lineage of Shiv Brat Lal. Faqir saw Manavta Mandir providing a more ecumenical and non-sectarian approach to the Radhasoami tradition. Faqir also offered a very different interpretation of guru-based spirituality. Faqir suggested that spiritual teachers were generally unaware of the underlying argued that all gurus of whatever stripe were ignorant about the real cause of the miraculous events and visionary phenomena often attributed to them. This ignorance frequently led, unjustifiably, to the guru gaining power, attention, and devotion from followers who incorrectly imputed vast powers upon such masters.

Faqir's guru, Shiv Brat La, was an initiate of Rai Salig Ram, who in turn was the chief disciple of Shiv Dayal Singh, generally seen as the founder of Radhasoami. Faqir succeeded Lal in 1939, and afterwards established his main center at Hoshiarpur

Faqir traveled widely and made annual trips throughout India and abroad preaching his version of the Radhasoami teachings. He emphasized points shared with other Sant Mat teachers (vegetarianism, sexual purity, no drugs/alcohol, and daily meditation). He stood out by his confession of ultimate unknowingness. After seventy years of meditation, he still told people that he did not know what would happen to him after death and if God really existed.

Faqir died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1981 while touring the United States. He was 95. Only a short time earlier, he had appointed his spiritual successor, Dr. I. C. Sharma, a philosophy professor residing in the United States. He also designated several other people (both male and female) as initiating gurus in his lineage. Sharma backtracked from Faqir and emphasized more traditional Radhasoami themes on shabd yoga and spirituality. Sharma appointed Shoonyo Maharaj as his spiritual successor, and following Sharma's death, Shoonyo, who resides in India, became the chief resident guru for Manavta Mandir.

Membership: Today, Manavta Mandir reports more than 100,000 followers worldwide. It has a small following in the United States and Canada.

Periodicals: Manav Mandir, ℅ Be Man Temple, Sutehri Rd., Hoshiarpur, 146001 Punjab, India.

Sources:

Juergensmeyer, Mark. Radhasoami Reality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991.

Lane, David C. The Radhasoami Tradition. New York: Garland Publishers, 1992.

The Unknowing Sage: The Life and Work of Baba Faqir Chand. Walnut, CA: MSAC, 1993.

★2335 ★

Master Ching Hai Meditation Association

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Alternate Address: Supreme Master Hai Meditation Association, PO Box 9, Hsi Hu, Miao Li Hsien, Taiwan, R.O.C.

The Master Ching Hai Meditation Association is built around the teachings of Master Ching Hai Wu Shang Shih, a teacher of Shabd Yoga of the sound current, who has placed her teachings in a multi-religious context. Master Ching Hai was born in Vietnam, the daughter of Roman Catholic parents. She was introduced to Buddhism by her grandmother. When she was 18, she moved to England to study and then on to France and Germany. In Germany she married a physician, a Buddhist, and settled down to the rather mundane life as a housewife. However, during her married years, a long-time spiritual quest came to the fore and she sat at the feet of many teachers, both Buddhist and Hindu. Eventually, she left home in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. She had reached the conclusion that the best way to assist others was to first attain total Realization herself.

In the Buddhist Surangama Sutra, she read of the Quan Yin method, the surest method to attain enlightenment, but it was not described and she could locate no one who understood of what the method consisted. Finally, her quest led her to northern India where she was initiated into the surat shabd yoga of the sound current by one of the masters of the Radha Soami tradition. This yoga, she concluded, was identical to the Quan Yin Method. Along with practicing the method, she moved to Taiwan and was ordained. In Taiwan, a group of devotees of Avalokitesvara (Quan Yin) sought her out and asked that she teach them her method.

Master Ching Hai taught in Taiwan through the 1980s and by the end of the decade was reaching out with her teachings worldwide, an initial network being established through Vietnamese refugee communities. Initiates are asked to follow the five precepts: to refrain from taking the life of sentient beings, speaking what is not true, taking what is not offered, sexual misconduct, and the use of intoxicants. Among the implications of the five precepts is the adoption of a vegan or lacto-vegetarian diet by initiates.

By the early 1990s, the movement had spread worldwide with followers in South Africa, Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, and Salvador), eleven countries of Europe, and around the Asian Pacific Rim from Korea and Japan to Australia and New Zealand. Writings by and about the teachings have been translated into a number of languages and are supplemented with both audio and video tapes.

Membership: Not reported. As of 1993 there were 35 centers in the United States and an additional 73 centers worldwide.

Periodicals: The Supreme Master Ching Hai News, The Supreme Master Ching Hai Meditation Association in China, No. 39, Dongsanhu, Sanhu Village, Hsihu Shiang, Miaoli Hsien, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Sources:

Ching Hai Wu Shang Shih. The Key to Enlightenment. 2 vols. Miaoli Hsien, Taiwan, R.O.C.: Meditation Association in China, 1991.

★2336 ★

MasterPath

PO Box 9035
Temecula, CA 92589

MasterPath was founded in the mid-1980s by Gary Olsen. Olsen had been an associate of Darwin Gross, the former ECK master of ECKANKAR. Gross left ECKANKAR in 1983 to found Sounds of Soul (SOS). Olsen was associated with Sounds of Soul for a short while, but was appointed to leave to found MasterPath.

MasterPath teaches the way to truth through the reactivation of the sound current within. That reactivation is accomplished by the Living Master. The goal is to become a co-worker with Anami, a name for the deity. The first step on the path is self-realization, a realization of one's true self and place in the universe. The soul body, or true self, can travel the sound current to the higher spiritual worlds through the assistance of the Shabda Master, the inner teacher, who works through the Living Master. The MasterPath website is at http://www.masterpath.org.

Membership: Not reported.

Sources:

Olsen, Gary. MasterPath. Glendora, CA: MasterPath, 1988.

A Profile of the MasterPath. Glendora, CA: MasterPath, n.d.

★2337 ★

Nirankari Universal Brotherhood Mission

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Nirankari Universal Brotherhood Mission is one of several Sant Mat groups which traces its lineage to Jaimal Singh, founder of the Radha Soami Satsang, Beas. It was founded by Boota Singh (1873-1943) a tattoo artist who in 1929 received a succession from Kahn Singh. Boota Singh became known for his opposition to the rigid conventions and rituals of the Sikhs; he opposed all taboos, castes, creeds, and divisions based upon external habits and appearances. He discarded all dictates concerning what one eats, drinks, or wears. Boota Singh was succeeded by Avtar Singh (1899-1969). After the partition of 1947 (which established Pakistan as a separate state), Avtar Singh moved the headquarters of the Nirankari Mission to Delhi and formally established the Sant Nirankari Mandal. He wrote a constitution and gave it its present organizational structure. He authored Avtar Baani, which functions as a holy book for the movement. Under Avtar Singh, the mission flourished and a colony was established on the Januma River in Delhi. In 1969 Avtar Singh was succeeded by Gurbachan Singh, who had the year previous traveled to Europe to establish the work there. By 1973 there were 354 branches with work outside of India in England, Hong Kong, Canada, and the United States.

The spread of the Nirankari Mission to the West began in 1955 when Bhag Mal, a member, moved to England. The mission was formally organized in 1962. Soon after becoming head of the mission, Gurbachan Singh, who had helped develop the work in the West, formed a foreign section to focus upon growth outside of India. In 1971 he made his first trip to North America. Beginning in Vancouver, he moved to San Francisco where he appointed Dr. Iqhaljeet Rai as president of the Nirankari Universal Mission in the United States. He continued his journey across the United States and visited Toronto and Montreal before returning home. In 1972 headquarters were moved to Madison, Wisconsin.

Internationally, the mission is headed by the Seven Stars, who are seven men picked by the guru to serve for life. The mission in India, after receiving persecution, organized the Sant Nirankari Seva Dal, a defense force to protect the group against acts of violence directed against it.

Essential to the life of the mission is gian, the giving of the knowledge by the guru to each member. This process, the exact nature of which is held confidential within the group, establishes the relationship of guru to disciple. As the mission has grown, specific disciples have been appointed to represent the guru in the giving of knowledge. Members of the mission agree to live by the five principles: 1) Nothing is ours. All possessions—physical, mental, material—are a divine loan which we must utilize only as trustees and not as masters. 2) No discrimination based upon caste, creed, color, religion, or worldly status. 3) No criticism of anyone's diet or dress, as this creates conflict and breeds hatred.4) No renunciation of the world. One should continue performing one's normal vocations and functions of life and be always righteous. 5) No divulgence of the Divine Secret of the gian except with permission of the True Master.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Sant Nirankari. Send orders to Nirankari Colony, Delhi 1100009, India.

Sources:

Chugh, J. S. Fifty Years of Spiritual Bliss: Comemorative Sourvenir on the Golden Jubilee Nirankari San Samagam, November 6-10, 1997. Delhi: Sant Nirankari Mandal, 1997.

Gargi, Balwany. Nirankari Baba. Delhi, India: Thomson Press, 1973.

Joshi, Nirmal, and Bhupender Bekal, eds. Salvation Tours (1995-96). Delhi: Sant Nirankari Mandal, 1997.

★2338 ★

Order of the Blue Star

Current address not obtained for this edition.

The Order of the Blue Star was founded by Christopher Tims, a spiritual teacher who had experienced a broad range of spiritual training in yoga, reiki healing, and martial arts, but especially in the surat shabd yoga of the sound current. Members think of him as a spiritual traveler who resides on the inner planes. He accompanies his students as they make their journeys into spiritual realms, in a manner similar to that of the ECK master in ECKANKAR. New members are presented the work of the order in a workshop on light and soul healing. A second workshop introduces the idea of spiritual traveling in the inner planes. The inner teachings of the order are presented in a set of lessons called Discourses, on which one must pass a test in order to be admitted to the inner circle of the order.

Membership: Not reported.

★2339 ★

Radha Soami Satsang, Beas

10901 Mill Springs Dr.
Nevada City, CA 95959

Alternate Address: International headquarters: Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, Dist. Amritstar 143 204, Punjab, India; Canadian representative: Dr. J. Khanna, 5550 McMaster Rd., Vancouver, BC V6T 1J8.

History. Several groups presently operating in North America derive their existence from the spiritual movement begun in 1861 by Param Sant Soami Ji Maharaj, born Seth Shiv Dayal Singh (1818-1878), at Agra, India. It is reported that Soami Ji, as he is popularly called, began to expound on spiritual topics from an early age. The substance of his teaching were later gathered in his two books both with the same title, Sar Bachan, one written in prose and one in poetry. His teachings were not new, but continued the Bhakti Nam (devotion to the name of God) teachings previously expounded by such people as Kabir Singh, Guru Nanak (1469-1539), Tulsi Singh (1763-1843?), and Guru Ravi Das. But the unique element in Soami Ji's presentation was the simple and lucid manner of his teachings on the practice of Nam Bhakti, also known as surat shabd yoga or the yoga of the sound current. During his lifetime, he initiated more than 4,000 people into the path.

Soami Ji designated Rai Salig Ram (1829-1898) as his successor at Agra. Rai Salig Ram in turn appointed Pandit Brahmanand Shankar Misra as his successor. When Misra died, a controversy arose over the designation of the next leader. This resulted in a split in the Radha Soami Satsang headquartered at Agra into two groups. Neither has known representatives in North America. At the same time (1877) that Soami Ji designated Rai Salig Ram as his successor at Agra, he deputed Baba Jaimal Singh (1838-1903) to spread the teachings in the Pubjab. Baba Ji, as he is popularly called, was initiated by Soami Ji, who advised him to join the army rather than live a life as a recluse. During most of his army career, he was stationed at Agra and thus had frequent direct access to Soami Ji. He was still in the army when Soami Ji died and thus did not even begin to teach and initiate until 1884. In 1889, he retired from the army and settled near Beas on the river at a place known as Dera Baba Jaimal Singh. He remained there for the last years of his life giving satsang and meditating.

Baba Jaimal Singh, shortly before his death, appointed Maharaj Sawan Singh (1858-1948) as his successor. Like Baba Ji, he was a soldier, having served for 28 years. Initiated in 1894, he remained in the army until 1911 and then devoted the remainder of his life to teaching Sant Mat. He settled at the Dera and resided there the rest of his life. Sawan Singh built the Radha Soami Beas into the largest of the Radha Soami movements. During his period of leadership, the facilities at the dera greatly expanded. He traveled widely through the Punjab and India spreading the message to all parts of the land among people of all castes. During this period the number of initiates increased from 2,343 to 125,375.

It was also during the time of Sawan Singh that the teachings reached the United States. One of his disciples, Kehar Singh Sasmus passed them to Dr. H. M. Brock and his wife at Port Angelus, Washington, and initiated them in 1911. The Brocks in turn were authorized to initiate others. Julian Johnson was attracted to the movement in the 1920s and in 1931 was initiated. His book, The Path of the Masters, became a classic presentation of the teachings for English-speaking audiences. Brock was succeeded as the Master's representative by Harvey Myers and he by Roland de Vries. There are currently three additional representatives in the United States, H. F. Weekly, Roy E. Ricks, and Gene Ivash. There are two in Canada, J. Khanna and R. S. Davis.

Sawan Singh appointed Maharaj Jagat Singh (1884-1951) as his successor. Though only three years in the leadership post, he initiated more than 18,000 and gained a reputation as a practical mystic. The day before his death he designated Maharaj Charan Singh(b. 1916) as his successor. Charan Singh, the grandson of Sawan Singh, was largely raised at the Dera. Well educated, he became a lawyer in 1942 but gave up a florishing practice in 1951 to assume leadership of the movement. He developed the movement in areas far beyond those envisioned by his predecessors. Not only has he undertaken extensive tours of India but has traveled to many foreign lands. He has initiated 1.25 million individuals and under his leadership the Radha Soami Satsang, Beas has become larger than all the other Sant mat groups combined.

Beliefs. The Radha Soami philosophy is very much like the gnostic and Manichean beliefs of the ancient Mediterranean Basin. (These religions believed matter to be evil, and only spirit to be good.) The Radha Soami cosmology begins with Radha Soami Dayal, the Supreme Spiritual Being, from whom emanated all existance in His Mauj (literally, wave). It is the divine sound or "Shabd" or the "Word" from which emerged creation. As it descended into the lower realms of matter, maya and mind, it became imprisoned beyond any possibility of escape by itself. To teach individuals the way of escape is the purpose of the incarnations of the Supreme Being in the human form of living masters or sant satgurus.

Surat shabd yoga, it is believed, is the only way of return of the soul to its source. It consists of three parts: 1) simram, the repetition of the five holy names; 2) dhyan, contemplation of the form of the master; and 3) listening to the divine melody (shabd) which enables the student to become attuned to the sound and the light emanating from it. The practical guidance of a living master, who is believed to be the "Word made flesh," is deemed indispensable. The divine sound is like a radio wave that guides the soul back to its eternal home, where it merges and becomes liberated from the cycle of births and rebirths. Students on the path are required to be vegetarians, refrain from alcohol, and of a good moral character. Students are asked to devote two and a half hours a day to meditation, preferably in the morning.

Organization. International headquarters are in the Punjab. The movement internationally is headed by the living master, Charan Singh, also designated as Patron. The movement is organized as a trust society (similar in India to a non-profit corporation). The society consists of 11 members nominated by the Patron, from which is drawn a five-member governing body, the executive committee.

In North America the movement is very decentralized with four initiating representatives in various parts of the United States and two more in Canada. The periodical is published in Kansas and books centers are located in Washington, D.C., and Gardena, California.

Membership: Not reported. In 1986, there were more than 100 places of gathering for lectures and discussions of the Radha Soami teachings in the United States and seven such locations in Canada. There were more than 300 centers and sub-centers in India and more than 100 in various countries of the world.

Periodicals: Radha Soami Greetings. Send orders to 18 Countryside Dr., Hutchinson, KS 67501

Sources:

Fripp, Peter. The Mystic Philosophy of Sant Mat. London: Neville Spearman, 1964.

Radha Soami Satsang Beas and Its Teachings. Beas, India: Radha Soami Satsang, Beas, n.d.

Radha Soami Satsang Beas, Origin and Growth. Beas, Punjab, India: Radha Soami Satsang, 1981.

Singh, Huzur Maharaj Sawan. Philosophy of the Masters. 5 vols. Beas, India: Radhasoami Satsang, Beas, 1963-1967.

Singh, Maharaj Charan. Light on Sant Mat. Beas, India: Radha Soami Satsang, Beas, 1958.

——. The Path. Beas, India: Radhasoami Satsang, Beas, 1969.

★2340 ★

Sant Bani Ashram

Franklin, NH 03235

Among the early and more important centers of the followers of Kirpal Singh (see biographical material in item on Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission) was the Sant Bani Ashram in Franklin, New Hampshire. Headed by Russell Perkins, the center had handled much of the publishing for the movement over the decades. Among the significant titles are several volumes of Kirpal Singh's collected works. After the death of Kirpal Singh in 1974, Perkins refused to recognize Darshan Singh, the popularly supported candidate as Kirpal Singh's successor. Having heard of Ajaib Singh, he visited his ashram in the Rajasthan desert and eventually recognized him as Kirpal Singh's successor. Joining Perkins was Arran Stephens, Kirpal Singh's Canadian representative, and head of Kirpal Ashram in Vancouver. Stephens had been the first Westerner to hear of Ajaib Singh and had raised the possibility of his being Kirpal Singh's successor in an issue of the movement's magazine, Sat Sandesh.

Ajaib Singh was initiated in 1967 by Kirpal Singh. Ajaib Singh has his major following in North America and has visited his disciples in America on a several occasions. He adopted the name of the New Hamphire center as that of his own work in India.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Sant Bani: The Voice of the Saints. Available from Sant Bani Ashram, Franklin, NH 03235.

Remarks: After promoting Ajaib Singh for several years, Arran Stephens withdrew his support, claiming that Ajaib Singh contradicted many of Kirpal Singh's teachings and had on several occasions misrepresented both events which had occurred to him and his relationship to Kirpal Singh.

Sources:

Singh, Kirpal. Morning Talks. Franklin, NH: Sant Bani Ashram, 1974.

——. The Way of the Saints. Sanbornton, NH: Sant Bani Ashram, 1976.

Singh, Kirpal, Ajaib Singh, and Sawan Singh. The Message of Love. Sanbornton, NH: Sant Bani Ashram, n.d.

★2341 ★

Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission

Current address not obtained for this edition.

Alternate Address: International headquarters: ^c /o Kirpal Ashram, 2 Canal Rd., Vijay Magar, Delhi, India 110009.

The Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission is one of three organizations which claims to continue the work of the Ruhani Satsang founded in 1951 by Kirpal Singh (1896-1974). In 1917 Kirpal Singh had a vision of a "Radiant Form" whom he took to be Guru Nanak (the founder of Sikhism). In 1924, however, he met Sawan Singh (head of the Radhasoami Satsang, Beas) and recognized him as the one in the vision. He stayed with Sawan Singh for the last twenty-four years of his life.

When Jagat Singh received the succession from Sawan Singh, Kirpal Singh left Beas and began the independent Sawan Ashram in Delhi. In 1951, at the time Charan Singh succeeded Jagat Singh, he formed the Ruhani Satsang. In 1949, T. S. Khanna, a disciple of Kirpal Singh, migrated to Canada and established the Ruhani Satsang in Toronto. Several years later he moved to the Washington, D.C. suburb of Alexandria, Virginia.

The growth of the work was accelerated by the two visits of Kirpal Singh in 1955 and 1963, during which time he toured cities in North America and initiated many individuals. As a result, a national association of members and centers was incorporated in California as the Divine Science of the Soul. Kirpal Singh, however, had initiated people without regard for their affiliations and religious background. Some preferred to create informal groups and became tied together very loosely under the Ruhani Satsang, incorporated by Khanna in Washington. In 1972 Kirpal Singh ordered the merger of the American work and the California corporation and the Washington corporation was dissolved. Khanna was elected chairman of the board of the merged body, Ruhani Satsang-Divine Science of the Soul.

Kirpal Singh died in 1974. The movement divided anew as various centers became aligned to the several claimants to Kirpal Singh's succession. In both India and the United States, the largest number of initiates and centers followed Darshan Singh (b. 1921), Kirpal Singh's son. Led by T. S. Khanna and other longtime disciples such as Olga Donenberg and Sunnie Cowen, these members reorganized as the Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission. (Meanwhile, the broad of the Ruhani Satsang-Divine Science, the continuing corporate structure, has refused to recognize any successor to Kirpal Singh.) Darshan Singh made his first visit to the United States in 1978. Having lost control of Sawan Ashram, due to his rejection by Madam Hardevi, who had been chosen temporal chairman of the Ruhani Satsang in India, he established a new center, Kirpal Ashram, also in Delhi. Following his 1978 tour, he also opened a free kitchen and medical dispensary at the ashram complex. Like his father, Darshan Singh has continued to promote interfaith work and has authored a number of books.

Outside of India, disciples of Darshan Singh could be found in over twenty-five countries of the world. Sawan Kirpal Publications is the publishing arm of the movement, and several structures have emerged to handle various audiovisual material.

Membership: Not reported.

Periodicals: Sat Sandesh. • Sawan Kirpal Ruhani Mission Newsletter. Available from Rte. 1, Box 24, Bowling Green, VA22427.

Sources:

A Brief Biography of Darshan Singh. Bowling Green, VA: Sawan Kirpal Publications, [1983].

Chadda, H. C., ed. Seeing Is Above All. Bowling Green, VA: Sawan Kirpal Productions, 1977.

Portrait of Perfection, a Pictorial Biography of Kirpal Singh. Bowling Green, VA: Sawan Kirpal Publications, 1981.

Sena, Bhadra. The Beloved Master. Delhi, India: Ruhani Satsang, 1963.

Singh, Darshan. The Secret of Secrets. Bowling Green, VA: Sawan Kirpal Productions, 1978.

Singh, Kirpal. Godman. Delhi, India: Ruhani Satsang Sawan Ashram, 1967.

——. The Jap Ji. Bowling Green, KY: Sawan Kirpal Productions, 1981.

★2342 ★

Sserulanda Foundation

PO Box 5578, Manhattanville Station
New York, NY 10027

Alternate Address: International headquarters: Sserulanda Nsulo Y'obulamu Spiritual Foundation, Sseesa-miremba, Uganda.

The Sserulanda Foundation is the American affiliate of the Sserulanda Nsulo Y'obulamu Spiritual Foundation, founded in 1957 by Dr. Jozzewaffe Kaggwa Kaguwa Kaggalanda Mugonza, known by his followers as Bambi Baaba, a spiritual teacher from Uganda. Mugonza was born in Bugere village in Uganda, the son of Roman Catholic parents. Two serpents were said to have appeared at the moment of his birth; they symbolize his power and his mission of emancipating humanity from disease and the vicious cycle of birth and rebirth. He showed signs of a religious bent early in life. He would assume the role of a priest in playing with other children. He also had experiences of bi-location and had encounters with flying saucers, traveling in them to higher dimensional levels.

In 1969 he journeyed to India, where he apparently met a variety of spiritual teachers, including some in the Radha Soami lineages. While Bambi Baaba's teachings are largely identical to the Radha Soami Path of the Master, Bambi Baaba claims that he did not receive the teachings in India, but used his relationship with an Indian master to gain the acceptance of the people in Uganda with whom he initially worked. Upon his return, with his brothers he founded Kaliisoliiso Star, a company to study scientific and esoteric phenomena. He was arrested by the government on three occasions, the first time in 1972 when he was accused of bringing a new religion into Uganda which prevented members from eating meat and drinking alcohol. He was finally found innocent two years later. He was arrested again in 1974 and 1985, but again was released after a short while. In 1975 he discovered a location, a cave, which he had seen in a vision in 1949. There he established Sseesa-mirembe (Generator of Peace) and began building a future spiritual city for studying and practicing the path of the Masters.

The teachings of Bambi Baaba are quite similar to that of Radha Soami. Humans are seen as sparks of God who have for years associated with the alien nature of this life. To escape this life one needs a Perfect Living Saint and Master. The Master guides people through a process of initiation, termed Okutendeka (or training). The soul must travel from the lower body centers to the higher body centers to the various physical realms (astral, causal, and spiritual) to the fifth level, the natural home of souls. The true master initiates people into the Sound Current (shabd) which the soul will follow to the higher realms. He will also explain the colors that the soul will see at each level of development. The Master will meet the student as they travel the inner planes and assist them. Initiates are asked to eat a vegetarian diet and refrain from the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and narcotics.

The Sserulanda Nsulo Y'obulamu spread to other locations in Uganda, and in 1985 a center was opened in Geneva, Switzerland. The first North American center opened in Montreal the next year. The New York community opened in 1987.

In 1992 Bambi Baaba released a petition to the world reflecting upon what he saw as the planetary dilemma of viceful behavior and worldwide discord that threatens human self-annihilation. He offered a message from the Ansenserenical adepts, those divine beings who had evolved and transcended to the higher planes of the spiritual world: It is now imperative that all of humanity institute a cooperative activity of sharing all knowledge and physical resources to accomplish planetary purification by means of an economic and cultural rejuvenation. The first step is the reconnection between the people of the world and the Ansenserenical beings.

Membership: Not reported.