Dec 20, 2022
Today I explore the origin of Five
Names of Sant Mat (Panch Naam Mantra or Simran Words) and the
connection to the Sant Dharam Das/Kabir Line of Masters (the People
of the Anurag Sagar, a Kabir/Sant Dharam Das sacred text).
In some branches of Sant Mat and
Radhasoami, part of the meditation instructions includes the use of
five special names. These particular Five Names serve as the mantra
-- sacred names used during meditation practice and simran/zikhr
(remembrance). These names appear in the Sar Bachan Poetry of
Seth Shiv Dayal Singh, (Soamiji Maharaj, a.k.a. Sant Radhasoami
Sahib, founder of the Radhasoami Satsang). The consensus is
that Seth Shiv Dayal Singh had been given instruction about the use
of these Five Names or Panch Naam by his initiating guru Sant Tulsi
Sahib.
These Five Names are in fact used by
the Sant Tulsi Sahib satsang based in Hathras. Prof. David Lane,
accompanied by Prof. Mark Juergensmeyer, recalling a visit to India
and an encounter with Sant Prakash Das of the Sant Tulsi Sahib
Ashram or Mandir: "...The Mahant we spoke with in Hathras (1978)
said Tulsi gave out the Five Names.... He was part of Tulsi's
lineage."
So, who was using the Panch Naam
Mantra -- these Five Names -- prior to the time of Sant Tulsi
Sahib? It's an important question as it may shed further light on
the identity of Tulsi Sahib's guru and the origins of this
spiritual path called Sant Mat. If Tulsi Sahib did not invent the
usage of the Five Names himself, then it's rather likely he was
continuing the practice he had learned at the feet of his own Sant
Satguru, reflecting an even older tradition of Sants. It would be
most informative to know the identity of this earlier Sant Mat path
that represents the "people of the Five Names", if you will, those
who had these names in their mystic vocabulary during earlier
centuries.
The Panch Naam Words Traced Back to
Kabir/Dharamdasi Texts
One of the Five Names is nowhere to
be found in the Sikh world, however, the third name -- indeed all
five of the names of Tulsi Sahib's Panch Naam mantra -- are to be
found present in the Sant literature associated with Guru Kabir and
Sant Dharam Das. I can not say with certainty when these Five Names
were first adopted by a Kabir Sant Satguru (or Sant Dariya's Guru,
Sant Dariya, or Sant Tulsi) as a mantra (simran words) in this
Kabir line of masters, but I will say that these names, which are
associated with the inner cosmology and Sound Currents of the Inner
Regions according to the Sants are to be found in certain writings
of the Kabir tradition, and in other Sant writings that make use of
the literature of this Kabir tradition. The "people of the Five
Names" and "the people of the Anurag Sagar" are one and the same
community: the Dharamdasis (Sant Dharam Das line of masters). This
is the source-group and Sant tradition for the Five Names that
existed in India prior to the time of Dariya Sahib, Tulsi Sahib,
and Seth Shiv Dayal Singh.
In Divine Love, Light, and Sound, At
the Feet of the Masters,
James Bean
Sant Mat Satsang Podcasts
Spiritual Awakening Radio