Sant Thakar Singh - Ask before Initiation
Ralph Steinhaus
(Know Thyself as Soul USA) before initiation:
1) Is initiation permanent? Will I be permitted to drop your practices and
affiliation with your satsangs and organization without recrimination if I
find no benifit in my life? Is there a standard procedure to get
"uninitiated" and be allowed a chance to persue other paths and Masters?
2) Is the performance of your meditation practices safe? Do routine small
numbers (~10% worldwide) of your initiates suffer chronic entity possession
problems? Do the initiating representatives suffer entity possession
problems?
3) Much fanfare is often given by initiating representatives to the fact
that you do not require sacrifice of all your possessions, quitting your
job, leaving your family to follow your path. Is it true you do not require
these things or do you sometimes just add on these requirements after
initiation when it is too late to back out?
4) Does God permit you to destroy, degrade, and injure some placed in your
care at initiation while preserving, cleaning, and elevating others who took
the same initiation vows? Are you permitted to lie about your intensions to
the seekers before the initiation only to reveal yourself and your honest
intent after initiation?
These and other questions I wish I had asked before initiation.
Ralph Steinhaus
Choosing a spiritual teacher and path is a very serious matter and should be
undertaken carefully and only after very earnest prayer, soul searching, and
deliberation. Missionaries of Sant Thakar Singh through his organization
"Know Thyself as Soul" engage in deception with respect to significant
aspects of his path and method. Sant Thakar Singh's missionaries frequently
suggest as a "pitch" to new seekers-
"Just try the initiation. You can give it up in the future if you find no
benefits". I have found that the spiritual inner connection formed by Sant
Thakar Singh during initiation can not be broken or unilaterally given up by
any means at all that I have been able to discover. There is no practical
way to "walk away". There is no chance to "give up the practice if you find
no benefits or negative benefits". Missionaries of Sant Thakar Singh
understate the seriousness of the choice they are offering to earnest
seekers and do them a serious disservice by
inferring that the choices are light ("just try it!"). The choice of
spiritual Master will probably have greater affect on your happiness then
the choice of a spouse. A spouse you might divorce at the utter last if
incompatible but a spiritual Master of the might of Thakar Singh you will
never escape from by any means of your own at all. If your Master is not
100% ethical, honest, and compassionate you could be subject to many serious
problems. The spiritual connection formed by a high Sant Mat Master is
subtle but very strong. At some high level after initiation you share some
components of higher mind and soul. In the ideal situation the initiate
rises up to realize his Master and becomes one with him at a very high noble
level. If the process is not directed by a perfect compassionate Master the
initiate can be subject to defects in the Master (if he has any). Large
numbers (between 10 and 30% of the over 200,000 initiates worldwide) of Sant
Thakar Singh's initiates suffer from serious debilitating chronic entity
possession. Entity possession involves losing voluntary control (total or
partial) of mind and body permanently or for only a period of time. Some
initiates (sadly most often women whose systems seem to be more attractive
and possibly slightly weaker to unclean spirits) get "run" by unclean forces
outside themselves. Symptoms are sometimes subtle (quick sharp emotional
swings) and sometimes very dramatic and overt (involuntary hopping, jumping,
flinching, and crying out uncontrollably in a succession of voices human and
animal). Sant Thakar Singh has explained in response to the many initiate
complaints that have resulted from these problems that "I am using this time
to clean not only the souls of this earth but also the inner realms". A door
inside normally lift alone seems to have been opened and unclean spirits are
cast into initiate souls and bodies to be blessed and perfected in the
meditations of the initiates. Sadly this is done without the knowledge or
agreement of the initiates. While it must be granted that this process of
"casting in demons" gives the Master double results from the meditations of
the initiates (not only the initiates are benefited but the demons of the
lower plains are as well) this is done a significant cost to the health,
integrity, and in some cases practical sanity of the initiates. When the
initiates got initiated they had NO IDEA (and received no inkling from the
missionaries or Master) that anything like this suffering could be in store
for them. They received only bland assurances of Master's protection and a
suggestion "just meditate and things will get better". Many well meaning
initiates received Thakar Singh's initiation and after repeated tours are
still trying to escape from their serious debilitating entity possession
problems. It is deception and misconduct to not inform honest seekers and
prospective initiates of the practical risks to their health and sanity from
entity possession in following the practices of Sant Thakar Singh.
Before considering taking initiation from Sant Thakar Singh please take the
time to ask the Master or his Initiating Representatives about the
prevalence of entity possession among the initiates world wide. Your health
and long term happiness is at stake in your choice which should be fully
informed and free (not driven by pressure tactics and deceptive underplaying
of significant facts that most people considering initiation would want to
know). Sant Thakar Singh is a mighty figure (high and terribly strong). Many
well meaning people took his initiation and are now in states of real
suffering. Please take the time to ask about opportunities to practically
leave his group if unsatisfied before you take the
initiation. Please ask your missionary/representative if there are
significant numbers of initiates suffering from chronic long term entity
possession (causing loss of personal integrity, loss of jobs, loss of
relationships, and in a few rare cases has contributed to loss of life and
suicide) among the initiates world wide (many of the missionaries themselves
suffer from entity possession to varying degrees of severity). There are
other Sant Mat teachers out there that offer the spiritual benefits without
the very very serious downside risks ( I believe Master Ching Hai and
Rajinder Singh are totally ethical, safe, and compassionate teachers of this
class. There may well be others.). You owe it to yourself and your family to
investigate the risks and do the work to get the information before you take
the step of initiation.