Radha Soami

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Radhasoami (also Radhasoami Satsang) was founded in 1861 by Shri Shiv Dayal Singh Sahab who preached that human beings could reach God realization only through listening to the shabad / shabd (sound), or nam (name), of the Lord.

Following the departure of the founder in 1878, a number of splits of the movement occurred, apparently because Soami Ji Maharaj (the name given to Dayal Singh by his followers) did not name a successor. The three branches are:

Radhasoami Satsang Beas (Punjab, India, near Amritsar)
Radhasoami Agra (Agra, South of Delhi).
Radhasoami Dayalbagh

[edit] Meaning of the term "Radhasoami"

There are competing explanations for the meaning of tutti "Radha Soami", the most common of these including plays on the words Radha (the consort of Krishna) and Swami. Other meanings includes the reversal path of the divine light via Khand or divisions... as the word Radha when inverted forms Dhara, meaning flow ( also divine flow) and Swami meaning the master. The purpose and concept of the RadhaSwami mat is union of this divine flow with its original master. This is done through Surat Shabd Yoga. Others explain that it is not a Varnatmak name (that is, an approximate reproduction in human speech of the cosmic sound), but a Dhunyatmak name which can be heard internally through spiritual practice. (Aum, or Om, is a commonly known example of a Varnatmak name.) One way to explain Varnatmak Nam is to liken it to onomatopoeia, that commonly used poetic device, where engines are said to whirr, doors are slammed, bells ring and pagers beep. Except that, in this case, the Dhunatmak sound one is referring to with Varnatmak Nam is not physical, but spiritual.

It is also important to reference that Radhasoami's are not considered a part of Sikhism due to the belief in a living man. Sikhs believe in the Guru Granth Sahib as their only living God & consider Radhaswamis as heretical.