Definition of Santmat

Definition of Santmat

Stablemindedness or unfickleness of mind is the name of Shanti (peace or tranquility).

He who attains Shanti is a Sant (i.e. God realized soul).

The creed or faith of the Sants is called Santmat.

The urge for attaining Shanti is natural in human heart. Inspired by it the ancient rishis made a complete search for Shanti and its attainment and embodied their findings in the Upanishads. Sants like Kabir Sahab and Guru Nanak Sahab etc. also made similar attempts and embodied their faith and experiences in Bharati (Hindi) and Punjabi languages for the good of the general people. Their faith and belief are called Santmat. But Santmat bases itself upon the hymns of Upanishads (scriptures), for the highest wisdom and the special means of Naadaanusandhaan or Surat Shabda Yoga (the yoga of sound) which Santmat propounds and which lends it a unique distinction are derived from the wisdom shining undimmed in the upanishads from the immemorial ages. There appear differences in the views and faiths of the sants but their differences are all due to different names given to them at different times and places by their followers out of excessive regard for their spititual preceptors. But if the rituals and orthodoxies of the sants are excluded and if the fundamentals of their views and faiths are taken into consideration, then it would appear that the basic principles of Santmat are essentially the same.

Principles of Santmat

The absolute Reality, without origin and end, infinite, without birth, beyond the reach of senses, all pervasiveness, is worth-regarding as the Superme entity and the absolute existence who is beyond Jad (the non-conscious, lower) nature and chetan (conscious, upper) spheres of Nature, unoriginated and infinite in His very essence, beyond Sagun(qualified) and Nirgun (unqualified nature) possessed by unlimited powers, beyond time, space and sound (word), names and forms, one without a second and beyond the reach of mind, intellect and senses and on whom this vast sphere of Nature moves like a great machine who is neither an individual nor manifest and ever-existent without the effect and extensiveness of Maya (illusion) is absolutely eternal, absolutely ancient and present from beyond the beginning of the universe-- Santmat recognizes only Him as the Supreme Being (Lord of the Universe) or the Ultimate Spiritual State or the Ultimate Spiritual Existence.

Individual soul is the indivisual part of the Supreme.

Nature is finite (i.e. with the beginning and end) and created.

The individual soul caged in the bondage of Maya remains bound by the cycle of transmigration. This state of the individual soul is the source of all kinds of miseries. Devotion to God is the only way to liberation from the bondage of Maya and cycle of birth and death.

Every human being is within his or her right to transcend all the layers of Nature viz- darkness, light and sound through devotion to God by taking recourse to spiritual practices like Maanas Jap (muttering or repitition in mind with eyes closed of some holy word instructed secretly by the spiritual preceptor), Maanas Dhyaan (concentration and meditation over some holy figure with eyes closed as instructed secretly by the spiritual preceptor), Dristi Saadhan (the yoga of eye sight) and Surat Shabda-Yoga (the yoga of sound) and to attain salvation through establishing an identity with the Supreme.

One should refrain from the five deadly sins such as falsehood, intoxication, adultery, violence that is to cause distress to beings or to regard fish and flesh of animals (meat) as eatables and stealing.

An unflinching faith in the one and the only Supreme Being, full dependence on Him and a firm determination to realize Him within oneself, a sincere service to Sadguru, Satsang (association with spiritual discourses and spiritual souls) and a constant and firm practices of Saadhana (meditation)-- all these are instrumental in attaining, and lead to attainment of the Supreme.