Reference
A plain-language glossary
Twenty terms used across the teachings, biography, timeline, and archive records. Definitions identify the source tradition and avoid treating one translation as exhaustive.
20 source-linked terms · initiation-specific words intentionally excluded
Terms A–Z
- Ashram
- A place organized for spiritual practice, study, and community life. Sawan Ashram in Delhi appears often in the chronology.
- Bhajan
- A devotional song or spiritual practice term. Its meaning depends on context, so catalog records preserve the source's wording.
- Bhandara
- A commemorative gathering or community observance; source records may use it for events honoring a teacher's life.
- Darshan
- Seeing or being in the presence of a respected spiritual figure; the exact devotional meaning varies by context.
- Dhyan
- Attention, contemplation, or meditation; a related term used when discussing collected inner attention.
- Guru
- A teacher or guide. In the cited spiritual literature the word can carry a more specific theological meaning than its everyday use.
- Master
- An English title used in the source literature for a spiritual teacher. This archive uses it when reflecting a source, not as an institutional endorsement.
- Naam
- Literally name; in these writings it can also designate the divine Word or God-in-expression, not merely an ordinary spoken name.
- Ruhani Satsang
- The organization founded by Sant Kirpal Singh around 1950 as a platform for his teaching work, according to the named sources.
- Sant Mat
- A modern umbrella term meaning the teachings or path of the saints. Here it refers to the tradition in which Sant Kirpal Singh taught.
- Satguru
- A term often translated as true spiritual teacher. Claims about lineage or succession must be attributed to the source making them.
- Satsang
- Association with truth; commonly used for a spiritual discourse, gathering, or company centered on truth.
- Seva
- Voluntary service, often understood as selfless service offered without public reward or status.
- Shabd
- A Sanskrit- and Punjabi-derived term translated in the cited works as Sound or Word and used for a divine principle in the tradition.
- Simran
- Remembrance; in the cited teaching, a practice associated with recollection and collected attention. Initiation-specific words are not published here.
- Surat
- Attention or the soul's faculty of awareness in the vocabulary of Surat Shabd Yoga.
- Surat Shabd Yoga
- A contemplative tradition whose name joins surat, or attention, with shabd, a term for the divine Sound or Word in the published teaching.
- Unity of Man
- The name of a public message and the February 1974 conference emphasizing shared humanity across religious and social differences.
- Word
- An English rendering used comparatively with Naam and Shabd in Sant Kirpal Singh's published works.