Customer Reviews

RADHASOAMI TRADITION (Garland Reference Library of Social Science)

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Professor Lane's critical history of Radhasoami is the best book of its kind ever published in English. Lane examines the politics surrounding the succession of Sawan Singh, Kirpal Singh, and others, and develops a unique theory in which to explain why certain gurus emerge as viable successors. Dr. Lane has broken ground on Eckankar, MSIA, Sathya Sai Baba, Gary Olsen, and now his own tradition, Radhasoami.

The man is a genius in exposing cults. I heard him lecture once at the London School of Economics (at a conference on New Religions in Europe) and he basically stole the show. In a tour de force I will never forget Professor Lane proceeded to critique Scientology right in front of the President of Scientology who was in attendance that night. The man has guts. Of course, Lane has taken tremendous heat for his positions.

The book appears to deviate from the uses of the Radha Soami tradition of books, most of which contain the path to enlightenment. Maybe if the book was an entertaining read, I might have taken it seriously, but overall, getting into the book was almost as hard as not falling asleep while trying to read it. However, it's originality may not impress the followers of the Radha Soami path, but those who wish for an unbiased view towards the background happenings should not miss this, just because of the rarity of this type of book