To equate India’s Sant tradition merely with Nirguna Bhakti is a modern oversimplification — this tradition is far deeper, more debated, and more alive than that.
In this Sangam IKS series, scholar Amandeep Vashishtha offers a detailed introduction to the Sant tradition of North India. He explains that the historical roots of the word “Sant” go back to the Ashtachhap tradition of the Bhakti period, but in the 20th century, the term increasingly came to be used specifically for Nirguna worshippers.
Critically examining this classification — Saguna versus Nirguna — he explains that in the original Indian tradition, this division was never so rigid.
Based on the works of scholars such as Acharya Parshuram Chaturvedi, Nabhaji’s Bhaktamal, Hazari Prasad Dwivedi, and Purushottam Agrawal, this lecture presents the Sant tradition as a living movement of truth-seeking.

About the Speaker:
Amandeep Vasistha has been a student of Physics. Currently working with Sanskrit sodh sansthan as an independent researcher. Professionally he teaches physics at school level. His area of interest in study of folklore and religion along with new scientific insight from the West.