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Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj: The Ocean of Grace Divine  (1)
edited by Bhadra Sena

First Published:
6th February, 1976
3,000 Copies

Published by A.R. Manocha, Secretary, Ruhani Satsang, India.
Printed at Kirpal Printing Press, 29/1, Shakti Nagar, Delhi-110007



It is not possible to describe the greatness of a Being Who outsoared all human limitations into the highest spiritual realms. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj lived among us from 1894 to 1974. He compressed into His brief Ministry of twenty-six years, work which would have taken an ordinary man a century to accomplish. Among His many achievements were the founding of Ruhani Satsang and Manav Kendra, His three world tours, the many international honors which were given to Him, the Conferences of World Religions over which He presided, and the great Unity of Man Conference which He inspired in the last year of His earth life.

His supreme Mission, however, was the linking of the soul with the Oversoul by means of the primal Light and Sound Principles vibrating within each one of us. No mere theorist, He gave a practical demonstration of the God-into-Expression-Power to those who had the good fortune to come to His Feet.

For this scientific age, He presented spirituality in lucid terms as a science shorn of all rites and rituals, a science to be proved within the human body itself. We are fortunate that we can read and re-read the wonderful legacy of His many books which carry His Divine Message and His spiritual charging, and which will be read as holy scriptures by future generations.

This book is a collection of tributes to Him from some of His devotees all over the world. Each writer has tried to express some aspect of His Divine love, compassion and protection. These accounts of spiritual awakening, of Grace Divine, will undoubtedly give hope and inspiration to all seekers after Truth.

(The above is taken from the back cover.)

Beloved Master:

You often pleased to tell us that a
Godman cannot be known by us mortals except
to the extent He chooses to reveal Himself.
The fragmentary glimpses of Your Love, Your
Grace, Your Compassion, Your Omnipotence
that are gathered here, are but part of Your
gift to Your little ones. Pray accept from our
hands this Wreath of Blossoms gathered from
Your own Garden, for what can we offer that
is not already Yours?

Preface

It was on 21st August, 1974, that Sant Kirpal Singh Ji entered Maha-samadhi, bringing to an end a life that has already become a legend in our times. About a year later, a general invitation went out to all brothers and sisters to send in contributions for a memorial volume In His honor. The response has been so overwhelming that my chief problem as editor has been that of accommodating them within the covers of a single volume. I do hope that the contributors will bear with me if at times I have been compelled to edit and to condense. In trying to have this volume ready for the Beloved Master's 83rd birth anniversary, one has had to work against time. In a few instances, where contributions arrived inordinately late, it has not been possible to include them in the order which would have seemed ideal.
The inspiration for this memorial volume came to us from Beloved Darshan Singh Ji. Such a venture, of necessity, is the fruit of collective labor. Besides my general indebtedness to those who have responded to the invitation to send in material, there are some particular acknowledgements I would like to make. I am deeply grateful to sister Kate and brother Malcolm Tillis for editorial assistance and for seeing the book through the press. My son, Vinod, has helped translate into English contributions received in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, while daughter Gloria Smith has been meticulous and indefatigable in preparing the manuscript for the printer. I would also like to thank those who allowed their unique photographs of the Beloved Master to be reproduced for the first time. Last, not least, the zeal of the proprietors and staff of the Kirpal Printing Press has made the production of this book in such record time a practical possibility.

Bhadra Sena

15th January 1976
Sawan Kutir
K-91 Kalkaji
New Delhi


Contents


Preface
Illustrations

Dan Rendsland: Never Any Separation
Bibi Lajwanti: The Perfect Disciple
Iqbal Kaur: The Master's Early Days in Lahore
Gyani Bhagwan Singh: Forty-six Years of Grace from the Master
Malik Radha Krishna Khanna: Glimpses of a Perfect Being
Mata Sheila Dhir: How the Master Revealed Himself
Olga Donenberg: The Master's Blessings
O.P. Malhotra: Master's First Visit to Germany
Brigitte Boehm: My Alpha and Omega
Manohar Singh Duggal: The Unbounded Grace of the Godman
Brij Mohan Sharma: At the Lotus Feet of the Beloved
Dona G. Kelley: As I Saw the Beloved Master
Bruno Zaffina: Stories of Master's Protection and Blessings
Betty Shifflett: My Lord Waits
W.S. Mongia: Master's Three Visits to Pakistan
T.S. Khanna: The Beloved Master's Gift
Sharon Shively: The Sweet Home of the Father
Mary M. Garlich: Blessings Given by the Beloved
Ram Sevak Sharma: How Lord Shiva Directed Me to the Master
Harbhajan Kaur: With the Master in Rishikesh
Rameshwar Dass: The Supreme Being
Mata Savitri Devi Singha: The Earnings Carried Forward After Death
Vimla Bhagat: My Year With the Master
Allan Hudson: The Master's Power
G. L. Kohli: His Ways Are Miraculous
Fay March: The Naming of Jonathan
Ram Prakash Bahl: Perfection in All its Aspects
Sunnie Cowen: The Grace of the Master
Chandra Batra: Hazur's True Successor
Hiro K: The Power of a Sat Guru
Carmen Uribe: He Knew Everything
Raj Kumar Jain: The Great Experience
S. P. Chopra: Fifteen Months at Manav Kendra
Michael Grayson: Sweet Stories About the Master
Baba Ji (Mehku Lal): The Story of Master's Gardener
Sushila Devi Sharma: How Master Saved my Son
S. Ramalingam Naidoo: The Master's Drawing Power
Dharam Vir Sharma: The Story of the Kirpal Printing Press
S. R. Bhalla: The Master's Saving Grace
Shirley Tassencourt: The Power of Our Simplicity
Sushila Mehta: The Merciful Lord
Hildegard Loth: Day of Departure and Prayer
B. S. Teji: Mysterious Are His Ways
Naseeb Kaur: He Came to Save the Sinners
Kuldip Kaur Mehta: His Word Was God's Word
Jiwan Singh: In His Service
Ric Finnie: How we Met the Master
B. N. Mehta: The Abundance of Love
Rudolf Cascone: Coming to His Feet
Michael Ravens: Memories of Meetings with the Master
Richard Handel: In Wonder and Awe of His Perfect Presence
Sean Sieglen: The Forming of Manav Kendra of Maine
Ben Ringel: God Takes Care of His Children
David Helion: It Is the Master Who Finds the Disciple
S. K. Kapur: Parshad from the Master
Katie McCluney: Extracts from a Diary kept in 1973
Captain Singh: A New Life, A New Name
Elana Montiero: An Echo from Sawan Ashram
Tracy Fogg: What You See Is You
Y. S. Rajput: Photographing the Beloved Master
Jay and Ricki Linksman: In Honor of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj
Andrew Vidich: In the Garden of Non-Existence
G. van den Heever: He Revealed Himself in So Many Ways
R. Krige: My Experiences with the Great Master
Malcolm Tillis: Master's Sense of Humor
Ajit Singh Mehta: Providential Help
Mufti Atiquer Rehman Usmani: Sant Ji
Robert Smith: Notes on a Pilgrimage to the Master
J.M. Sethi: The Embodiment of the Lord
Ann Grubich: Sweet Remembrance of my Master
Joseph E. Newman: The Lord of Life
Dhani Ram Sharma: Blessed Are Those Who Die at the Feet of the Sat Guru
Eddie Boon: Precious Moments
Vidyawanti Sethi: The Lion of Mercy
Harcharan Singh: It Is He Who Draws Us
Pir Zamin Nizami: A Tribute to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj
Kate Tillis: The Master's Last Months
M.M. Chopra: The Light of the World
Hayat Singh: A Servant in His Household
A. R. Manocha: In Sweet Memory
Gurdial Singh: How I was Taken up in His Fold
Bibi Hardevi: A Favorite Poem of the Master
Gloria Smith: His Selfless Love
Bhadra Sena: The Saga of Love
Rajinder Singh Bedi: Mere Sahib (My Lord)
Virginia Vidich: The Last Darshan
Leora Herold: Let His Words Be Part of Ourselves
Trudy Ravens: God Came to Me
Sandra English: Three Flowers for Kirpal
Jamna Das Akhtar: The Greatest Miracle
Robert Gildener: The Beloved Master Never Left Us
James Forte: In Remembrance of Our Master
B. R. Misra: Overflowing Grace
Prem Chand Gupta: The Compassionate One
Darshan Singh: The Mission of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj
Susanne Horatschek: Flowers of Ashes at Rishikesh

Important Dates in the Life of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj

Publications by Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj


Never Any Separation

Dan Rendsland


what You have given
cannot be taken
by distance
by time
or
by death

in this remembrance
i am closer
to You


The Perfect Disciple

Bibi Lajwanti

It is life's greatest blessing to be at the feet of a Sant Satguru. I was privileged to serve Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj for about forty years. I first came to Him when I was very young, and I was blessed to serve Him to the last. I not only looked after the housekeeping for the Great Master and attended personally to getting and cooking His food and serving it to Him, but also to His clothes, their tailoring, washing, ironing, and mending, and to other household needs of the Great Master.
I got to know Sant Kirpal Singh Ji, who we then addressed as Bhapa Ji (respected brother), fairly early, that is about the time He came to the feet of Hazur. He was a disciple of very exceptional devotion to our Satguru. Even if He got just a day s leave, He would travel from Lahore to Beas. Once at the Dera, He would be so lost, so taken up with His Master, that He would lose all sense of whether His clothes were clean or not, neat or torn, or whether His hair was tidy. He would often put His shoes at one place and later be looking for them at another. I once remarked, Bhapa Ji, if women get lost like this, it is pardonable; but You, You should not be in this condition! What is wrong with You? He looked to me, and said, Bibi Ji, I do not know; when I reach the railway station here, it is as though I have lost half my senses, and when I arrive at the Dera I lose the remaining half. When I look into His eyes, there is magic: I am simply lost. Once in Beas, He would stay on as long as was possible. He would be working often up to midnight and return to Lahore by the 1:00 a.m. train. He would reach His destination around 3:00 a.m., and then after getting home He would be off to the office next morning. If when leaving, Hazur would offer to have Him dropped at the station in His car, Bhapa Ji would find some excuse. He would say, I am not going just yet. Maybe I will be going somewhat later. He would sometimes say to me when I protested, Why add to the wear and tear of Hazur's car? Such was His reverence for His Satguru that when departing from the Dera He would almost walk backwards so as not to turn His back upon the Master's home. It was only after He was almost out of sight that He would turn around and walk straight towards the railway station.
In Hazur s presence, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji was a man of very few words. Whatever Hazur said, it was always Yes Sir, for Him there (were) no ifs and buts. If He took a fancy to anything, His first thought was to get it for His Master. Hazur was fond of books, and when Sant Kirpal Singh Ji came across any book which He liked and thought it might please Hazur, He would get a copy and have it very beautifully bound and present it to Him. On one occasion He was very keen to have a silk coat for Hazur. Hazur would never accept gifts, but seeing the earnestness of Bhapa Ji s wish I could not refuse to help Him. The silk piece which He brought was sent to the tailor for making the coat, and when it was ready, Hazur asked about it and wanted to know how much it had cost. I did not know and when He cross-examined me I told Him by whom it had been brought. So the two of you have been conspiring against me, Hazur responded. When Kirpal Singh Ji came, He asked about the price of the silk-length. Somewhat at a loss He replied that He did not quite remember, and Hazur took out a hundred rupee bank note and handed it to Him.
Sometimes when Sant Kirpal Singh Ji came to see Hazur, I would laugh and tell Him, Bhapa Ji, if I let You go up, You would be there for such a length of time. Sorry, today we won t let you go in! He would quietly turn away and I would have to call Him back and say, I was only joking. Please go right up. You are always welcome. He had so much humility, and He never endeavored to assert Himself as many others did. Hazur used to rest in His room upstairs and would retire there for the night. Once on a beautiful moonlit night Bhapa Ji was with Him till well past midnight. I was there, too. When we came down, He suddenly wanted to go up again. Bibi Ji, it was so wonderful! Did you see? His face was so radiant, more radiant than the moon itself. He was so beautiful tonight. I would like to have His darshan again. Just this once, only for a minute. I remonstrated, We have just been with Him. And if He has stretched Himself to sleep, He would be upset. We should not disturb Him. Just this once, only a minute. Just a glimpse. Seeing Him insist, I quietly went up to ask Hazur if He could let Bhapa Ji come up again. On hearing me out He said, Oh, Kirpal is a sieve, just a sieve,and so are you! I thought He was reprimanding us, and asked, Hazur are we so bad? Do you mean that we are unable to contain Your grace and whatever love You pour simply drains through? No, no, that is not what I mean, Hazur laughed. When a disciple is truly devoted, He is like a sieve. There is no limit to the love and grace He can receive. Whatever you give, He still thirsts and yearns for more. You cannot fill Him up just as you cannot fill up a sieve. And so I went down and brought up Bhapa Ji.
Once having cleaned and washed some wheat, I had laid it out to dry. Seeing it, Bhapa Ji asked me if it was for my own use. Hazur ate very little and I explained that I would be
hand-grinding flour for His chapatis for the month. I was particular about attending to such things myself, but Bhapa Ji asked me to let Him grind the flour, saying, Bibi Ji why can t you allow me to have the blessings by permitting me to do seva such as this?
There were no limits which Sant Kirpal Singh Ji set to His love and service of Hazur. Every month He would bring His earnings and place them at the feet of His Satguru. Hazur
would keep back whatever He pleased for seva at the Dera and give the rest for running Bhapa Ji's household. Bhapa Ji never questioned; He never mentioned if there was any special expense He had in mind back home. Whatever His Satguru gave Him from the wages He had earned, He was glad to accept for His family needs. Nothing could deter Him from fulfilling His Satguru s commands and nothing could prevent Him from coming to Beas to see Him. Once when His son was seriously ill and the doctors had almost given up hope, He took the train and came to Beas. How is the child? Hazur asked Him, and He replied, You know what is best. We can't let Him go..." said Hazur, and turning to me asked me to fetch some water and a bag of patasas (sugar-puffs). He dipped two of His fingers into the water and held them there for a considerable length of time. Then giving a bottle of this water and the bag of patasas to Bhapa Ji, He said, Throw away all the medicines and in their place, from time to time, give the child a sugar-puff and some of this water.
There are so many memories that come back that I could go on with such anecdotes without end. But the important thing to realize is the kind of surrender that the Satguru asks of us. He wants us to renounce everything and surrender it unto Him. If we can surrender ourselves to Him, He remakes us in His own image.
Baba Jaimal Singh surrendered Himself to Swami Ji and became an image of His Satguru. Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj similarly surrendered Himself to Baba Ji and in due course became one with Him. In His turn, Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji showed the same quality of devotion and of surrender and became indistinguishable from Hazur in the course of time. When we come to a Satguru, we must surrender everything we have to Him, body, mind and soul. If we do this, there is no reason why we cannot reach His Radiant Form within us, and having reached that Form, He takes us further and does not stop until He has made us in His own image.


The Master's Early Days in Lahore

Iqbal Kaur

I was initiated by Hazur Baba Sawan Singh in 1928. My husband Sardar Hukam Singh was one of His very early initiates. We were living in Lahore and shortly after I came on the Path I had a chance meeting with Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji. My husband knew Him already and one day as we were walking home, Maharaj Ji was returning on His bicycle from the office. He stopped to greet my husband and we were introduced to each other.
Our home was not far from the place where Satsang was held in those days. Maharaj Ji would drop in every now and then to look us up. He would inquire how we were and sit and chat with us. As our home was on the way to Satsang, He would stop over. We would all go together, and when Satsang was over, He would walk us back home. If a satsangi did not turn up for the discourse, Maharaj Ji was so concerned that He would visit him to find out if anything was wrong. Those who were sick, He would help with medicine; those who were indigent He would help with food and clothing. He was always willing to serve the satsangis, especially the ones who were ill. He did not want people to know of the sacrifices He made and much of this help was rendered privately and only a very few of us knew the extent of His generosity and selflessness. Once in Lahore there was an outbreak of plague. When it was at its peak, corpses would reach the cremation ground by the hundreds. Kirpal Singh Ji was not only fearless in attending on those who were ill; He would also visit the cremation ground and help out there.
I should mention here that disciples in Lahore had set up two or three separate Satsangs in different parts of the city. Hazur Baba Sawan Singh was not happy with this and around 1929 He had asked Kirpal Singh Ji to hold a central Satsang and bring everyone together. We had no Satsang Ghar (Satsang Hall) in Lahore at the time and a large bungalow with a lawn was acquired for holding Satsang.
Subsequently in 1935 land was acquired for the Lahore Satsang Ghar on Ravi Road and the following year Hazur came from Beas to lay the foundation stone. Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji was entrusted with the responsibility of supervising the construction and He would visit the site every morning before going to His office and every evening on returning from it. He attended to every detail and would encourage the local satsangis to give their free time for seva. Ravi Road was a deserted place then and there were scarcely any buildings in the neighborhood. Hazur would personally visit the site every week and see how things were going. He would quietly arrive and after spending a couple of hours watching the work and giving instructions, He would leave back for Beas.
It is difficult to describe His love for Maharaj Kirpal Singh. He was exceptionally fond of Him and would entrust Him with responsibilities which He would not give to others. Kirpal Singh Ji in turn was exemplary in His devotion. Whatever was entrusted to Him He would take up. Any work He had to do for Hazur was sure to be finished in time: no excuses and no delays.
In 1932 when work began on the Satsang Ghar at Beas, Maharaj Ji demonstrated to us all the true spirit of seva. Once during this period, while Maharaj Ji sat pounding the bricks into rori, someone asked Him, Why do You have to bother about seva like this? You do so much intellectual seva for Hazur, do You really need to do all this physical seva as well? Maharaj Ji continued with His work and said, This body must give seva too. It is only right that having it I should make it do seva as well for my Satguru.
If anyone expressed respect and admiration for what He was, He was sure to say with great humility, I am nothing, a mere nobody; it is all Hazur s grace. Whatever I have and
whatever you see in me is from Him. He is everything. Once in 1940 when Hazur finished His Satsang discourse at Lahore, some satsangis lovingly complained that He gave them Satsang only very seldom. He visited Amritsar much more often and Lahore was neglected. On hearing this Hazur replied, Have I not given you Kirpal Singh Ji for the Satsang here? There is no difference between Him and myself. The Sangat was extremely happy to hear this and turning to Kirpal Singh Ji greeted Him with great love.
Hazur delivered His monthly Satsang at Beas on the last Sunday of each month and the Monday that followed was initiation day. Maharaj Kirpal Singh would invariably come to Beas for the monthly Satsang and if Monday happened to be a holiday He would stay on at the Dera. On such occasions Hazur would have Him by His side during initiation. Having given the initiation instructions, He would tell Maharaj Ji to clear up any difficulties any new initiate might have. If someone had no experience, or had not grasped some point fully, Kirpal Singh Ji would explain things to him and make him sit again.
On one occasion He was at the Dera for a whole week. It was June and it was extremely hot, and He was on leave and spending His holiday as usual at Beas. A group of seekers from Bulandshehr happened to be at the Dera at the time, and one of them prayed to Hazur for their initiation. Hazur had had a very sore throat and for a time had even lost His voice. He asked them to wait for a day and next morning at 10:00 He summoned Kirpal Singh Ji saying, This man has come here with ten seekers. Please give them Naam.
The ten persons in question were initiated by Maharaj Ji as commanded by Hazur the same day. The instructions were imparted at the bungalow of Maharaj Ji s brother and commenced at 11:00 a.m. I was at the Dera myself and speak as an eye witness. I cannot give the exact year, but it was around 1936 or so.
I come now to the time when the country was about to get independence. When Maharaj Ji was on the point of retiring, Hazur asked Him during His visit at Beas, Where do You now propose to live? He answered quietly, Wherever You wish me to be, it is only there that I want to live. There was a good deal of unrest at the time and alluding to that, Hazur went on:
If You leave Lahore, it may distress the Sangat. It is best, therefore, that You go back. And so Maharaj Ji returned to Lahore. This was around the beginning of the summer of 1947 and the country was partitioned a couple of months or so there-after. Even though He had retired He stayed on there, continued to look after the Satsang, and from time to time would travel to Beas to see Hazur. When social disturbances had reached their peak and the family was preparing to leave for Beas, Maharaj Ji's wife began locking the doors. Maharaj Ji ordered her, Don't lock the doors and add to the problems of those who have to break in. Let all the doors stay open. And so He proceeded to Beas leaving His home unlocked never to return again. It was the end of July and He was at the Dera for Hazur s birthday Bhandara. In August it was virtually a massacre and all non-Muslims had to flee from Lahore and from the whole of West Pakistan.
Hazur was ill at the time but He was still at Beas when Maharaj Ji arrived from Lahore. A few days later He proceeded to Amritsar for treatment leaving Kirpal Singh Ji behind to look after the Dera. Beas was on the main route from West Pakistan to India and refugees began reaching from both directions, those fleeing into India and those leaving for Pakistan. Maharaj Ji worked ceaselessly to look after them. One never knew how many or at what time they would arrive. Many would not have had a proper meal for days. He would see them fed and clothed and those who wished to stay at the Dera would be accommodated there. Hazur was very concerned about this and it was on account of the refugees that He left Kirpal Singh Ji behind. Once every week, however, Maharaj Ji would proceed in the morning to Amritsar to see Hazur and return to the Dera in the evening.
As the weeks slipped by the Sangat at Beas got more and more restive. Hazur's illness, especially during those disturbed times, began to worry everyone. When He got somewhat better and Baba Jaimal Singh's Bhandara on 29th December drew near, Maharaj Ji shared the Sangat s concern and asked Hazur if He would return to the Dera. He answered that He would return a little before the Bhandara and on 24th December He arrived at Beas along with Kirpal Singh Ji. The Sangat was extremely happy and relieved to see the Great Master. They thanked the Lord for His safe return and blessed Maharaj Ji for having been the instrument for bringing Him back. You have done us a great service, they said.
There are many incidents that come to my mind. I will only pick up one here to illustrate the extent of His powers even before Hazur left the body and assumed the form of Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji. We were still living in Lahore and it was the year 1946. One of my brothers was suddenly struck by pneumonia, took a turn for the worse and died. He was married and only twenty-eight. It was a great shock for all of us. Around 4:00 in the afternoon we took the body to the cremation ground which was quite a distance away. After leaving His office, Maharaj Ji stopped by on His way home, and on learning what had happened, followed us and caught up with us half way. He was on His bicycle and, getting off, joined the funeral procession. After the cremation was over, He accompanied us back and seeing our desperate condition, made us all sit down and gave a sort of Satsang. He told us that whatever had happened was under the Will of Providence. However hard it might seem to us, it was our duty to accept it. Especially if we loved the departed, it was imperative that we stay calm so that his soul might be in peace. His words brought comfort and solace at the time when we were all in great anguish.
I had a second brother who was almost ten years younger. He was deeply attached to the one who was gone and so great was the shock of the death that he was beside himself with grief. One day he disappeared and did not return home. We tried to find him but there was no trace of him at all. We all wondered what had happened and thinking of his grief we were doubly distressed. God had taken back one brother, and now the other had gone off, only the Lord knew where! That night Kirpal Singh Ji came by. It was rather late for a visit, around 11:00 or even after, but then He would call on satsangis in distress without regard to the hour. When He saw us He queried why we looked so distressed, and I explained what had happened. He reassured me and said, Don t worry about Omi. Have faith in Hazur. He will be back home safe at 5:00 in the morning.
Sure enough next morning my younger brother returned at the stipulated time. He had a strange tale to tell. Lost in his sorrow and full of the sense of the meaninglessness of life, he had wandered a long distance. Seeing a railway station, he had boarded a train and in it met a group of sadhus. They asked him where he was going and when he explained that he did not know, they invited him to join them. They got off three or four stations before Hardwar and he accompanied them. They lived in a jungle and when they got there, he realized that they were thugs in disguise. When it was time to sleep, to make sure that he could not get away, they placed him in the middle and spread themselves around him.
Realizing his danger and feeling completely helpless, Omi could not sleep. It was pitch dark and there was no means of getting away. As he lay restless, he prayed to God for deliverance. In answer to his prayer he saw Light and within it the figure of Maharaj Kirpal Singh. Maharaj Ji commanded him to get up and follow. Full of fear, he said, But how can I? They are all around me and will catch me. Maharaj Ji assured him that no one could stop him and he got up and followed Him barefoot. They were in a jungle and it was very dark. But Maharaj Ji was radiating Light, and, following that Light, my brother sped along through the jungle. After about two miles, Maharaj Ji informed him that the railway station was a few yards ahead and asked him to catch the first train from there, and left him. He proceeded as commanded and got off three stations ahead to change for Lahore. At this railway station he once again met Maharaj Ji and Maharaj Ji asked him how he had managed to join those sadhus. The boy explained his state of grief and how he had fallen into their company. They were dangerous thugs and what if they had done you to death? said Maharaj Ji. Your brother is gone and you are the only son left, He told the boy. You must think of your family first and not lose yourself in your grief in this fashion. Now catch the train for Lahore and get back to
your home as soon as you can. And so the boy caught the train and returned back to us.
I repeat, this happened almost two years before Hazur gave up the body. Even at that time Maharaj Ji could appear in His Shabd Form and help out those whom He loved regardless of where they were. He was already one with Hazur, and Hazur Himself had told the Lahore Sangat that between Him and Kirpal Singh there was no difference.



Forty-six Years of Grace from the Master

Gyani Bhagwan Singh

Remembrance of the dear Master and the pangs of separation fill me with sadness. How a poor man, a sinner like myself who was floating in the world of the senses and struggling along, was picked up by Sant Kirpal Singh Ji is a marvellous thing in itself.
From 1921 to about 1928 I was living in Amritsar, the place of the Golden Temple, the place of the Gurus. I was not a religious man by temperament, nor perhaps am I one now; but spontaneously and with devotion I used to pray: Oh God, please take me to Your Feet, but suffer me not to have want of worldly things. In 1927 I married into a family of standing and religious background. They were living in Lahore, and at that time Bhapa [Elder Brother] Kirpal Singh Ji was also in Lahore. My marriage, and later on my appointment to a good job in the Government, took me to Lahore. I was residing with my in-laws, and there I met Kirpal Singh Ji who used to come to see us as often as three or four times a week. The satsangis there used to gather at the home of my in-laws and we used to listen to the beautiful and wise words of Kirpal Singh. He was about thirty-four and I was in my early twenties at the time,
As I have said, religion to me was nothing but going to the gurdwara, reciting the Gurbani and honouring one s day-to-day responsibilities. Kirpal Singh Ji would just talk. His words were very sweet yet penetrating. He was kind yet firm, and we all listened to Him. This went on for some time; and then at last I said, Bhapa Ji, if You say that this Naam is so very good, give me some, I'll have it! Oh, He said, yes, you ll have It, but not from me; Baba Sawan Singh will give It to you. I said, Sir, all right. You see, even in those early days I had developed such devotion, awe and reverence for Him that I can't begin to explain. I was a naughty fellow, yet He had captured my heart.
So I started to go to Beas with Him to see Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji. I had the desire to be with Bhapa Ji on all four Sundays of the month. One Sunday He would give Satsang at Amritsar, one Sunday He would give Satsang at another station, and the last Sunday of the month was for going to Beas so that we could hear Hazur's Satsang and have His darshan. Master Sawan Singh had a big following, but I don't know why I couldn't get attracted to anybody else in His Sangat. I was attracted to Bhapa Kirpal Singh Ji as a girl is attracted to her lord. Wherever He slept I would slowly sneak in there, maybe in the room or maybe outside just to be near Him.
Around 1931 I was transferred to Quetta. One day I said to Bhapa Ji after a Satsang, I have heard that the Master whom You take to be Your Guru is always present in the hills, in the mountains, on the high seas and beyond, and that He is Your protector and benefactor. As I am being transferred to a place full of these Pathans who may harm me, I now wish to take Naam. At this time I was a young man of about twenty-eight years old; quite a mischievious person. So I joined the line of those waiting to be given initiation. I do not remember what experiences I had at this initiation. Later on in the ministry of Master Kirpal Singh I saw so many things that I could never see during the ministry of Baba Sawan Singh. I was one of the thousands of ordinary people who could never have an opportunity to go near Him. Perhaps I should say that during the period of twenty years that I had been going to Beas, from 1928 to 1948, I may have had the chance of touching the feet of Baba Sawan Singh, my Master, not more than four or five times. And that too was through the grace of Bhapa Kirpal Singh because I would sneak in along with Him, otherwise nobody would allow me to go in and see Him privately.
Anyway, when I came back to Lahore we would always come down to Beas with Bhapa Ji. One time I remember very vividly. It was summer time and we were sleeping upstairs on the roof; Bhapa Kirpal Singh, myself and one or two others. Early in the morning, about 5:00 or so, we got up and I said, Bhapa Ji, let us go and do our ablutions and have a bath. He said, Oh, I have already taken my bath. And then suddenly, just as if He had not wanted to say this, He said, Yes, yes. I will accompany you outside to have a bath. The first bath that He was referring to was the inner bath He had taken. He of course had meditated during the night.
So during all those years from 1928 to 1948 Bhapa Kirpal Singh had already instilled in me some understanding of what He really was. I sensed that he would be the successor to Baba Sawan Singh right from the beginning, and saw that there was no one in the big Sangat at Beas who could match Him. It was a very easy thing for me to accept Him as the new Master; I was like a dwarf against a towering personality, and this awareness had bred in me a sort of fear lest I should displease Him in any way. The reverence was there, the devotion was there, and the fear also was there. I couldn't say No to Him at any time whatever He asked of me. I always tried to be near Him. He allowed me to come to His house; He allowed me to do small things for Him, which I was happy to do to please Him.
There are one or two incidents before 1948, before He be-came the Master, that I would now like to relate. My brother-in-law, a young boy of twelve or thirteen years, fell ill. Bhapa Kirpal Singh Ji would come to our house almost daily, tend him, look after him. One day in the morning He said to my mother-in-law, Look here, look here. Now you must leave off all clutching for the child, he has to go. He then told my wife that the child would leave at 8:00 at night, and that He would return at that time. It so happened that at about 7:00 He came back and He remained with the child; then when the clock struck 8:00, He placed His hand on the boy s forehead, and he went smiling. Bhapa Ji then said, All right. I will come again tomorrow when the boy is to be taken to the cremation ground. And to the cremation ground He did go. There were a large number of people. Somebody said, Bhapa Ji, would You say a few words on this occasion? He said, Look here, this is a lesson before you all. You must know that this thing has to happen to you also. Be prepared for it. And if you have not prepared for it, think of how you are going to prepare for it. This was said in a very polite way, in a very loving way, yet in such a forceful way that everybody could not but weep over it. As far as I remember, this was as early as 1933.
You see, He used to love us like anything, and that is why our respect for Him grew every day. He was always a very noble person, a compassionate one, a man who was given to service. All these qualities had developed in the entire family of ours a sort of devotion to Him; we knew we had a person in Him who was always with us, ready to help us, and to take compassion on us. After all, what was I? I was just a sinner floating about and I cannot imagine any quality or any good thing that I had that could have possibly been an asset to Him, let alone for Him to eventually choose me to work so closely with Him.
Every day there was one incident or another which revealed that here was a man on earth whom you could really call God. All the attributes which can ever be given to God were in Him: He was compassionate, He was loving, He was kind, He was helpful. He had the heart of a householder; yet the love of the Master was a thousand times more than that of a mother. We say that the mother's love for her children is immense, but I can tell you, really, that His love for His children was more than the love of a thousand mothers for their children. Such was He who trod the earth and is helping us even now with everything that we want to do.
One day at the end of the monthly Satsang at Beas, probably it was on the 31st of March 1948 when Hazur was very ill. Bhapa Kirpal Singh Ji announced to the Sangat that certain arrangements had been made at Beas for the administration, etc. and other such vague information. After Satsang was over, He went to his brother's house and I also went with him.
I asked point blank, Bhapa Ji, what You said in the Satsang was quite vague, and I want to have the correct meaning. I want to know exactly who is the person whom Baba Sawan Singh Ji has nominated as His successor, to whom He has given the Power to initiate. This was my straight question; and His straight reply was in these few words, That work has already been entrusted to me. So from that moment everything was clear to me. On 2nd April Master Sawan Singh left His mortal coil.
After the funeral rites and a brief stay with His son in Delhi, Bhapa Kirpal Singh Ji went up to the Himalayas at Rishikesh. He remained there, as everybody knows, for about six months. He came back to Delhi some time around December of 1948 and started His work. When Bhapa Kirpal Singh Ji was at Lahore, I was in Service there. Now He had come to Delhi, and I was also working at Delhi. My daily practice was to walk every morning to His place from my quarters which were about three miles away, attend for about an hour or so to the work, and then go to my office. In the evening about 4:30 or 5:00 I would leave my office, go straight over to the Master's, remain there for two or three hours, and then return to my home. The Master had started the work; but there was some confusion and people were not sure as to who was true Master. In this respect Baba Sawan Singh had shown many people where He was working by appearing to them in visions, in meditation, or by manifesting Himself during the Satsangs of Bhapa Kirpal Singh Ji.
There was a bit of stiff opposition against the new Master doing the work, and the result was that we couldn't find a permanent place where we could hold Satsang. So the hunt was on to find a permanent place suitable for the purpose.
It so happened that the place we found, where Sawan Ashram was built, belonged to a member of Parliament. He came in contact with the Master, or the Master arranged things so that he should come in contact with Him, and this place was surveyed and accepted. While viewing this place, the Form of Sawan Singh was seen along with the Master looking over the site. In June 1951 we started construction, and the first Bhandara of Baba Sawan Singh was celebrated at Sawan Ashram on 27th July, only about six weeks later.
The construction of Sawan Ashram was a scene to behold. Young ladies, old women, rich and poor, all offered their services and would go on working sweetly; and Master Himself supervised everything. In the lunch break, He would give everybody food and chapatis under the shade of a tree, rest for a while, and then again go on working. The work would go on till nightfall. You can imagine, the first buildings at Sawan Ashram were built in about a month and a half! My house was built next to the Master's bungalow.
One thing is very important. Master Kirpal Singh had left everything in Beas, and had to start everything from scratch. There was not much money about; and in 1949 we had a meeting where the people were happy to pledge money for the Satsang work, and as everybody knows the entire work for the Satsang was based on love: loving devotion, loving service and loving offerings. There was need for the work, and the money just came in.
During the construction of the Ashram which had been a barren site, there was a big pippal tree which had to be uprooted. During the felling of that tree, a boy by the name of Ramesh got almost buried under a big bough or the trunk of the tree and he was struck almost lifeless. He was unconscious, and was brought to Master's veranda. His mother came up crying and crying and crying. She said, Master, if my boy dies, I will never, never forgive You. He said, Don't worry, let us hope for the Master's grace. And you will be amazed that the boy shortly after, slowly regained consciousness; he is well and kicking, married now and is doing the Master's work in Panama where he met the Master on His 1972 tour.
From the beginning of the Master's Mission, I had the privilege to be with Him, or rather He allowed this poor fellow to be with Him, and do all the work of accounting and to attend to His local and foreign correspondence. This was such a pleasing job that although I worked about eighteen hours a day I was always feeling bouyant and happy. This work continued in the Ashram up to 1955, until Sardar Dalip Singh came here on retirement and took over part of my work, namely, cash and accounts. My work for the Master continued; some part was given away, other work was increased. I remember having been with Master up to 1:00 at night and when I left Him and came to my house I felt so bouyant and happy that I can't explain it.
It was His compassion and love that He could not see anybody suffering. Once I fell ill and was in my house. Master got news of it and came to see me, sat by my side, and said, Well, Gyani what has happened to you? I said, Sir, I don't know, but I can't get up. Oh no, no, no. You've got nothing to worry about. Let me see what has happened to your back. Let me see. And He just put His hands over my back and talked about this and that. A little later He said, Well, look here. I've got a lot of work lying over there, and you have to do it. And He went away. And you can imagine that within about two hours I was quite well and healthy with no pain, nothing of the sort; I went there to do the work and stayed there right up to midnight. Such was His compassion and love that we can't begin to understand it!
Every day there was one incident or another which revealed that here was a man on earth whom you could really call God. All the attributes which can ever be given to God were in Him: He was compassionate, He was loving, He was kind, He was helpful. He had a human heart; yet the love of the Master was a thousand times more than that of a mother. We say that the mother s love for her children is immense, but I can tell you really that His love for His children was more than the love of a thousand mothers for their children. Such was He who trod the earth and is helping us even now with everything that we want to do.
The Master had very kindly allowed me the opportunity, even during my service, to take leave and accompany Him on most of His Indian tours. In 1956 we went on a tour to the eastern side and were staying at that particular time at Varanasi (Benares), the holy city on the Ganges. It was raining heavily at that time. All of a sudden Master said, Gyani, what about the Ashram? And what about your house? I said, Sir, it s o.k., it's o.k. Later I was to learn that at about 12:00 noon my son had been knocked down by a truck and was lying senseless. The
police had come and wanted to register a case but my wife refused to do anything, and said, He will be all right; by the Master's grace. You can't help us much. Then the doctors came and were doing all they could. The people in the Ashram advised my wife to telegraph the Master to say that there had been an accident and that He should send me back to Delhi. My wife didn't agree. She said, No, he has gone there and is with the Master. The Master knows all about this. His coming back here will not help the boy any more than the grace of the Master which can be had from there. On the other hand, after one or two hours, Dalip Singh got a telegram from the Master saying, What about the affairs of the Ashram and of Gyani's house? This was a thing which told everybody present that the Master was not unaware of what had happened. On that very night, Brij Mohan Sharma was leaving Delhi to join the Master, and he said, What message should I give the Master? My wife said, Don't say anything about this incident, say everything is all right. He arrived, met the Master, but didn't tell Him anything. But later there was some murmuring between the satsangis about what had happened, and as one of the Master's workers overheard them he told the Master. He called for me. Oh, He said, Why didn t you tell me? All right, don't worry, he'll be o.k. He knew. And you can imagine that in a few hours the boy began to recover; in a few days he was quite all right. When I came back he was perfectly well again. The kindness of the Master cannot be expressed by any words of mine.
When the Master was arranging His first world tour in 1955, He asked me to accompany Him, which unfortunately I did not. For the 1963 tour He also asked me to accompany Him, which also I am sorry I declined. In 1971 the tour was almost fixed up and the Master was ready to go, but unluckily as you all know He fell ill, went to hospital, and had to be operated upon. The 1971 tour was therefore postponed. The dear ones from abroad were pressing for the Master to come and meet them personally because, you know, it was not possible for every initiate from the West to come all the way to India as it involved a lot of expense and time. The pull and prayers of the dear ones were really very strong, but the Master was not keeping good health. Eventually a program was fixed for 1972. One day while sitting with the Master, He said, Look here Gyani, my body is revolting, it is not co-operating. If I listen to my body, I can't make this journey; but the pressure of the dear ones from inside and from their letters is so much that I can't resist them. I can't resist them any longer. So we have to go. A program was fixed up. So four of us, the Master, Bhalla and Harcharan Singh and myself formed the party and we left on the 26th August, 1972.
Our first stop was in Bonn where we were met by Master's representative, Bianca Fitting. We remained in Germany, Italy and France for some time, and then went to London where Sant Singh and others were waiting for us. Then we flew straight to Washington. This tour, the Master said, is for my children. The first tour was for some dignitaries, and to start the Mission in the West. The second was for the benefit of governments, and to consolidate the work. But this tour is going to be for my children. I want to meet them, I want to be with them, I want to listen to their difficulties, I want to listen to them and talk to them, and meet them; my love for them is so much that I cannot resist going.
You may have read the account of the tour given in Sat Sandesh. Suffice it for me to say here that although the Master was ill, He would work from 8:00 in the morning till 1:00 at night, and after retiring, His body would ache like anything; He could hardly get an hour's rest. And then in the morning He would start His work again, seeing people, giving His talks and mediation sittings, answering so many questions, always giving, giving, giving. The effect of this tour was tremendous. The Master's children had the opportunity to be very close with Him, speak with Him, live with Him in as near and dear a way as any child coming to see his father.
During the tour the Master was not unaware of the desires and the love of the initiates, the dear ones in India, just as the Master, when He was in India, was not unaware of the aspirations of the dear ones in other countries. Every week or ten days He used to be in contact with Delhi by telephone, sometimes for ten or fifteen minutes, listening to their difficulties; the Master was giving His love and His grace to all of them. When we were in California at Lucille Gunn s house, we received a tape recorded in Delhi and sent over there for the Master. That tape was from a dear one and told the pathetic story of how the people over in India were feeling His absence. The Master was touched to the quick; He was ill and we had a big program ahead of us. When we left for Mexico and after Mexico went to Panama, the Master decided to cancel the last part of His tour. The program for Africa and further East was cut short by several weeks, and we arrived back in Delhi at the beginning of January 1973.
Such is the story of a Perfect Man, a complete Man I should say, who came on this earth to remind us of and to help us go back to our Home; who gave us a solemn promise that the Master is always waiting for the initiates to come to Him. Unfortunate we are at this hour that we did not listen to Him, and did not do what He wanted us to do, and take that which He wanted to give us. We kept our bowl covered; the Nectar which He wanted to put into it did not find its way into our hearts. We are now repenting because He is not here physically and we can not now do anything.


Glimpses of a Perfect Being

Malik Radha Krishna Khanna

When I first met Sardar Kirpal Singh, His humility was such that it never allowed me to think that He would ever rise to such spiritual heights. He was regarded as a holy man and the man to whom our Great Master Baba Sawan Singh Ji had entrusted the Satsang work at Lahore (which was then the capital of Punjab) and as we had a very spacious Satsang hall there, He used to give discourses on Sundays. After I came to know Him, which was in the late thirties, He was also commissioned by the Master to hold Satsangs at Amritsar where a beautiful new Satsang hall had been built. I also remember that He went about like an ordinary man with no show or pretentions of any kind. It was widely known that He was always by the side of ailing satsangis at Lahore whenever He came to know about their ill health. He would always go and try to comfort them when they were in trouble. That was all that was known about Him.
Once or twice when I was coming from Multan, and having changed trains at Lahore so as to proceed to Beas to be with Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, I saw Sardar Kirpal Singh traveling by train, Third Class. I knew He was a Government Officer and that He was entitled to travel First Class and that He must have been given a First Class pass. But He always made it a point to travel Third Class.
When He went to Beas, He made it a point to sit in the last row at Satsang, while I, as an unregenerate soul, or whatever you might say, used to think, Well, I ve come from more than two hundred miles to see Hazur, and attend the Satsang, why shouldn't I avail myself of the best place so that I can hear every word? And I used to sit in the first or second row. Actually, whenever I sat behind the front row, the Master used to beckon me to come and sit in front. Well, once I met Maharaj Kirpal Singh; we had been talking to each other for some time and when we went to the place where the Great Master was holding Satsang, I thought that I might also sit with Him. And there I found that I had a better darshan of the Master in the last row where Kirpal Singh was sitting, and I also heard more of the Satsang! Now I was astonished. I said, This is where the true devotee can benefit by knowing things. After that we came much closer together.
Some time later we were together at Sikandarpur where Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji's son had extensive agricultural land, and his daughter was getting married. But Hazur fell ill and everybody felt a great deal of anxiety. At midnight I found Maharaj Kirpal Singh, who was staying in the room next to mine, going in to see Hazur almost every half-hour. As He was feeling so restless and anxious, I asked Him if the Master's condition was indeed serious? He said it looked like that, and He had prescribed some homeopathic medicine which the Master had taken, and He was just waiting for the result. After some time the Master improved, but He didn't altogether get over it.
Later, when the Master fell ill at Dera Baba Jaimal Singh at Beas it was a sort of continuation of the same illness which He had developed at Sikandarpur. Maharaj Kirpal Singh took leave from office and was there to attend on Him. Some people who were close to Hazur, not exactly close spiritually but His relatives, old associates, or members of His family, didn't very much like these repeated visits of Maharaj Kirpal Singh.
Although He was in the grip of illness just a few days before His physical departure, I could always see a faint smile on Hazur's face whenever Maharaj Kirpal Singh came into the room. Kirpal Singh didn't disturb Him; He was able to comfort Him. At that time Dr. Schmidt from Switzerland, who was the President of the World Federation of Homeopathic Doctors and, an initiate of Hazur, was staying in the Dera and was treating Him with homeopathic medicines. Now Maharaj Kirpal Singh used to have consultations with him because He also knew something about homeopathy. However, it was decided that Hazur had to go to the hospital at Amritsar for treatment. Maharaj Kirpal Singh went with Him and so did I. There also, Maharaj Kirpal Singh looked after the Master.
It so happened that one of the satsangis, who was a medical student, was anxious that if there was any transfusion of blood to be given to the Master as the doctors there suggested, it should be his blood. When his blood was tested, it did not quite match with the Master's and, medically, it was not the proper blood to be given. But somehow he got round one of the female sevadars and persuaded her into agreeing that his blood be given. Being a medical student, he told her, Well, there is not much of a difference. So a bottle of his blood was kept ready, and the doctor was told that it was according to prescription. I came to know of this later along with Maharaj Kirpal Singh. So the blood was given and it had a very serious effect on the Master. He almost looked like losing His life, but He recovered the next day. I was very angry over all this; I was thinking that we should complain to the Master that it was due to this sevadar that the wrong blood was given. But Maharaj Kirpal Singh said, Well, forgive her. What's the use? Now He has recovered. Whatever had to happen, has happened. Such indeed was His greatness and magnanimity.
Some years earlier, when Hazur was giving Naam, He told Sardar Kirpal Singh, Well, you must do this work today. I don't feel inclined; it is a strain on me, I have been doing a lot of work and you must take over today. He declined with folded hands, saying, In Your presence I am nobody. The Master smiled and initiated the seekers Himself. Later on another occasion Maharaj Kirpal Singh did give initiation in Hazur's presence.
In 1948 when I lost my Master I felt miserable. But then after some time I had the comfort of Maharaj Kirpal Singh which made up to some extent for that great bereavement. We are to pass the remaining span of life which is allotted to us as best we can. Maharaj Kirpal Singh was a source of great Light and comfort to His initiates, His friends, to all persons who came in contact with Him.
After He became the Master He spread Hazur's Mission over several continents. Master Sawan Singh never went out of India; and like Vivekananda with Ramakrishna, it is Maharaj Kirpal Singh who has spread Hazur's Mission and made the name of His Master famous in many parts of the world. Throughout His Service He was completely honest, wouldn't accept any gift or even meals from anybody, wouldn't dine out; from the beginning He had a very clean and very high character.
I became Maharaj Kirpal Singh's literary advisor about sixteen or seventeen years ago when He wrote The Crown of Life and The Life of Baba Jaimal Singh. He sent the manuscripts to me, and I went through them, somewhat as a literary man as I have my M.A. in English, but more as a lawyer, so that I could check that there was nothing objectionable. My close association began then. I might mention that I took Crown of Life with me when I went to London in 1961 and presented copies to the British Museum, the Library of the Guildhall, the London University Library, and to Cambridge and Oxford Universities, and they were gladly accepted. I even tried to get it published in London.
Many other books passed through my hands. I came to Delhi and set up practice there in 1960. Thereafter, when any legal question arose about Sawan Ashram or the Satsang's affairs, Maharaj Kirpal Singh always sought my advice and acted on it. Now in regard to Sawan Ashram there were land acquisition cases, the Government wanted to acquire some portion of it. I also acted as Maharaj Ji's legal advisor.
I think He didn't require my legal consultation so much as I required His grace by doing some seva. So He had set up a show of my service for my own benefit, to give me grace, as our Master had done years before in a case at Dalhousie which was conducted by me. Maharaj Kirpal Singh and I became very fond of each other, and whenever He used to come to my house every month, and He did not come on every occasion to consult me about legal matters, we talked of many things: about His satsangis in America, about the satsangis here, about the situation in the country, about what was happening in Manav Kendra, about what He intended to do, and all that. On several occasions He told me, Now look here, I have satsangis in this country, and they don't take to their meditations seriously, while satsangis in America and other foreign countries, some of them take to it very seriously. They consider it as serious as any other task in life, and they are making much greater progress than the satsangis here. These are His words, and He added, Some of them have crossed one or two regions. Now, He was very friendly with me, and I happened to remark, Maharaj Ji, Your regions must be nearer than the regions of Your Master, because in His day it took much longer to cross these regions. He laughed and said, Well, they are the same regions, but people in the West take to it assiduously, much more seriously, and I am much pleased with their progress.
Maharaj Kirpal Singh sometimes used to say in a jocular vein that I had a greater number of occasions to have the physical darshan of Maharaj Sawan Singh Ji than He had, that I had passed more time with Hazur at Dalhousie and Beas than He because He was in Service those days and could only go when He could get leave. I told Him, Well, externally I may have seen more of Him than You, but You see more of Him internally. When I went away to Multan I couldn't see Him, but You could see Him all the time, all the days wherever You were. So don't say that, You are in a much higher place in the Master's grace than I am. And He laughed at that.
I would now like to tell about an incident that made a deep impression on me. One day I met a satsangi who told me his mother had fallen ill, very seriously, and she said that the doctors told her that she would be dying within a few hours. She expressed a wish to see her younger son, and she also added that she would not die in peace unless she met him, as that desire would linger. This lady was an initiate of Maharaj Kirpal Singh, so the elder son went to see Maharaj Ji who said, Well, the doctors are right. She has to go this evening, but now that you have come and conveyed her wishes to me, and you have also been serving the Mission for a long time, I think I ll have to intercede. How long will it take for your brother to come and see your mother? It will take two days. The Master said, All right. Tell her that she will not go before she meets her son. And then He added something which struck me then as significant, All right, I'll send her by the next train to the other world. Let today's train go with other people. Now this is what Master Kirpal Singh said. These things are there forever to remind us of what He was.
I would like to end by telling how the Master showered His grace on me. I met with a serious accident about two years ago and it was extremely cold during those days, it was cold all over the country. It was the 4th of January, 1974, and the accident took place in the evening just before sunset. I could not go to the hospital on account of this extreme cold, and no surgeon would come to my house. They all said; These operations are carried out in the hospital, we don't go to people's homes. My right shoulder had been dislocated, and there were fractures on my right arm and right leg. I passed that night in extreme pain. The next day my son again went to the surgeons, and they all refused to come. Then they said, It must be x-rayed before anything can be done I couldn't move so I could not go for an x-ray. It was extremely cold those days and I am very susceptible to cold. Then with great persuasion an x-ray operator was induced to come here, and he took the x-ray.
The same evening Master Kirpal Singh came to see me. At that time my pain was even more excruciating than on the previous day. I could hardly survive, and in order to do fomentation on those parts, bricks were heated, and applied wrapped up in a cloth. Only extreme heat could give me any relief. But it burnt some of my skin and a part of my bedding also. A few minutes after all this happened, Maharaj Kirpal Singh came and said, How are you? I said, I've met with an accident. Yes, yes, I know that, He said and told me the exact time and place. I said, Yes. But I didn't send You information. He laughed. But then I said, As You know everything, You could have come yesterday or on the first evening. He replied, You had to undergo this trouble for some time because the karma was very serious and it was in consultation with Hazur that it was delayed, but We took care that you would not expire during that time. Those were His words. Then I said, What will happen now? He replied, You will see. He stood on the left side of my bed leaning, or rather pressing against the wall; there was hardly space for Him. He didn't want to shift my bed; He said, No, no, no! I will stand here. He stood with eyes closed for half an hour. Then He asked, How about your pain? I said, It has become tolerable. All right, you will pass the night more comfortably now. Tomorrow some eminent surgeon will come. Everything will be set, don't worry. I owe my survival to Him.
After the plaster had been removed my right arm couldn't move. The plexus of nerves near the armpit was injured and the blood didn't flow as it ought. The neurologist who examined me, and he is the most eminent one in Delhi, said, Your arm will not move for the rest of your life, but try to move it with your left hand otherwise it will get stuck to your body and it could be such a painful thing that your arm may have to be amputated. I was feeling rather distressed when Maharaj Kirpal Singh came again to see me; I said, I can't move my right arm. I can't write, I can't even withdraw any money from the bank as I can't write out a check. He said, No, no, no. You can't move? He took hold of my arm and began to move it up and down. And from that moment my arm seemed to be all right. I have full use of it now, and it is a constant source of wonder to me. Not only that, I may add that I owe my survival to His grace. I know Maharaj Ji told me that all that was done was in accordance with Hazur's wishes, but I know deep in my heart that I owe much to His loving care and consideration.


How the Master Revealed Himself

Mata Sheila Dhir

When I met Sant Kirpal Singh Ji in 1950, I asked Him, Where is Hazur Maharaj Baba Sawan Singh Ji? I want to see Him. He said, Well, Hazur Maharaj Ji is here; you will find Him. I went away and two years passed by, I was in bitter pangs of separation since Hazur left the physical body, eating little, living in a sad state.
One day an old friend of mine arrived who asked me to give a Satsang; there had been a death in the family. I reluctantly went and started Satsang. Then one of our old friends went to the Ashram, and told Maharaj Ji, We should have a lady to give Satsang from place to place in Delhi. He said, Who do you think could do it? She replied, Sheila. Master said, Well, that would be all right, but she doesn't come to me.
One night, some six months after having given that Satsang, I beheld a beautiful scene; there was a lovely place where Hazur came in a motor car in a beautiful radiant Light; there was no turban on His head, but He had wooden shoes on His feet which He used to wear in the old days. Gently, lovingly, He got down from the car. With Him was Kirpal Singh Ji. I clung to Hazur, cried and said, Where were You all this long time? Hazur then took His seat on a stage and a Satsang was held. Kirpal Singh came and caught hold of me by the arm, and took me towards Hazur. Hazur had told me as soon as He alighted from the car, Never mind, you will see just now. In His Satsang, Hazur took for His text a hymn: Satguru is ever present, never think that He is far away. Then I saw that both the Saints merged into each other. Satsang was over and Sant Kirpal Singh Ji again held me by the arm, and told me, Look, no more crying. Now you have got your Guru, you have got Satsang. Stop crying, there will be no more crying. And at the same time Hazur told Sant Kirpal Singh, You love Sheila Ji as I did and take good care of her.
Even after this I was not fully convinced. Two months went by before I went to the Ashram. There I saw Tai Ji sitting in the kitchen while Master was in His room. I peeped in and saw that the room was full of Light, and Master was attending to His mail with His glasses on, sitting in the very same pose as Hazur used to sit. He then welcomed me with the same words as Hazur used when welcoming me. After this, when I saw such brilliant Light in the room, I absolutely forgot my body; I didn't know where I was. Master kept saying to me, Look, you have no faith. If you still have doubts, keep on doing Simran, and if it stands before the Simran, then only believe. Then I saw that near the beard of Master Kirpal Singh there was the same black mole which Hazur had. Then I thought, Oh, this is definitely the same Power! And then Master put His hand under my chin, and said, Look up, look up, look up! When I did, Maharaj Ji's eyes became those of Baba Sawan Singh. He told me, Now, you must carry on the Satsang. I told Him, Master, I am sorry; I have no strength left for Satsang. I am sorry,
I cannot do it. Master took me to Dr. Mul Raj, and told him to give me a very good medicine.
I said, Master, my medicine is Your eyes. Whatever You say, it's all right.
Then one day the Master came for Satsang at a friend's named Satya. It happened to be Divali Day. I was there thinking, How fortunate is this family, the Master gives Satsang to
them. If He comes to my home and gives Satsang I'd give anything for it. I'd be so blessed. Then I heard Master announce, Sheila will be giving Satsang here from now on. I thought, What is this? Master announced this Himself! All this happened in 1952 in Delhi. Then Master turned to me and said, Next now. Should I go to your home? It was my very wish; and I had thought if He came to my place I would be willing to give away everything. Then Master repeated, Should I go to your home? He was answering my innermost prayer.
When the Master came, I noticed the room was full of radiant Light. He said, You want me to give Satsang? Come on, give me some text. And He took up the very same hymn which Hazur had used in the Satsang of which I dreamt: Satguru is ever present, never think that He is far away. Maharaj Ji then said, Now, is there anything more? Do you want to give parshad? Come on, take out something, if there is parshad to be given. I said, I'm sorry Master, there is nothing in the house. I wasn't prepared for all this. Then Master laughed, Oh, so it was only talk, was it? Just talk. He was referring to what I had been saying to myself in my thoughts. Then He asked for water and had it. I ran to a small shop nearby and returned with burfi, and parshad was distributed. Then, having fulfilled my dearest wish, Master asked, Is that all? Are you happy now? No complaints? And He went back to the Ashram.
All this was in the early days of Maharaj Ji's Mission. From then on I became actively associated with Maharaj Ji's work and went to the Ashram regularly.
Maharaj Ji did a great deal of traveling, and occasionally He would ask me to join Him on tour. Once Maharaj Ji told me that He was going to Amritsar and asked me if I could go ahead, take the keys with me and get the place where He was to stay ready for Him and His party. Before leaving I told my husband that as Maharaj Ji would be away for over a week, he would do well to have His darshan next morning. When he went to the Ashram and met Him, Maharaj Ji said something about an oncoming illness in the family. My husband did not comprehend Maharaj Ji's meaning; he came back wondering what calamity lay ahead. Meanwhile I got to Amritsar, got everything ready, and Maharaj Ji arrived. After the program there He had to proceed on tour. I was not scheduled to go with Him but when it was time to depart Tai Ji told me there was room for me in the car. What greater blessing could one pray for!
To be with Maharaj Ji is to be in eternity and time slips by so imperceptibly. The days flew past and we were already on our way back to Amritsar and from there back to Delhi. I was in the car, sitting in front with Des Raj and Master Pratap Singh; Kuku, Tai Ji, and Maharaj Ji were sitting behind. Suddenly Maharaj Ji asked me, Can you tell what hymn will be taken at Satsang at your place today? Why don t you close your eyes and try to see if you can tell? Tai Ji interrupted at this point, Maharaj Ji, if You go about getting people to turn within while we are on the road, how will we get them out? Please don t get started on things like this. Maharaj Ji changed the subject, but as we drove on I fell asleep and I found myself at home with a body laid out and people surrounding it in deep mourning. When I woke up, the scene was still vivid, but I decided to stay silent, Maharaj Ji asked if I had seen anything; I did not answer.
The car suddenly stalled. We all got out. Des Raj fiddled around and then got back behind the wheel and the engine started up again. We scrambled in, Kuku and Tai Ji in the back and Maharaj Ji getting in last by the left hand door; Des Raj, Master Pratap Singh and myself in front. I was the last to get in, and as I banged my door shut, I did not realize that Maharaj Ji had placed His hand in the way and four of His fingers got jammed inside the bolted door. Imagine our shock and confusion! I was too paralyzed to even think of opening the door. Tai Ji was beside herself at my carelessness, and Kuku was in tears. Des Raj jumped out of his seat, ran around, and opened the door. Maharaj Ji, as His left hand got released, sank back into His seat holding it in His right hand. He went pale, almost ashen white, and it was as though He had given up the body. He lay in that posture for what seemed an eternity to us then, but it could well have been in actuality five minutes or more. He then came back, and was all energy and cheer. Like a lion He bounded up, face glowing: Why are you all crying? He asked. Look, my hand is quite all right, just look, not a scratch not a drop of blood! Why all this confusion? You see I m perfectly fine. Stop crying and be done with it. I assure you, just look at me, I am absolutely all right! And indeed there was not a scratch, not a sign of what He had gone through. His fingers should have been crushed by the door, but they were in perfect shape as though nothing had happened. We started off again, but I was absolutely shaken. The dream I had just had, and now seeing what Maharaj Ji had suffered at my hands, I wondered what it was all about, what calamity it was that He was taking upon Himself.
It was fairly late in the evening when we got back to the Ashram and Hans Raj, who had gone to our place to conduct Satsang with Maharaj Ji's tape, quietly whispered to Him that my husband was seriously ill. Maharaj Ji called me in and asked me if it wasn't best I return home. He did not tell me a thing, but as I was departing with Hans Raj, who was to drop me at home, Maharaj Ji casually pulled out a small bottle of homeopathic pills and said, Why not take this? It might come in handy, headaches and things like that, you know.
When I reached home, it was an agonizing scene. My husband, who had been wondering all these days about Maharaj Ji's mysterious words about a family illness, had suddenly been taken ill that very day when he had gone to office. He had a very acute pain in the abdomen and, taking a taxi, returned home. On the way he stopped at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital but they had no spare bed for him. He stopped to consult some doctors, but all said he needed to be hospitalized, and they could not help him. Very possibly he needed an operation. There he was in great pain, and with no doctor willing to help. I got one of our neighboring medical practioners to come out and do his best. He sat by my husband's side all through the night. He was neither passing stools nor urine. We decided to move him to one of the larger hospitals in the morning. As the night wore on, I thought I would go and ring Maharaj Ji to let Him know. Just as I was leaving, I remembered the homeopathic pills and put some of them in my husband's mouth. I dashed off to phone. When I dialed the Ashram number it was Maharaj Ji who answered. I hurriedly told Him what had happened and that we were taking my husband to hospital. But surely you could delay it a little. I will be there in no time and you must wait till then, He told me.
I hurried back, and to my astonishment my husband was feeling better. The pills worked like magic and he passed his stool and urine. He was sitting up when Maharaj Ji arrived, and on entering, He walked straight up to my husband and placing His right hand on his chest, and cheered him with the words, Now, what is wrong with you? What is all this talk about going to hospital? You seem quite all right. Now look into my eyes, you re perfectly all right. This will soon pass and you will be well again. He instructed Dr. Mul Raj to carry on with homeopathic treatment, and cheering us all up, patted me and told me to be brave like the young one of a lion, and as He left, I thought of the scene I saw while half asleep in the car, Maharaj Ji's hand caught in the door of the car and His ashen face, the homeopathic pills that He had given me on arrival at Delhi and my husband's dire condition when I returned home.
Oh how can one sing of the marvelous grace of a Satguru!


The Master's Blessings

Olga Donenberg

This incident happened to me in July 1954 when I was living in Wilmette, Illinois. It was before I was initiated. I used to meditate, and one day I had a vision. I saw a man all in white with beautiful Light all around Him, and He said, I'm coming for you. I need you. I thought it was my time to go, to leave the body. But I was so filled with the peace and Light that He had been radiating, I wasn't worried. That Light was so bright that it was dazzling, and it stayed with me for a long time.
Exactly one year later, in July 1955, I received a phone call telling me that there was going to be some Master appearing in Chicago. I thanked the person, and I knew I was going. I didn't know anything about the Master, but I went. I remember it had been extremely hot, but before the meeting there was a refreshing downpour of rain. Now, of course, I know it was the special blessings of Hazur.
As I was waiting for the elevator to take me up to the meeting hall, the door opened and out came Master. I looked in surprise, and I thought here was the vision I had last year. And I rushed up to Him and said, Master, I saw You. And He replied, Yes, I know. I was dumbfounded, and we went up to the meeting place. What He said after I can' t recall because I had become so enamored of Him, I just felt as though I was in the presence of God. It was a beautiful feeling.
At the end of the meeting, Master thanked us for coming. That overwhelmed me; He just reached the bottom of my soul, every bit of me vibrated. This meeting had not been advertised and I didn't know anybody who was there, but when I was leaving I heard someone say something about initiation. I thought, what would they be getting initiated into? So I asked when it would take place and I was told it would be held the next day. Then I asked if I would be allowed to attend, and, on being told I could, I went. I didn't know what it was, but I guess I knew I had to have it.
When I arrived I remember looking around; I didn't know a soul there; there were eighty to a hundred people. I had been given a card and just sat on the floor in the hotel room and waited. Well, that’s how I took my initiation, but I can tell you what the Master promised, I received. Then I heard that He was going to give a meditation sitting the following day, and as I was greedy, I asked if I could attend, and they said yes.
The next day I sat in a corner, and things became very clear to me: a man with a white beard, wearing a turban came and took me up—such an exhilarating ride I will never forget. This was Baba Sawan Singh, but at the time I did not know. He told me, “Kirpal is my Son, He is the one I have appointed to carry on my work.” I thought to myself, ‘Yes, but He must know this.” But Hazur went on, “I want you to tell Him this.” After the meditation was over I saw Mr. Khanna who showed me a photograph of the Great Master Baba Sawan Singh so I could then identify who He was. But then I thought to myself, “Kirpal Singh must know He is the Master, He doesn’t need me to tell Him,” and I was preparing to go home. Then I heard Baba Sawan Singh’s voice telling me, “Oh no, you go up and give Him my message!” I felt ridiculous. My mind kept telling me, “But He must know He is the Master.” Anyway although I felt foolish I did go to His room, knocked on the door, and said, “I have a message.” He was so gracious, He let me come in and I told Him that His Master had taken me on an exhilarating ride and had told me, “He is my Beloved Son,” and that Hazur appointed Him to carry on the work. And you know what He did? He thanked me. I almost fainted. Later on I realized why I had been given this experience and the full story.
So that is the story of my first physical meeting with Master Kirpal Singh, and the meeting with Sawan Singh. And since then I could not differentiate between them; They had become one, inside and outside.
So many wonderful things happened over the years to show Master’s guiding hand and grace. Here is just one incident which happened to a woman initiate in Chicago. One day she told me that as she had several children and was expecting another, it was very difficult for her to keep going to the laundromat. She only had $25 so she couldn’t afford to buy a washing machine and asked me, “Would it be wrong to request Master to help me?” I replied, “Master always said there was nothing too little or nothing too big” So she said, “I’m going to ask.” Then she called me and told me that she was going to get a washing machine. She didn’t know how, but she knew that Master was going to direct her. Well, He told her to get into the car and directed her to turn here, turn there until she stopped in front of what appeared to be a second-hand store. There she could see a washing machine, and it was priced at $25. She said, “That’s my washing machine!” But the assistant said, “I’m sorry. I’m holding that for another woman.” She immediately pulled the $25 out of her purse, and said, “Here! You’ve been holding it for me.” The assistant was rather surprised, but perhaps in a order to get rid of her, said. “Okay—it’s yours!” That machine worked for a number of years and goes to show that there really isn’t anything too big or too small.


The Master’s First Visit to Germany

O. P. Malhotra

I have been at the feet of the Master right from my childhood. One of the first memories I have is of my father who would not begin a new month without having the darshan of his Master, Baba Sawan Singh Ji. I came to Delhi with my sister where I was initiated by Baba Sawan Singh Ji at the age of about fourteen. After partition in 1948, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji also came to Delhi, and my whole family, both maternal and paternal, was always at His feet attending His Satsangs from the very beginning.
It was in 1955 on the way back from His first tour of America that Master planned to visit Germany for the first time. At that time I was the private secretary to the Indian Ambassador in Bonn. The Master had written to me saying that He would stay in Bonn for a few days. At that moment the atmosphere in Germany was such that it was difficult to get many people interested in the subject of the Path of the Masters. I must say that although I was very nervous that I would not be able to arrange a good audience, it was with His grace we were able to start the first meeting with the hall completely full. It was held at the University. It gave me great satisfaction that there were university students, professors, outsiders, businessmen, and all types of people present to hear the Master. They listened with rapt attention.
We had arranged for the Master and His party to stay at my home in Bonn so we could look after Him. Of course I told my Ambassador about the Master, and he came and called on Sant Ji. The Ambassador was so impressed, that he along with his colleagues from other embassies wanted to meet the Master and take His guidance and advice. This was such an important event for me, and for everybody, that I cannot explain it in words.
After the Master had spoken two or three times in the University some two hundred people asked Him to give initiation. The Master told them that the first requirements for initiation were that they had to be vegetarians, teetotallers, non-smokers, and live a life of self restraint. I was so surprised to see that all of them at once agreed; and from that time onward they pledged to be complete vegetarians and to follow the Path of the Masters with all devotion. And I must say here, that the German people have kept their word.
After the first talk in the University Hall, two ladies came to my home and knocked at the door, saying, “We have heard the afternoon talk given by an Indian Saint. Can we meet Him? We have been told that He is staying with you. Would you kindly allow us to meet Him?” I said, “Certainly, you are most welcome.” This was Frau Fitting and her companion. Right from that moment onward the Master spent much time talking to Frau Fitting every day, morning and evening. Whenever we had Satsang she was present, and it was because of the Master’s great admiration for her devotion that He chose Frau Fitting as His representative in West Germany and Central Europe.
At the time of initiation some of the candidates had good experiences of the Divine Light and Sound Principles. They testified to this in the presence of the Master. He also asked them whether they had Hazur’s inner darshan. When He showed them the photograph of Baba Sawan Singh Ji, some of them immedi-ately said, “Oh, this is the Saint we have seen.” Frau Fitting once explained to me that two years before the Master had come to Germany she had been having very vivid darshan of the Master without having seen Him. As soon as she saw the Master she told Him, “Oh Master, You have been coming to me for the last two years. Today I see You in person.”
I would also like to mention that one of the German satsangis had come to the Master after listening to the Satsangs, and after receiving initiation he told the Master that he was
unable to concentrate in his meditations as he was not able to get rid of the old habits of food, drink, etc. Then the Master told him, “You have given me your word, you have promised, and you have signed on your application that you would lead a vegetarian life, and you must therefore follow those things and there will be no difficulty. You had better sit with me.” Master gave him a second sitting. At the end, we were all surprised to find that this particular gentleman, with folded hands came to the feet of the Master saying, “Oh Master, please forgive me. Now I have seen clearly that whatever You have instructed me is correct. In future I will abide by Your instructions.” He is now one of the best satsangis that we know in West Germany.
I would now like to mention one small interesting incident which happened during the Master’s stay which I can never forget. Everybody had gone out to do some shopping. The Master stayed at home in His room attending to His mail. In the other room was my small child, about four months old, who had been left behind sound asleep. It seems that the women were away longer than they intended, and my baby boy began crying. When they returned they found that the Master was writing letters with one hand and with the other He was rocking the cradle so that the child would be quiet and not cry. (This was a great benevolence for the child. I think the child will ever be grateful to the Master for His kindness to him.)
With regards to the Master’s food, He was always very particular about what He ate. Tai Ji used to cook for Him everywhere He went. My wife asked the Master what His instructions were about His food. The Master replied, “Of course, it is Tai Ji who usually prepares all the food, but in your house I will leave it to you. You will be in charge of my kitchen. And you will see that I get my proper food.” It was a great life-long honor for my wife that she was given this privilege.
I cannot help mentioning one small point here which my Ambassador told me after visiting the Master. He said, “Malhotra, you have such a great spiritual Master. What are you doing here? Why don’t you join Him? His is the most perfect Mission. I have heard Him, I have talked with Him. I am so much impressed, I think the work of an Ambassador of India is nothing as compared to the Master’s Mission. He is bringing souls together, and is preaching the gospel of truth and good living, and people have joined together whether they are Christians, Muslims, Hindus, whatever they are. I am very happy to see that your Master, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji, has such a positive power in Him that people are attracted to Him, and not attracted to the ordinary Ambassador of India. As a matter of fact, in the presence of your Master I found that the real representative, or the real Ambassador of India, was Sant Kirpal Singh Ji and not me.”
When Master had reached Bonn we were not sure how long He would stay; He had only stayed two days in Berlin and not given an initiation sitting. People began inquiring how long the Master would stay. As the days passed they began pressing the Master, “Please stay another day, please stay another day.” In all, He stayed ten days in Bonn; He left because so many of His children in India were pressing that He should return to them.
On the day Master departed for India, He was to leave from Dusseldorf; it was about half an hour or forty-five minutes drive from our house to the airport. The time of departure of the flight was nearing and we had duly informed the Master how much time it would take. Everything was ready, but till the last moment satsangis wanted to speak with the Master; everybody wanted one minute with the Master before He would leave for India. Therefore it was getting late. I was getting jittery, The driver said, “Please tell the Master the distance is long. The plane will not wait for Him and He must hurry up.” I went to Master and told Him, “Maharaj Ji, please, it is time for us to leave.” He said, “Don’t worry. We will leave. My first task is to attend to these satsangis. The flight can wait. You don’t worry.” Then I told Him, “Please, these are international flights, and they want us to be there a little earlier as some formalities have to be attended to. Some of the satsangis can meet You at the airport.” He said, “Many of them may not be able to go, but let me talk to anybody who comes.” And He was talking to them right up to the last moment with the result that we had only about half an hour at our disposal. He said, “You need not worry about it. We will reach there in time.” And to our great surprise, when we reached Dusseldorf Airport we found that the plane was about an hour and a half late. Many of the satsangis in their cars followed the Master’s car; we all reached the airport fearing that the Master might miss the plane. Master smiled, and asked me, “What time is the plane starting? Has it already left?” Everybody was laughing and so happy. We all sat down on the lawn chairs, and for one hour the Master was able to talk to all the satsangis at the Airport.
After the Master had returned to India, my house became a place where we would sit for meditation on Friday evenings for the entire night, and for the entire day and night on Saturday and Sunday. Early on Monday morning, everyone would go to their homes or to their duties. For two and a half days Satsang was held continuously, with meditations; Master’s instructions were read, and this was the best time we could ever have spent in our lives. Every week, two and a half days were spent completely for the Master’s work wherein large numbers of satsangis used to join together.
When I eventually returned to India, Master used to always tell me that I should remain in contact with my West German friends; whoever used to have any difficulty would write to the Master, and the Master used to ask me to make translations. He used to reply to everyone. You can well imagine what a great impact the Master’s visit made on that country; in West Germany so many Satsang centers have sprung up which have spread the great message of the Master.


My Alpha and Omega

Brigitte Boehm

Oh my Master—I miss You so—
even although You are closer to me than myself.
Oh my Master—I miss You so—
Whenever I sit in sweet remembrance of my Beloved Master Kirpal Singh Ji, my eyes cannot but well up and my heart is aching. Within His sweet Holy Naam and at His Holy Feet I found consolation, rest and peace.
My Beloved Master Kirpal gave me so much of all those wonderful divine valuables I hardly dared to dream of, and He does it still now in more and more abundance. Who can ever comprehend such Love, such Grace and such Mercy.
Meeting my Beloved Master Kirpal was the fulfilment of my life. When I was a child I felt very much attracted by the Teachings and Life of Jesus Christ. My adoring him was growing from year to year. At fourteen years, I was glad to get confirmation in the Christian Church and during the celebration when the priest was blessing me I could experience for the first time that GOD IS LIGHT. It was so overwhelming for me that I got rather afraid of the greatness of the Lord.
There was only one point I was very sad about, that God had given me human birth just in these times and not at the living time of Jesus Christ to question him personally about life and death and the true reality what to do further.
Besides searching after truth I had always the inner urge to learn English as much as possible. At twenty-three I left my parents’ home and moved to the towns Fuerth-Nuremberg. There I found good friends in helping me in my search and I attended many talks and lessons about religious subjects and studied several spiritual ways. In my search I met a very good companion and we married in 1961. In May 1962, my husband came home one day telling me that one of our friends had found a real Living Master of the Highest Order. I could hardly believe that, but within a short time we found out that it was true. This friend was and is still the group leader of the Satsang group of our Beloved Master Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj at Nuremberg.
While studying Sant Ji’s circulars and books a joyous remembrance came up, as if all that would be known to us. In September 1962, we wrote our first letter to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji and He answered us very quickly to contact the representative in Germany, Mrs. Fitting. My husband and I were overjoyed to get His precious gift of Holy Naam on March 9th, 1963 at Bonn, Germany. That was the crown of our life and we came now to know what to do to reach the object of our longing: Self-knowledge and God-knowledge.
In the same year, 1963, our so Beloved Master Kirpal Singh Ji came to the West. We could hardly comprehend this great fortune, but He really came in June 1963 to Germany. My first meeting with Him physically was at the railway station at Nuremberg. Until the last minute I could not believe that we would really get this rare, rare privilege. The train arrived and I remember it as if it would be just now how our Beloved came out of the train, tall, powerful, radiant and most beautiful, like the King of all Kings, like the Heavenly Father visiting His earth. My husband had the great luck to be the driver of Master’s car for the next fourteen days. No one could express our grateful and happy feelings to have this Great Sant amongst us. The same day in the afternoon, the Great Master called us to sit with Him together in the garden of that house, where He stayed. It happened that I was sitting just in front of Him. While sitting there a deep gratitude to God came up out of my heart. The gracious God had given me human birth at the living time of the Christ now sitting so close to me, in front of me. After questioning us about our spiritual experiences the Great Master looked suddenly at me quite straight into my eyes and I could not but also look into His luminous eyes.
Although He was looking at me very powerfully, I thought within me, I would never take away my eyes from His, even if I would die just now. The Great Master kept on looking at me, pulled me up in no time and showed me in abundance that He was nothing but strong Divine Light, God-Power manifested on this Blessed Human Pole. I was overwhelmed. People around the Master started to ask questions. Later I said to them, don’t ask so many questions just look at Master’s wonderful eyes and forehead and you will have wonderful experience. I was of the
opinion that everyone would see that, but learnt later on that such kind of experience was a very rare blessing of the Master Himself. The following fourteen days in the physical Presence of our Great Master were filled to the utmost with His gracious Blessings. One of our friends reminded me at that time: “Do you know now, why you always felt forced from within to learn English?”
When the Beloved Master went back to India in January 1964, I felt very very sad. Always when I sent Him my diaries, I wrote Him that I would be longing so much for His Darshan. In September 1964, I received a letter from Him in which He mentioned: “You will meet with your wish in due course.” I was more than happy about this answer, but I had no idea how this would be possible. At that time there were hardly any favourable charter flights to India, and we were also rather short of money. But by His grace it became true in February 1965. The gracious Master Power arranged everything. I was allowed to stay with my so Beloved Master in India for three months. This was my most blessed time, during which He educated me lovingly and strictly and taught me in practice to realize many important facts for spiritual growth, for example:
(1) God Power, Master Power is working overhead everywhere, no matter where a disciple might be, and that receptivity to Holy Naam—the Master within—would be the foremost necessity for an aspirant.
(2) The Love of a Master-Saint for His disciple is very much greater compared with the love of thousands of worldly mothers and fathers put together. This my Beloved Master showed me practically—through the following incident:
After about six weeks stay with my Master I got a letter from my mother, in which she asked me very urgently to come back to Germany to my husband and my child who was just three years old. I became confused, because I had gone to my Master with the firm intention to go back to Germany only when my Master would tell me to go. But now a thought struck my mind: “I am sitting here in the lap of my Beloved Master as in Abraham’s lap, enjoying His Divine Bliss and my mother would have to work for my family.” I felt very selfish and guilty and did not know what to do. At evening Darshan, Master came immediately to me asking me what had happened to me. I reported the contents of my mother’s letter. Master looked at me very strong, asking at first, “Anybody sick at home?” “No Master,” I replied. Then He said to the others sitting around Him, “Oh yes, the mothers... turning to me again He spoke very strongly, “Go, go, I do not want to stand between the love of your mother and you.” I got terrified and said quickly, “But Master, I do not want to go, I would like to stay with You.” With an indescribable look of Divine Love He spoke to me, “Do you want it from me in writing (and He wrote with his fingers on His hand) that you can stay here? Don’t you know how happy the father is when his daughter has finally come to him? The love of the Master for His disciples is much greater than the love of thousands of worldly mothers and fathers together.” I am unable to describe my feelings when the Beloved Master was revealing this to me in this most clear and wonderful way. What a Love—how can one even dream of the reality of such a love! After two days or so the Master came to me asking softly, “Are you stronger now?”
(3) Glad acceptance of sickness however painful, as the Master knows best how to pay the karmic bills.
At the end of March I became rather sick with an abscess in my throat. When the Great Master heard about it, He said to me,” Don’t worry, you have to go through that.” During the worst hours of this aching sickness He came very often to me, Himself giving me homeopathic medicine on my tongue. He also called for two doctors and both looked at me very seriously. One of them gave me penicillin injections. Well I must admit, I was not very fond of this awful pain, I had lost my speech and could not swallow, the throat got closed more and more and then I prayed to Him, “Oh Master, I cannot stand it any longer.” At once I heard His footsteps approaching my room. The moment He entered the room, the pains flew away like a bird from a tree. Although I had lost my voice I could whisper this incident to the Master and He smiled graciously. At about midnight of this day, the abscess had not yet opened, I came to accept the sickness and I prayed to the Master within, “Oh Master, if You want me to have this still longer, I would not complain any more.” The next moment I had to cough and the abscess burst and matter flowed out of my mouth for about forty minutes. One hour later I felt quite clearly my Master had given me my life anew. In the early morning He came to my room sweetly and lovingly asked, “Are you feeling better now?”
(4) The Great Master taught me very strictly always to think positively. A few days after, Master asked me, “How are you?” My answer was, “Well, Master, the throat is not yet quite all right.” The Beloved quickly instructed me, “Never say that, always answer you are all right. How are you?” I said, “All right, Master.” Master smiled, “So it’s good.” Several times He turned to me asking, “How are you?” And I always answered, “All right Master.” He nodded satisfied.
When I got another abscess in the throat several years later in Germany, I became a bit afraid, because I was not in the physical presence of my Beloved Master. In the night I got more pain so that I could not sleep, so I sat for meditation. Suddenly I felt my Master standing at my bedside, speaking so softy, “Now it is enough.” Again I had to cough immediately and the abscess burst and the throat healed very quickly.
Really countless are the blessings of our Beloved Master no matter where the disciple would be.
(5) And then there was another point the Great Master taught me to consider: to live independent of everybody, no matter how advanced another initiate may be and no matter what position another initiate may have in the cause of the Master. Nothing should stand between the Master and the disciple. Everyone has to go his own way to the heart of the Master. Otherwise one cannot be true to one’s ownself to reach the ultimate goal, for which our Beloved Master drew us to His Holy Feet, to guide us to our Eternal Home.
One can find no end to praise the limitless Grace and Love of the Great Beloved Master Kirpal Singh Ji. He has made me His own for ever and all eternity—never-ending praise to the LORD, Holy Naam.


The Unbounded Grace of the Godman

Manohar Singh Duggal

When Master Kirpal Singh was at Rawalpindi in about 1930, one of His nearest relatives, a boy of fourteen years, was critically ill in hospital. One evening Master went to see him. The mother of this boy respected the Master so much—the family had always regarded Him as a saint—that she begged Him that if the child had to die He should make it easy for him because the suffering he was undergoing was too much. Master of course knew immediately why the boy was suffering and why he could not leave the body. Master said to the mother, “You’d better call his aunt.” The aunt was called. When she arrived, Master took her aside and said to her, “You took fifteen rupees from under the boy’s pillow; until you return that money the boy cannot die.” She replied, “Yes, I did take fifteen rupees from under his pillow. Because.. .”—here she became rather embarrassed— “because I was afraid someone else would steal it.” Master then insisted, “Until that money is returned he cannot leave.” She put the money back under the pillow, the boy’s agony subsided, then he closed his eyes and was gone.
My father, the elder brother of Kirpal Singh, was very seriously ill at Peshawar in 1939. One night he was on the verge of expiring. I was sitting by his side; I knew the worst was coming, the doctor had given up hope. When the end was near I was just repeating Simran, helpless, just watching what would happen. After a time I suddenly realized that he had started to move—my father’s soul had come back into the body. He opened his eyes and I could see they were filled with tears. He called my name, and told me to get pen and paper as he wanted to write a letter to his younger brother, Kirpal Singh. The letter said, “You know and I know what has happened. Unless you come, I cannot get up from this bed. I request you to come as early as possible.” He then closed his eyes as if in meditation, but after another fifteen minutes he opened his eyes and said, “Send somebody to the railway station at nine o’clock as my other brother will also come.” He had seen this in meditation. So actually both brothers arrived; they embraced each other and came straight to see my father. Then my father explained what had happened in the morning: Baba Sawan Singh Ji had come to take him but Kirpal Singh Ji had requested that he be spared. Because of this request Hazur had sent him back. My father’s face was shining; he told us, “I cannot describe what it was like—I cannot describe that place. I was with Baba Sawan Singh Ji and Kirpal Singh Ji. We went and crossed that golden moun-tain and went to the other side which was full of Light.”
Due to the long illness of my father the expenditure was very great. My father, although he was so seriously ill, worried very much about the cost. One night during sleep, Kirpal Singh appeared to him and said, “Brother, why are you nervous? You just look at your coat hanging on the bed and that will look after your needs.” Next morning at five-thirty when I came to my father’s room, he said, “Look, Kirpal Singh has just appeared to me—just check the pockets of the coat lying over there.” When I went through the pockets I was surprised to find they were full of currency notes. This was all His grace and this happened long before He became a Master.
I was in Rajpur during 1955 visiting my mother. One evening the Master told me to come to His house in the morning. So early in the morning I went to the Master’s house, and sat outside to wait for Him. The Master opened the door and said, “Why are you sitting out here? Why did you not come in?” I said, “Sir, I was just waiting for you.” He said, “No, no, I need somebody’s company; now let us go and walk.” He led me to the garden at the back of the house. As we were walking, I happened to see a beautiful mango lying under a tree. I felt like taking it, but I hesitated, and we passed by. We continued to walk, and the Master was talking about one thing and another; it was just beautiful to be with Him. At the end of the walk was a cement platform; when we reached it we stopped, and the Master laughed. I said. “Sir, what’s the matter?” He told me, “One of the disciples from Jullunder was here, and we were walking like you and I, and when we reached this place there was a cobra sitting here. The moment that man saw the cobra he jumped behind me, as if to say that if the cobra was going to strike, let it not bite him. On one side they claim to be devotees and on the other side they’re so disrespectful. I asked him if he was nervous, and he said, ‘Look, that is nothing less than death!’ He was very nervous. I told him, ‘All right, don’t worry.’ And I told the snake, ‘Well, you may go now.’ And the snake crept slowly away towards the other side, and left. But that man was still very nervous; when we turned to go back he was walking in front of me. And when he reached his room, he rolled up his bedding, and returned to Jullunder.”
Presently we went back towards the house, and as I didn’t want to pass that mango, I gently directed the Master away from it. But the Master could read my thoughts, and He went straight ahead towards that tree. Then He stopped, looked at me and smiled. He said, “You see that mango?” And I said, “Yes Sir.” He said, “You felt like taking it?” I replied, “Very much so.” He asked, “Why did you not take it?” I said, “I didn’t think it proper in Your company.” He said, “Now you take it.” And He laughed.
In 1957 when my daughter was twelve years old, she became seriously ill. She had a high temperature and she was delirious. I went to see the Master at the Ashram and He said, “I will come to see her tomorrow.” She had been crying all night and all day, but five minutes before the Master arrived she fell into a deep sleep. On seeing this the Master said, “Look here, you say she has been crying all the time and not able to sleep, and here she is fast asleep!” Someone said, “This is all Your miracle; You put her to sleep before You came.” Then the Master put His hand on her head. She looked into His eyes, and He asked her, “What do you want?” And she, being a child, said, “Five rupees.” He gave her five rupees and promised her, “When you recover I will give you another five rupees.” Then He left. But the following day her condition worsened— we had to take her to the hospital. She was almost in the lap of death. The doctors complained, “What can we do if you bring patients to us in this condition? What can we do when she is dying?” I immediately ran to see Master and I told Him, “She is expected to die in half an hour.” But He said, “Don’t worry, nothing will go wrong. I’m going away to Rohtak but I’ll be back the day after tomorrow.
I began to wonder as the doctor said she was dying but the Master said nothing will go wrong. Meanwhile, the doctors gave the child some treatment and she got a little better. The next day when I went to the hospital I noticed from a distance than the Master was moving in one of the wards—I couldn’t understand it as He had told me He would be away at Rohtak. So I immediately ran up to Him; there were other disciples there calling out, “Maharaj Ji’s here! Maharaj Ji’s here!” I asked Him, “How is it You’re here? I thought You were away.” He said, “No, no. I’ve come to see her.” I took Him over to the girl; she looked again into His eyes, and He again asked her, “What do you want?” She replied, “You told me You’d give me another five rupees if I got better.” “So you want to get better?” And she said, “Yes.” Then He gave her another five rupees, and He took a phial out of His pocket, and gave her some homeopathic medicine. Then she slept for ten hours and she was perfectly well the next day.
Once in 1964 I was at Rajpur visiting Beloved Master. In the evening He was sitting in the open outside His bungalow. One of His disciples came looking very much worried. He told the Master that his son was in hospital and the doctors had dec-lared there was no hope of his survival as he was in a state of coma. On hearing this, Beloved Master told him that there was
nothing to worry about because he would be all right. After this Master accompanied him to the hospital to see his son.
On reaching the ward he went straight to the child’s bed. Beloved Master asked them to turn him over. Maharaj Ji then started rubbing his spinal cord from neck to hips. After about five minutes, the boy who had been in coma, opened his eyes. After another ten minutes the boy changed his position and sat up and bowed before the Beloved Master. Those present were astonished to see this miracle, and the news spread like wildfire throughout the hospital; the Senior Physician in charge of the hospital came running, and told Maharaj Ji, “You have performed a miracle.” Maharaj Ji told him that He had done nothing special. He had massaged the vein which had direct connection with the brain. On this the doctor replied that no treatment could save the child and coma had already set in, and he was not responding to any treatment. The boy was discharged from the hospital the following day.
In 1971, when Beloved Master was not well, I was attend-ing Him at night. One night I received a telephone call from Holy Family Hospital, New Delhi, intimating that one of the devotees of Maharaj Ji, Mr. Mahan Singh, was seriously ill and had been put under an oxygen tent. They further said that Mr. Mahan Singh had forgotten the Simran and there was pitch dark inside, and he wanted them to inform Maharaj Ji about his sad plight.
On hearing this I was perplexed as to what to do as Beloved Master had been restless; at that particular time He was resting and I did not want to disturb Him. I was thinking over the matter when Maharaj Ji called me and enquired as to who was calling. I told Him. On hearing this He said it was 1:00 a.m. and Mr. Mahan Singh would be leaving at 3:30 a.m., so there was nothing to worry about. He directed me to tell them that they should put a thumb on his forehead between the two eyebrows and repeat the five Names in his right ear— Hazur would take care of the rest so he need not worry on that account. After that Master was in meditation and I was sitting by the side of His bed. Exactly at 3:32 a.m. Beloved Master opened His eyes and said, “He has gone, he was a good man. Anyway, it is His Will.” At 1:00 a.m. He knew that his time of departure was 3:30. At about 3:45 a phone call came. The man on the other end said that Mr. Mahan Singh had expired. Before I went to attend the call, Beloved Master said that he passed away exactly at 3:30 a.m., but the doctors must have taken some time to announce the death.
In the morning some relatives of Mr. Mahan Singh came to see Maharaj Ji. They said that they had repeated the five Names in his right ear after putting a thumb on his forehead between the two eyebrows. Immediately after this Mahan Singh, who had been so dejected, smiled and said, “If one has a Master, he should be like Him!” Apparently there was Light inside and the Master appeared within to take care of him. According to them, he never opened his eyes after that and he expired in meditation. This shows that though Maharaj Ji was physically unwell, spiritually He was as strong as ever.


At the Lotus Feet of the Beloved

Brij Mohan Sharma

Since the age of six I was very fond of spirituality, and I used to get members of my family to tell me stories about Lord Krishna and Lord Rama. When I grew up I became a business-man. In 1952 when I was thirty-three years old there was a great crisis in my life; I knew I had to find God—I could not rest until I found Him. My wife became worried that I would leave home. In October of that year, one day at five in the afternoon I told my wife that I was going to see a Saint.
I may mention here that since my childhood I used to hear an inner voice guiding me and telling me what at do—for instance it would give warnings of accidents or of a snake in my path. Somebody would catch my hand and lead me out of danger. So on this day I heard the same voice which said, “Today let us go to see a Saint.” I reassured my wife that I would be back soon, but that I didn’t know where I had to go. The voice directed me until I found myself standing in front of a gate. There I could read a notice saying that the place was called Sawan Ashram. I remember thinking, “This is a very nice name.” So I walked in. In those days Master’s house was very small and there were only a few buildings in the Ashram. I asked someone if there was a Saint living there. He said, “Yes, go upstairs.”
When I went upstairs, I saw twenty to thirty people sitting in meditation, and also saw an impressive figure sitting in front of them whom I took to be the Master. I also sat down in meditation, but after a few minutes I opened my eyes and saw that the Master was still sitting there, but He was not speaking. I thought that as soon as He spoke I would talk to Him. After ten minutes someone came and put his hand on my shoulder and asked, “Will you do some service?” I was very happy to be asked—here I was, a new person and they were asking me to give service!
After it was finished, I returned to the roof, but I found that the Saint had gone. I asked the people there, “Where is the Saint who was sitting here?” But they told me He had not been there at all. At that moment I saw green, red and white Light circling the people sitting in meditation. Then I thought there must be something here, so I asked, “Where is the Master?” They told me He was standing in the compound. There I found Sant Kirpal Singh talking to a lady about her meditations. When He finished He came straight over to me and said, “Well, you have come.” As soon as He uttered these words, my whole body was charged with Light and filled with happiness. I knew at once He was a great man. Then we sat down face to face, and He asked me why I had come. I replied that I had come to have bhakti—the loving devotion which leads to union with God. “I’ve got father, mother, wife, children, shop, house but I am not yet satisfied—today I’ve come for bhakti.” He said that I should first grasp the theory, then I could have it. But I replied, “No, no. I want it right now.” He again insisted that I should grasp the theory and attend Satsang. But I again refused. I then told Him that I wanted to talk to the Master who had been sitting on the roof. He sent for a photograph and asked me if this was the per-son I’d seen? When I replied that it was, He told me. “This is my Master Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj. He left the physical body four years ago but He is still working—I am an empty pipe and whatever water He sends I give out.” The people around the Master then said, “Why don’t You give him something?” I also asked again with folded hands for inner experience. He re-plied, “All right, come tomorrow morning.”
The next day the Master was holding initiation. I remember when I arrived Tai Ji was standing in the doorway and she told me to go inside. Master was lying on a bed. He looked towards me and His eyes were full of red Light. He said, “Have you got faith?” I said, “Yes.” He then told me to go outside and sit in the veranda. There were about forty people there, so I took my place in the men’s row. When the Master came out He gave us the theory; afterwards He put us into meditation. I had a very good inner experience of Light and Sound.
For many years I had been giving two and a half hours each day to the worship of Lord Krishna and Lord Rama. As the Master had told us to do two and a half hours meditation this meant that I began giving five hours each day to my spiritual practices. As I had not attended a Satsang I was not aware that there was no need to carry on with my former practices. After nine days I suddenly heard the bell ringing so strong that I thought the whole of Delhi had gone mad—ding-dong, ding-dong! But then I remembered that the Master had said that the bell Sound was one of the highest—so I started jumping about and dancing. When I went to bed I completely left the body— Master was taking me by the hand just like a father taking a five year old child. He showed me the higher planes and the deities whom I was worshipping. The next morning I collected all my idols of brass, went to the Ashram and cast them into the well.
From then on I started attending Satsang—in fact I went twice a day as the Master gave meditation sittings morning and evening. This went on for three months. Then one day I asked the Master if He could give me more inner experience. He laughed and said, “Come tomorrow.” I may mention here that from the very first day I was never prevented from entering the Master’s house, even when He was sleeping or eating—I was being brought up just like a baby. So the next day when I arrived the Master took me to the meditation room, and put me into meditation which lasted five hours. After that I told the Master I wished to give up my worldly life and leave my business, but He was very insistent that I should carry on with my obligations
in the world. After another three months I again begged the Master to give me more. He put His hand on my shoulder, and He said, “You are like a sheep bleating ‘Baa-baa’.” The result was that whereas up to then I had enjoyed up to five hours continuously in oceans of Light, then I became like other people and the Light only lasted for fifteen to twenty minutes—the pot was not ready.
People used to complain that I was always telling my inner experiences. Well, it all started one day when Master told me to take two men with me in the car to see Him at Rajpur, and He whispered in my ear that I should make them happy. So all the way I told them my inner experiences. I used to see showers, heavy showers and flowers of Light and Master sitting on the moon. There were rows of suns, thousands of suns. Once on this plane I saw Baba Sawan Singh showering His love on many sat-sangis, and I thought, ‘Oh, He’s not coming to me.” But as soon as I had this thought, He came towards me, embraced me, but as He was doing this He changed into Baba Jaimal Singh. Two months after I was initiated I saw Swami Ji, but when Master asked me what I had seen, I said I had seen Lord Krishna. Master laughed and laughed but it wasn’t until I went back to my house that I saw a picture of Swami Ji and I knew then whom I had seen.
All this time the Master was drawing me nearer and nearer to Himself, allowing me to serve Him closely and showing me great love. Whenever I passed a fruit shop and saw any excellent fruit I would buy it for Him. He always accepted it. We eventually got a house within a few minutes walk of the Ashram and also a house almost next to His in Rajpur. My wife often cooked special dishes for the Master which He always ate and enjoyed.
I attended all the World Fellowship of Religions Conferences with the Master. The Prime Minister at the time of the first Conference in 1958 was Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. He was not a spiritual man, that is not until he met the Master. He was not prepared to attend the Conference, but he came and he spoke; He was dragged by the Master. In his speech he criticised some of the holy men attending the Conference, but he praised our Master. When this Conference was over the Master invited all the foreign delegates—there were about thirty—to the Ashram for lunch. Master was overjoyed to see them. There was one priest from Russia who was also overjoyed to be there. Master told them they could ask for anything they wanted. Only the Russian priest spoke up. He said, “We have seen so much of war we beg you please save us from more. We want peace.” Master was very moved. He went into His house and came out carrying a photo of Hazur which He gave to the priest. The priest said, “I will honor Him, my family will honor Him, my country will honor Him.”
The Third Conference was held in Calcutta and Master was extremely ill. I remember we were staying up on the third floor and Master could not even move one step. On the fourth day Muni Sushil Kumar came up to see the Master and said, “The Conference is a failure, all is lost. The Buddhists refuse to agree to the final resolutions because they will not agree to ‘God’ being mentioned in it. What can be done?” Master said, “Don’t worry, I will come tomorrow.” But the next day the doctor said that if the Master left the room He would collapse. Master insisted, so He was carried all the way down in a chair. Before He went on to the stage the doctor said, “You are extremely sick, please speak slowly.” But the Master asked the doctor to examine Him again. The doctor did so and said, “Oh, you are perfectly all right, totally all right.” Master walked on to the platform and spoke for one hour. At the end all the problems were solved and everyone signed the resolutions. But when He got back to His room, Master became so ill again that the poor doctor said, “I don’t know who you are—one minute you are seriously ill, the next perfectly well, and then seriously ill again. Please excuse me, but I see that I am unable to help you.
According to my experience this much I can say, the Master used to take over the illnesses of others. Once I was with Him at Rahon. He was to give initiation to about one hundred people. He had refused three people, but someone in the Sangat there begged that they should also be included. Master allowed them in again and all were given Naam. Master was already unwell, but the next day Master told me He would now have to be ill for another three days. From this I realized we should never press the Master to give initiation to people He rejects.
One day when Master was out, two ladies came to the Ashram. I spoke with them and they told me they wished to see the Master and to have initiation. I told them that if they came back next day the Master would surely see them and give them initiation. After Master got back that evening, I was with Him; there were several people in the room, and I was massaging Him. Suddenly He sat up and said, “I cannot give initiation to those two people!” No one in the room except me knew what He meant. When those two ladies came again next day I had to tell them the Master could not see them. The Master alone knows who is acceptable for initiation.
In the early days Master hardly ever refused anyone initiation. But later on when He saw so many take it and not do the practices He became more strict. He would just tell them to continue coming to Satsang. If anyone, however, told the Master he had seen Hazur inside, He was so overjoyed, He would say, “How can I refuse you Naam? All right, please sit down.”
Sometimes the Master was very kind; I once said, “I would like to see the place at Rishikesh where You stayed after Hazur left the physical body.” He kept silent. The next day at six in the morning Ram Saroop, Master’s driver, arrived at my house, and told me the car was ready and Master was waiting. We all went to Rishikesh and Master was so jolly, and showed me every place—where He used to sit, where He used to wash, where He used to eat. Then He said, “Let’s stay and have some lunch.” He ordered me to get drinking water from a special well from where He used to drink. I brought the water, but when He tasted it, He laughed and said, “This is not the right water.” There were several wells and I had gone to the wrong one. Master knew at once.
One day a young sadhu came into my shop and we began to talk. I asked him if he saw Light; he said “Yes.” I asked him if he heard the Sound; he said “Yes”. Then he questioned me. So I said, “By the grace of my Master I see and hear the Light and Sound.” I could see his face turning color, so I asked, “Did you tell a lie?” He said, “Yes. Can you help me?” I closed the shop and took him to the Ashram. The sadhu was very thirsty at the time but I did not know this. As soon as we saw the Master, He said, “Oh, you are just in time, tea is ready.” We went inside with Him; there were three cups of tea on a table, one for the Master, one for the sadhu, and one for me. Then the Master began to question the sadhu: why had he left his home and come to Delhi? He said he had left Bihar because he had a fight with his elder brother, that he was married and had two children, and that he had been the manager of a factory. Master said at once, “Look here, I can give you Light and Sound, but you must go back to your family, ask forgiveness, and fulfill your obligations. If you promise to do this, I can give you Naam.” He promised, and he was initiated the following day.
Once a group of us were at Master’s house in Rajpur doing seva (service). Master had just bought the house and the garden was in need of clearing. We were a group of about
twenty-five; we were clearing stones. It was a very hot day. Every few minutes I kept stopping and saying, “Oh, it’s too hot to do this work!” But I was doing my duty. Suddenly Master came out—we were all resting under the shade of a tree—and He said, “What is wrong?” Someone said, “Oh, it’s Brij Mohan, he’s saying it’s too hot to work.” The Master then sat down with me; He picked up a stone, looked at it, and said, “Oh cloud, my Brij Mohan is feeling very hot.” In a moment the sky was full of clouds and we were able to work under these clouds until late in the evening. The next day as we went on working the Master came over to me and pointed to some tenacious roots of a big tree clinging to the earth by many hair-like minor roots. He said, “Brij Mohan cut them!” He gave me an axe. I cut them, and He said, “Look, Brij Mohan, people in the world are like these roots; if we cut away our desires we can be free.”
Master would teach me things at every turn. Once He asked me, “Who are you?” I replied, “I’m Your servant.” He said, “No, you are the servant of your mind.”
One day when I was setting out from Delhi to see the Master at Rajpur, my son wanted to go with me but he was very weak with typhoid fever. My wife asked me not to take him, but I said I would ask the child and see what he wanted to do. He said he wanted to go. But as we were about to leave, his condition became worse. The child insisted on going so we all left together. But once we started the journey the fever was gone. When we reached Rajpur, Master was eagerly awaiting us at the gate. He came and embraced my son and kissed him and took him in His lap. He told me, “This also used to happen to me. My son Darshan used to have a high fever like this when we were going to see Hazur, but as soon as we got into the train everything was all right.”
Once when I was in my shop a dog came in and by intuition knew he was saying to me, “I am dying, can you save me?” So I called out, “Is there anybody who can save this dog?” Then a porter who was passing said that the dog had probably been given some poison, and that if he was given curd he could be saved. So I got some curd and gave it to him. He vomited everything—he was all right; he wagged his tail and went away. I was afraid, so I went straight to the Ashram. The Master was waiting for me. He said, “What’s the matter with you?” I explained what had happened, so He replied, “You can bring dogs to life—I can bring men to life. All right, don’t worry.”
When the construction work at Manav Kendra started in the autumn of 1970, Master was in a very happy mood. He ordered Tai Ji to make some sweet-meats, and fruit was bought to give as parshad. I did not know about this so I came very late. Tai Ji said, “Why are you late? Master has been waiting for you.” I found Master was sitting with a big basket of fruit which He had arranged in a very beautiful way. He was all smiles, and He said “Here is a shop —come on buyers, take any fruit you like!” He was talking like this. Then He distributed the fruit; parshad was give to everybody. He was so happy He even gave prashad to the birds also.
Once when the Master was away He asked me by letter to give money to someone who was in difficulties. I gave him some money, and then when Master came back He returned the money to me, but the way He returned it was very strange; as He was counting out the money He would open one eye and close the other eye, then close both eyes, then take the money back and recount it all over again. This went on for about ten minutes. I wondered what He was doing. Then He gave me that money, and I put it in my cash box in my house. Every day I would take money from it, but every time I noticed instead of getting less that money increased. I thought Master must have given me too much, so after ten days of this I took it back to Him.
When Manav Kendra was still under construction an Army engineer came to see the Master, and wished to help install the pumping machinery which would fill the water tower. Master asked him to wait, assuring him He would go with him later on. But the engineer was impatient and insisted on going off to inspect the pump in spite of Master’s repeated requests that he should wait for Him. As he was inspecting the diesel engine, he fell forward and was in danger of losing his life. Some great force jerked him back, but his hand was cut off. A satsangi who was there immediately clamped his hand round the stub of the arm to prevent the engineer from bleeding to death. Master came, and he was rushed to the military hospital. The man who was holding the stump held it in such a fierce grip that he was unable to let go, and it took four soldiers to get his hand off before the doctors could operate. Master’s comment was that on that day, the engineer was to have lost his life, but he had been given pardon and had only lost his hand.
I was always fond of meeting sadhus. I used to know an old sadhu who helped me before I met the Master. Of course, once I found the Master I was so happy that when I met this old sadhu again I told him all about Master. He was overjoyed, and asked me take him to meet the Master. When I took him to the Master He didn’t say a word. He just went over and put His hand on the old sadhu’s head—he went into samadhi for three hours! When he came back he started weeping, “Why have You brought me back? I was sitting with Baba Sawan Singh and He was talking to me.” Then Master told him. “You belong to Tulsi Sahib’s family.” He replied, “I came from Hathras, but I didn’t know that.” A year later the sadhu came to see me and he touched my feet. I jumped up and said, “No, you are more than my father!” “No, no, my dear son, I got everything through you, and I’ve come to tell you a story. I was living in the jungle at Vrindavan; there was also a man who had gone there for worship, but his son got cholera and died. He brought the body to me. I was in meditation at the time; the Master appeared to me inside and told me to sprinkle the body with water, otherwise people would say sadhus have no power. I did this and the boy came back to life.” The next day we both went to see the Master. But the Master appeared to be very much annoyed; He warned the old sadhu never to do this again. After the old man had left, the Master said to me, ‘Look, Brij Mohan, I had to reprimand him to make sure that he didn’t do that again. It was all right the first time, but this must not be repeated again.”
Very shortly after I had been initiated I went to ask Master to give me more experiences. Tai Ji asked me to wait outside. Suddenly Master came out but I could only see a golden Light standing in front of me for about twenty seconds. Then He spoke, “What do you want?” I said, “Master, I want to see You,” but as I was saying this I realised He had just shown me who He was—He was not a physical body but Light.


As I Saw The Beloved Master

Dona G. Kelley

Just as a diamond’s many facets are needed to produce its brilliance, so was Master Kirpal a Spiritual Gem, whose many “facets” delighted all who knew Him. One outstanding facet was His sense of humor.
When He stayed at my home for several days during His 1955 tour, He would question all of us, after the morning meditation, as to what we saw inside. One elderly lady said, “I saw Your bare foot, Master.”
“Did you see my foot, inside?” Master asked.
“Oh no, Master, I saw it outside.”
Master rocked with laughter. “Any child could have seen that,” He said.
On another occasion, He was giving instructions regarding meditation. “When you prepare for meditation, see that you have nothing in the belly,” He said.
One of the ladies said, “Master, the right word is abdo-men.”
“All right,” said Master, “See that you have nothing in the abdomen-belly, when going into meditation.”
When He was at Anaheim during His 1972 tour, morning meditation was held upstairs in the Disneyland Hotel. Ordinarily, all of the elderly satsangis would ride the elevator up to the
big hall. On this particular morning, the elevator broke down, so we had to walk up two long flights of stairway. As I was struggling upward, hugging the rail, Master came along. “All right Dona, hop on my back and I will carry you up.”
During His 1963 tour, Master was returning from Baldwin, Michigan, to Chicago, Illinois. En route, our motorcade stopped for lunch along Lake Michigan. It was a hot day, and most of us took off our shoes and went wading along the shoreline. Suddenly, we saw Master, His white pajamas rolled up to the knees, wading in the chilly water. He was enjoying Himself with the abandon of a child—not one iota of false “dignity” in His make-up.
At Rajpur, He would hold Darshan on the grass. One morning as He was speaking, an infant came crawling up to His chair and smiled happily, saying “Gah-gah-gah.” Master leaned forward, smiled joyously and said, “Yes?”
Of course, His outstanding characteristic was Love. Like Jesus, He loved all children—He showered Love upon all children who came near Him. It is not too much to say that He was Love personified. Who among His satsangis can ever forget His admonition, “Love, and everything shall be added unto you?”
I count it as the greatest blessing of my life to have had the privilege of serving Him for almost twenty-six years. I regard Him as my Brother, the Holy Son of my Master, Sawan Singh Ji.
I could have said much more about His radiant personality but the Chinese say, “In many words, there is much confusion.” I could, for instance, have spoken of His joyousness, His rippling laughter, His erect, graceful carriage—He walked like the King that He was. However, words have their limitations—it is enough to know that He will live forever in our hearts.


Stories of Master’s Protection and Blessings

Bruno Zaffina

Hazur used to say if you want to see how a Master works, you should watch an initiate die. I know of a case in Mexico where a young lady of about twenty-one years old was initiated. Although her father came to Satsang several times, he did not take initiation. About six months after she’d taken initiation, her father died of cancer. Someone in Mexico said that when this man was dying, Master Kirpal Singh met him on the inside and took him up, even though the man was not initiated. When I heard this story I wrote to Master to ask Him if it was correct, and for permission to tell this to the others. He wrote back, “Yes, it’s due to the grace of the Master that this blessing was extended to the girl’s father.”
Here is another outstanding case of the Master’s mercy and protection. A lady in Kentucky who was a devoted initiate of the Master had a husband who was an alcoholic. She took care of him—I guess he was basically a good man. Once in meditation she saw that Master was in a boat with her husband. The boat was on a golden sea, and Master was taking this man across the sea. So she wrote to Master to ask if this vision was correct, that he would be taken to the other side and never have to reincarnate again? Master said, (I saw His letter at the time) “Yes, you have interpreted your vision, the inner experience, correctly; because of your devotion, Master’s grace has been extended to your husband—and he will soon pass over.” And a short time later he did die; she saw a kind of blackness leave his body, and he was met by the Master.
The man who was to be the instrument for me to find the Path lived in Chicago, and was called Earl Fishman. He had a friend called Dr. Schval. I never met this doctor but he seemed to be an advanced person. After I’d gone to live in Mexico I received a letter from Earl saying that Dr. Schval had died. His wife had told Earl the circumstances of his death. Dr. Schval had seen the Master inside two or three days before he left the body, and the Master told him to prepare his papers because he’d be leaving permanently. So he just told his wife that he’d be leaving and that his Will was in order. And he told her, “I want you to sit at the bedside after I leave the body and don’t call the mortician until two or three hours have passed.” She later came to Earl Fishman and told him that she had done this after her husband died, and after half an hour she was filled with joy. So when the Master came to take the doctor, the radiations were so strong that even the wife was engulfed in peace and bliss.
The group leader in Kingston, Jamaica, told me that when her husband was dying of cancer, just before he left the body— he also was not an initiate—he said, “Your Master and His Master are both in the room here with me.” And then he died a short while later.
There was a man living in Arkansas who was a hermit; he was an initiate. When he died, two initiates in separate parts of Arkansas were meditating and they both saw him going up in a blaze of Light, and he was in ecstasy; Master Kirpal Singh was on one side and Baba Sawan Singh was on the other side. He said, “Please tell my daughter she should not feel sad. You see how happy I am. Extend my love to her and also to the dear initiates.” Neither of those two realized they’d both seen the same thing until they got together much later.
Mrs. Gordon Hughes was dying round about 1928; she was very thin and weak, and her family had even made preparations for the funeral. But as she hadn’t found what she wanted in life, she wanted to continue living. She saw this blazing Light in the corner of her room and Hazur appeared and walked through her; she became well again. So she got up and walked down stairs to the amazement of all the family. But when she saw this Light and this Form she was really afraid. She said she didn’t know what it was. After this she started meditating, and she began seeing two Forms—one was Sant Kirpal Singh and the other was Hazur. And she made a painting of Sant Kirpal Singh before she knew He was walking this earth in physical form. When she was initiated in 1954 she asked Mr. Khanna if he’d show her a picture of the Master, and she was amazed to find it was the same Master she’d been seeing inside.
This is how I heard about the Path. I had to watch my wife dying in childbirth in 1956. I was married to a Mexican lady, and we lived around the Chicago area. When we were to have our second child, I drove her to the hospital early in the morning. I already had a little boy of two named Mario; we hoped to have a family of four, but before 11:00 in the morning we were back to a family of two. But the amazing thing was that I found that she had knowledge of her death one year before it happened—she had told a lot of people, but she never told me. And when I mentioned it to this friend of mine whose name was Earl Fishman, he said casually, “Some people are told beforehand when they are to leave the body.” I asked him how he knew—I realized that this man had great peace. Then he began telling me how he had searched all his life, how he was born Jewish and how he loved Judaism. However, Judaism didn’t give him any of the inward things which it referred to. He tried Christianity, but it also failed to give him inner experience. So he went from one school of thought to another. One day he met a woman in an elevator going up to his office in Chicago. They began talking of these things, and she said, “Incidentally, are you going to hear the Great Living Saint? He is here now.” This was in 1955. He said, “I don’t know of any living Saint, but I’ll be very happy to hear Him.” So he went to the lecture, and Master Kirpal Singh was talking. This was during the Master’s first world tour. He was answering every question Earl had in his mind. Earl was amazed that here was a man up on the stage giving him these answers he’d never been able to find for himself. Master talked of Light and being reborn in Light. So Earl took initiation. After Master left Chicago, Earl was so intoxicated that every morning precisely at 3:00 a.m. he would be awakened and he had to meditate for four hours. He said he was making marvellous progress. And then he became so busy in his work that he started putting off his meditation—he thought that after the work got done he’d have more time to meditate—and first thing he knew he lost years of progress.
Maria Estella was living in Mexico with a dear friend. When her friend died Maria was grief stricken. She had been as deeply attach to this man as if he’d been her husband. A friend of mine, called Carmen, who was working for Master in Mexico, told Maria, “You should not be too attached because this causes misery.” Carmen began to tell her about the Path. Maria got interested and eventually she became a vegetarian and requested initiation. I was given permission to convey the instructions to her, so I asked her about the theory and the diet. We decided to hold initiation the day before Christmas. I asked her if she’d like it in the morning at about 8:00. But she said she wanted it at 5:00. I said, “But Maria that’s so early!” But she had a little shop selling buttons and Coca-Cola and so on, and she wanted to open it at 8:00. I said, “Maria, what you’re getting kings and queens and scientists have been after—it’s the greatest gift of all.” She said, “Never-the-less, I’d like to open up my store at 8:00, and I’d like to have initiation at 5:00.” Well, I thought if Master’s a servant of all mankind I must be a servant too. So I decided when I went to bed that night that I must not oversleep as this was to be the most important moment of her life. So four of us had agreed to meet. I was to pick up Leora Herold, the group leader, and Maria a little before 5:00 in the morning,
At 3:00 in the morning I was awakened—I didn’t wake up softly, it was like I’d been shaken. So I thought I’d get some more sleep, but no, Master had wakened me and I had to meditate; it was very very beautiful. So I then drove over to Carmen and she told me: “Something very strange happened to me. I was awakened at 3:00 and I had to meditate.” I told her the same thing happened to me. Next we went and picked up Leora Herold and she told the same story! Then we picked up Maria, who was not yet initiated, and she had also been woken at 3:00 a.m. So the question I put to anybody who reads these words is: What is that Power that is so all-pervading which wakens four people in the sleepy town of Cuernavaca in Mexico to prepare for initiation? That Power is the Christ Power, the God Power, the Guru Power, the Master Power. People wonder how It works? It’s incomprehensible how It works. We who are on the Path, we know It works—what more do we want? Except to turn to It as best we can.


My Lord Waits

Betty Shifflett


Unto the Mount I lift my gaze
Looking for my Lord.
In radiance He's waiting there
Waiting for me alone.

Daily I seek in the quiet hours
To see His Dear Face,
Through the open door of earth’s domain
By the light of his Grace.

He’s waiting, my Lord is waiting
To receive His child.
He’s waiting, My Lord is waiting
And His voice is calling me Home.


Master’s Three Visits to Pakistan

W.S. Mongia

First Tour

In early 1956 it was decided by the Master that He would undertake a visit to Lahore, Pakistan, where our fellow satsangi brothers could make arrangements for His stay, Satsang, and where all satsangis initiated by Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj before partition would gather. Arrangements were accordingly made to secure passports and visas for the Master, Madam Hardevi (Tai Ji), Gyani Bhagwan Singh, myself and my wife.
As soon as we crossed the Indian border (customs, police, and military at the border), we reached three similar check-posts on the other side at Wagha in District Lahore. When we reached the Custom at Wagha, the Superintendent, Mr. Hafeez, a fine young man with a band of his subordinate officers, received the Master very respectfully stepping a few paces outside his office. As Hafeez was an old friend, I asked him to show due respect and courtesy to the Master. His reply was that since the Master was now in their country it was their duty to treat Him well and in a befitting manner. He requested the Master very politely to grace his office on the border. When the Master reached there Hafeez and party requested Him to kindly accept their invitation to a cup of tea which they said would be prepared by a non-Muslim, meaning thereby a Hindu. Master laughed at this suggestion and He said that all human beings were His brothers and He would prefer to have tea from a Muslim.
Across this check-point hundreds of Muslim satsangis were waiting for the Master’s darshan. They were permitted by the Customs officer to come through the barrier and enter the Customs enclosure. They were very pleased to touch the Feet of the Master and shower blessings on the Customs people who gave them an opportunity to see the Master earlier than it would otherwise have been possible. From there we drove to Bungalow No. 31 in Shalimar Garden-Town, the residence of Mr. Mahmud Shaukat who was Master’s chief representative in Pakistan. All those satsangis who couldn’t come up to the border, paid their homage to the Master at the house of Mr. Mahmud Shaukat which was very commodious, having a large number of rooms. He had also arranged for their stay in houses adjoining his own.
Among the satsangis was an old lady named Bibi Amina who had been initiated by Master Sawan Singh Ji many years earlier. When the partition of the country between India and Pakistan took place in 1947 and the Muslim satsangis residing at and near Dera Baba Jaimal Singh felt obliged to leave for Pakistan, Bibi Amina was very adamant and wouldn’t leave. The Master, then at the Dera, entrusted as He was to see to the safe escort of immigrants, persuaded her to go to Pakistan as she could no longer stay in the changed circumstances. After a good deal of persuasion she agreed to go to Pakistan on the explicit condition that Hazur would visit her in Pakistan in physical form before her death. She was in tears and said that she firmly believed that the Master was God on earth and had to keep this promise. It was to redeem this pledge that Master Kirpal Singh made this first trip to Pakistan to see Bibi Amina and tell her that according to the promise made by His Master He had come to see her in His physical form.
There were many rejoicings and a large number of Muslim non-satsangis also came to see the Master and hear His discourses. The local C.I.D. police officers who posted reports on the activities of the Master heard the Satsang which was, of course, not held in the open. They were very much impressed by the teachings of the Master and said that He alone told them of God as recorded in the Holy Quran. The Pakistan Police reported very favorably in their confidential reports about the Mission of the Master, with the result that many religious and political leaders, including the Pakistan Ambassador in U.S.A. then in Lahore, came to pay their homage to the Master. As a matter of fact he had met Him on one of His tours in the States and actually offered a handsome donation which the Master, as was usual with Him, had very politely declined to accept.

Second Tour

It was in the year 1959 that the Master undertook His second tour to Lahore. This time Mrs. Narendra (Kuku), myself, my wife, and Tai Ji, proceeded to Lahore from Amritsar by train because there were certain restrictions on road traveling by private cars. The Master and His party got into the train at Amritsar Railway Station at about 12:00 noon. As chance would have it, Mr. Hafeez who was previously Superintendent of Customs at the Wagha land border, was now in charge of the Customs office at the railway station, Lahore. The moment he saw the Master and His party coming from the railway station he ordered that the Master be accorded V.I.P. treatment and nobody in the Master’s party should be checked or searched. Shortly after, we reached Mr. Shaukat’s house where hundreds of satsangis from various parts of Pakistan had collected for Master’s Darshan. There were tears of joy in their eyes and they were dancing with delight.

Third Tour

The third tour to Pakistan came in April 1963. This time the party was limited to the Master, Tai Ji, myself and my wife. Once again we had to travel by train from Amritsar to Lahore, and stayed at the house of Mr. Shaukat. As usual, he made very good arrangements for the stay of satsangis in and around his house.
There is an old friend of mine, Mr. Sufi Mohammed Aslam Gondal. When he came to know that I was in Lahore he came to see me and we went to buy some articles for use of the guests. Sufi said that he saw a very bewitching man meaning thereby Master Kirpal Singh at Shaukat’s house whose beautiful face fascinated him greatly. He then turned back and brought a basket of maltas (special oranges) to be presented to the Master. It was spontaneous love between the two, and when he presented the basket of maltas to the Master and touched His Holy Feet, the Master distributed all the maltas (about one hundred and thirty-two) to all satsangis. Out of compassion the Master took him to one small room in the house which was empty and gave him initiation from the Holy Quran; Sufi was in meditation a couple of hours, having crossed various stages of Light and Sound. When he came out of the room he told me that this holy man was a wonderful person and in spite of Sufi’s previous worldly life the Master had taken him up many stages.
Throughout all His tours in Pakistan, the whole day Master would make half a dozen people sit in each room of the house and initiate them, and the old satsangis, who now had sons and grandsons with them, brought them to the Master for initiation.
On this last occasion, Bibi Amina’s husband, who was an old railway retired employee, came along with his wife, and Master initiated him with the result that he lay flat on the earth having lost all sense of the body. He was in this exalted state of intoxication for about four or five hours. Then the Master brought down his soul into the body, and the man said, “What have you done? I don’t want to come back to this earth. I was very happy above.” At this Bibi Amina said to the Master, “What a strange justice. This man who has been beating me for going to Dera Beas has been taken to the higher stages in one sitting, and I who have spent the whole of my life as a devotee have never had such an experience.” And the Master said, “This is my sweet Will.”
Then there was another young man, son of Master Mohammed Shafi. Rufi is his name. He said, “Master, why don’t You take us to this stage?” Master replied, “If I take you to this stage, who is going to look after your wife and children? I have to see that your family doesn’t starve.”
I need hardly add that the labor in the vineyard of the Lord never goes unrewarded, but in diverse ways He more than compensates the laborer beyond his wildest dreams.


The Beloved Master’s Gift

T.S. Khanna

I relate a few instances showing the greatness, compassion, extraordinary personality and love of Great Master Kirpal Singh for the initiates of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji. He was the living example of His teachings and brought home the Science of the Soul of the Great Master.
Mrs. Khanna and I had the privilege to bring His Message to the West in the close of 1949. The Master came to the United States in 1955, along with Kuku (Princess Narendra) and Tai Ji (Mime. Hardevi). The Master, myself, Mrs. Khanna and Bibi Hardevi were traveling in an automobile from San Francisco to Redwood City. Great Master Kirpal Singh was kind enough to say, “It is due to the presence of Khanna Ji that I am here in the U.S.A. otherwise no one knew me.” I told the Master that it was due to the grace of the Master that the work of Ruhani Satsang started and that the Master brought His own working staff. The Master said, “Khanna is my younger brother.” I thanked Him for such blessings.
Master graced me to be the first one to have the authority to conduct initiation on His behalf in the West. Mrs. Willoughby was accepted by the Master for initiation. She was in Las Cruses, New Mexico. She could not afford to come down to Washington, D.C. and I could not travel there. She was desperate to get initiation as she feared that she might pass away due to heart failure. She was alarmed because her mother died of a heart attack and felt she might meet with the same fate. I encouraged her on the phone to have full faith in the Master Power. It was not necessary that she should die due to a heart attack because her mother had. She begged that she would like to have initiation before anything happened. The same evening I meditated on the Master and thought that Mrs. Willoughby could be initiated on the telephone as the Master Power can work, regardless of time and distance. I called her and advised that she should take a bath and sit down comfortably in a chair, and relax completely. Next morning she called and was given the five holy Names. She memorized and repeated them easily. She was requested to sit in silent meditation for an hour and then listen to the Sound Current coming from the right side. I asked her to call me on the phone about her spiritual experience and confirm the same in writing. She told that as soon as she went into meditation, her nerves were calmed down. She felt great peace and kept on repeating the charged Names. By the grace of the Master she was healed completely and had no fear of death. She saw the Radiant Form of both the Great Masters, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh and Param Sant Kirpal Singh. Her initiation was perfect, even transmitted through the telephone. She was very grateful for the quick action and marvelous result.
I submitted her report to the Master and apologized for giving initiation on the phone. The Master wrote back that He approved my conducting initiation on the telephone as a special
case, but I should not do such a thing again. He added that I reposed all hope in the Master, therefore Master Power worked and took care. I thanked the Master for His grace.
In 1963, the Master stayed with us at Delafield Place, N.W. Washington, D.C. Mrs. Khanna used to cook for the Master. The Master would eat at the table, and also bless the food. Before leaving Washington at the end of the tour, the Master was having His meal and I was in the next room with the door closed. After having His meal the Master knocked on the door of my room. I was surprised. Upon opening the door, the Master immediately embraced me and gave me the sum of $350.00 stating that it was for the food He took from the kitchen. I requested the Master that it was not necessary to pay as all belonged to Him. Furthermore, the Master barely used food worth $50.00 and I was being paid $350.00. The Master gave a smile and asked me to keep it. It was a blessing to have the money from the Living Master as Parshad.


The Sweet Home of the Father

Sharon Shively

I was an unhappy child. I was always afraid. I slept on the edge of my bed so I could get out fast if the house caught on fire. I never had many friends. I believed in God until I grew old enough to ask impossible questions which those around me could not answer.
As a teen-ager, the question of God never entered my mind. I only wanted to be happy. I sought happiness through art, school achievement, and friends, but nothing worked.
In college I didn’t care about learning anything, I just wanted to be happy. I was moody, depressed, confused and “strange.” As a result, I was very lonely. I got almost all “A” grades, but it didn’t matter to me very much.
I dropped out of college, and worked full-time. At this time I first tried drugs. I had enough money to buy everything I wanted, and my clothes and apartment seemed perfect to me, but I was still miserable.
My search led me to civil disobedience and deeper into drugs and sensuality.
I sometimes had flashes of a world of love, where people walked fearlessly as if in bright sunshine. And I knew I was living all wrong, but I didn’t know what to do.
On one drug trip I realized in despair the totality of my ignorance and debased condition. I saw the same things in the world around me. Nothing seemed to be in order; we were polluting ourselves, our air, our water and I felt helpless. I wanted desperately to be “right,” to live the “right” way, but I didn’t even know what that meant, I just knew I was at the very bottom.
I hallucinated that I was talking to God. I said, “You are God, so You can do anything. Please help me. PLEASE HELP Me!” And since I was talking in thought, not words, my “me” meant us, our whole world, as well as myself. God promised He would help me. I felt relieved, but as I was on drugs at the time, it became very negative and confused quickly.
I returned to college. I thought perhaps I would be happier if I could earn my living in a more fulfilling way and I felt I needed a degree for this. I was given complete tuition and
expenses through a scholarship loan program—a highly unusual circumstance.
In one of my first classes I met the person who was to tell me of the Master. I was not drawn to this person at all, but circumstances threw us together.
One afternoon during a break in an assignment we had to carry out for our class we decided to get some coffee. As we sat over our coffee, talking, the subject of yoga came up. I had been interested in yoga on and off but I had never felt that it was possible for me, because all of the yogas I had heard of demanded self-discipline and the rigid avoidance of sensual pleasure, two things I felt I was not capable of. So, when people talked of yoga I envied them, I sensed something beautiful, but far beyond my reach.
As the person I was with continued talking I found myself listening just to be polite. I had tried Transcendental Meditation which had never satisfied me and I mentioned this to him. “Well, I practice a yoga,” he said. That’s nice, I thought. “Yes, it’s Surat Shabad Yoga, the Yoga of attention to the Light and Sound of God. And I have a Master. A Perfect Living Master. His name is Kirpal Singh and He will take me back to the Sweet Home of the Father from which we have been gone so long.”
It was amazing. It was as if he had spoken in some code that part of me recognized instantly. And the part of me that recognized the code burst out and overwhelmed the rest. I was not the same person I had been seconds before, I was more like the person I had been on rare occasions as a child playing with sunlight and dreaming of fairy lands.
I didn’t even realize that I was different at the time because all I was aware of was that I had to hear more about the Master and more about the Path. I had always loved the words “sweet” and “home;” here they were where they belonged, as if they had been present in my former life just to be welcoming signs into this life, because it was a whole new life that I entered joyously from the very second that I was told about it.
All of a sudden this person I was sitting with was the dearest person I had ever seen. Everything he told me was like clear, cool water to someone really thirsty.
He told me about the Master, the God in Man, who was here on earth now as He had been in the past. I had always believed in rainbows as a child, they were signs of wonder; this was the most rainbow thing that had ever happened.
He told me about meditation and that the Master’s Way was made so easy, by His Grace, that anyone could do it. He told me about the vegetarian diet and the need to avoid drugs or excessive sensual indulgence. Somehow, I knew that now things were possible because of the Master. Here was a way—a Perfect way—out of the misery in which I had been for so long and it would be made possible because I would not be doing it alone, or on my own strength of will or discipline; the Master would be with me and He would pick me up if needed, and carry me like a mother does her child.
I was so happy. It was like a fantastic dream, a dream that had always been just beyond my awareness. I felt like I had been waiting all my life for this moment even though I had never known I was waiting at all. I felt like a great king had sent an older brother to rescue a child of His Kingdom who had been lost since birth, and now I was found and listening to stories of the places I had forgotten, and the customs and ways I had forgotten consciously but evidently never completely.
It was like discovering a new world, and yet a tantalizingly familiar world in feeling. I felt like I belonged here. I felt like at last I found my place and understood why everywhere else I had been out of place. It was a new world of incredible sweetness and beauty. The Master’s Words were so gloriously beautiful and His wisdom was so simple and complete.
I was allowed to apply for initiation three or four days after I first heard about the Master, even though I hadn’t followed the diet for three months. I promised sincerely that I would never eat the non-vegetarian foods or take drugs again.
It was as if just hearing about the Master was enough to lift me out of the darkness I had been in. I can remember one time I had been “smoking” with my friends and I had felt time seemed to stop, and I had thought that I would never know the true sweetness of timelessness while doing dope but at the same time there was nothing else to do instead, so I just went on with it. In the beginning it had all been exciting and an escape from the meaninglessness of the rest of life, but by the time I heard about the Master, it had become nothing but a dreary habit I felt powerless to break.
I really felt as if I was leaving one country and entering a new one—a hidden one of sunshine and happiness somehow within the one I had always lived in. I still lived in the same apartment, went to the same classes, and walked the same streets; but now I knew the same secret the flowers knew. Now I knew the Truth. Hadn’t it been told that the Truth would set us free? And I felt free. I heard the birds singing, and they were singing about the wonder of the Master. The sun was saying— Son, Son of God—Kirpal.
One night I heard a tape of the Master speaking. It sounded to me as if His Voice was ringing through space and time, as if the voice I heard was only a part of the total sound His Voice was making.
It was the Master who taught me to love the word God, because for so long that word had had no meaning. But as I waited to hear about my application, I read as many of the Master’s books as I could, and I learned that God was Love, Light and Truth, and that His laws were for the good of each and all. Only as I read them in the Master’s words did the common morals of all religious make sense. Here was the mystery of life, death and fate revealed as simply as a story for children. And there was no flaw anywhere. They held true throughout.
For the first time in my life I began to trust someone. It was someone I had never seen or met but I felt closer to Him all the time. For the first time in my life I knew beyond a doubt the way to be “good,” I had somehow always yearned to be good, to be “right” but I had never known in the slightest what this might mean in terms of behavior, and so I had never even allowed the yearning to become very conscious.
As I read the Master’s books and circulars and attended Satsangs I began to understand what goodness was. The Master made it so clear.
The joy of waking up to a clean life was overwhelming. All of the beauty in nature was His beauty. All of the love that I had not appreciated in family and friends I could now begin to appreciate because His Love was melting the ice of fear which had formed around my heart.
All of the happiness I felt was His gift. I learned that I could “talk” to Him and He would answer, not directly usually but somehow, and I learned to recognize His answers and they made me glad.
One day my initiation acceptance arrived in the mail box. I was happy and excited but also nervous about initiation itself. I didn’t know what to expect and I felt very anxious about it. I was so used to concealing much of my inner feelings from myself and others that the anxiety of the situation prevented me from realizing with full conviction what I was actually seeing and hearing within. I could not relax enough to let myself fully experience what was actually happening within.
Nevertheless, I was sure that I had seen and heard something, and I had the five charged Names and my new life had officially begun, although really, my life had truly begun that day I had first heard of Him whom my soul would love.
Since then my life has become progressively happier. Although there are downs as well as ups, the constant misery and despair of my past is gone.
I know that I don’t realize or appreciate the blessing of Naam Initiation, but the little of it I do realize makes me see how incredibly merciful a Perfect Master is. He takes care of every sparrow with His Great Love.


Blessings Given By The Beloved

Mary M. Garlich

It was 1963, and I was in Chicago to be initiated. When I wrote out my application for initiation I had said that I was interested in both spiritual and physical healing. It may have happened during my initiation or in the Satsang later, but when I came back to my room at the hotel to take off my clothes and rest, an egg-sized lump had disappeared from my side. This was a very painful lump; but, after having gone through several surgeries, I had decided to do nothing further about it. I had already told God that I was willing to go unless He had work for me to do—if there was something for me to do then He might keep me alive. After arriving home I was in the habit of getting up at two a.m., bathing, and going down to the living room to meditate. I had so much pain in my lower abdomen that I could scarcely concentrate on meditation. This time I didn’t ask God to give me a healing, but while I was in meditation I felt a strong tingling sensation in the finger tips of my left hand and arm traveling down my chest to my torso. There was a flash of light in my lower abdomen—a hard painful lump in the groin area disappeared.
Since that night I have never had pain in that area, and there have been no more lumps. That was twelve years ago, and I have been able to work for Master in the capacity he has given to me.
In 1972, Master was to arrive in Washington, D.C. I had dreamt of His coming, and of going on His tour for a long, long time.
My ninety-two year old mother was in a convalescent home. I talked to the head nurse and told her of my hope to go on a tour. Her answer to me was that my mother’s lungs were filling with fluid, but that perhaps if I kept in touch by phone I could be informed if she took a turn for the worse.
Every time I contacted this particular head nurse I found that my mother’s condition had improved.
As it turned out I went on quite a large portion of the tour, and came home to find my mother in better health than she had been for some time. She never again had any problem with her lungs, and she lived to be nearly ninety-four years old.
Master’s tour had taken Him to Chicago. A dear friend and I left by plane and arrived in Chicago about noon. On coming into the Belmont Hotel, I found Master sitting on a davenport. He looked at me and said, “Yes, what is it?” I said, “Master, here is this dear lady” (pointing to my companion). “She loves you very much, plays your tapes, and yet she isn’t initiated.” Master was looking right at me when He said, “Master does not accept everyone."
When we left the room, Malka was elated. She said, “Mary, did you hear what Master said to me? He looked right at me (Malka) and said, “You have God too.”
Master apparently was looking at two different people at the same time, and gave two different messages. Then Malka went on to say, “Mary, you always thought I needed initiation, didn’t you? Well, you see I do not.”
The climax of my story is that in the summer of 1975, Malka called me and said, “Mary, I have seen the Master within, and He told me to be initiated as soon as possible.” Malka has been coming to Satsang for at least twelve years—since I have known her. It seems that beloved Master Kirpal was not to pick her up, but that the One who would come after Him was to be her Master.


How Lord Shiva Directed Me to the Master

Ram Sewak Sharma

To begin with I was a devotee of Lord Shiva and for five or six years I continued to be a great devotee of his. I then went into the jungle, and for three days I was without food or water, lost in inner practices. This was in the Badiargarh district. During my meditations there Lord Shiva manifested himself, and said I needed a guru and directed me to Sant Kirpal Singh. This was in the year 1955, and I was twenty-four years old at the time. After this I proceeded to Sawan Ashram. When I got there and sat for meditation I saw the form of Maharaj Ji, and behind Him stood Lord Shiva; he told me that Maharaj Ji was to be my Guru. I then requested Maharaj Ji for initiation, and He asked me to come two days later at the start of the month when it was initiation day.
At the initiation after Maharaj Ji had given me the five charged Names, when I sat for meditation Baba Sawan Singh appeared within and told me that Kirpal Singh was of His very essence and that He was working through Him. Lord Shiva too appeared and took my hand and entrusted me to the care of Maharaj Ji. I was also blessed with a rich experience of the inner planes. When I related my experiences to the Master He patted me and congratulated me for being thus blessed. “You have got all that you could have wished for,” He said. In those days I could see the Master bathed in light before me wherever I was.
In 1960 Swami Ji Shiv Dayal Singh began to appear within and I now had His Darshan along with Baba Sawan Singh and Maharaj Kirpal Singh. On the Master’s instructions I was allotted some seva for the Sangat and continued to serve the Satsang to the best of my ability for the next ten years. In 1970 Maharaj Ji once remarked to me in Dehra Dun, “You have served the Sangat with great devotion; may you continue to do so to the end of your life in the same fashion.”
On 21st August 1974 at about 9:10 p.m., on closing my eyes I saw my Guru going away. An hour later the telephone rang and Mr. Kohli informed me that Maharaj Ji had indeed left the body. At that very moment Maharaj Ji manifested Himself before me and told me of the one through whom He would be carrying on His work.
Earlier I had gone to see the Master on the 18th August. I saw the Radiant Forms of Swami Ji, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh and Maharaj Ji’s successor, and They reassured me that all would be well. When I went in Maharaj Ji met me with great love and took my hand in His. As He lay so ill during those last days, Baba Sawan Singh in His Radiant Form would be beside Him and touch Him and bless Him and pat Him for the great and wonderful work He had accomplished.
The three Great Masters, Swami Ji, Baba Sawan Singh, and Maharaj Ji, are still active, and They are now carrying on Their work.


With the Master in Rishikesh

Harbhajan Kaur

When the Beloved Master, my respected Father-in-law, retired from Service in March 1947, after some time He went to live at Beas to be in the service of the Great Master. One year later Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji left the physical body, so Maharaj Ji came to stay with us in Delhi. After He had been with us for about two and a half months He started for the Himalayas, telling us that when He found a suitable place He would write to us and we could join Him there.
After fifteen days of anxious waiting, the letter arrived telling us that Maharaj Ji was staying at Rani’s Kothi in Rishikesh, and that we could join Him there. So Darshan Singh Ji, my husband, took leave from the office for one month, and together with my respected mother-in-law and our one and a half year old son, Raji, we went to stay with Him.
There we found a simple house with a very calm atmosphere overlooking the river Ganges. Each day Maharaj Ji not only did a lot of meditation Himself but put us all into meditation also for long hours at a stretch, generally totalling six to eight or even ten hours a day; He would put His hand on our foreheads, and lovingly make us sit. In the breaks between meditations He would be with us, and we would all enjoy the natural beauty of the place glorified by His Divine Radiance. Sometimes He would humor us by doing a little household work. One day He told us that we should make the most of this time with Him because there would come a time when we would not be able to be with Him like this. Occasionally He would cook the vegetable for us. One day He said, “Now, let me make some chapatis for you,” and we laughed as if He couldn’t do it; but He said, “No, let me just try.” And to our great surprise He made beautiful chapatis, and we all enjoyed them. He would ask us to bring large leaves from the trees for plates. It was a period of pure enjoyment.
It was at this time that my husband took the photograph of Maharaj Ji sitting on one of the rocks in the river where He went to meditate. To get this photograph my husband had to wade into the river up to his waist. Photography was also my hobby, and Maharaj Ji very graciously allowed me to take a photograph of Him making chapatis, a photograph which has only turned up again after having been mislaid for twenty years.
Sometimes Maharaj Ji would take us around to show us the beauties of nature, and on one occasion He took us to see Haridwar, the other nearby holy place on the Ganges. He also took us to see Dehra Dun which was later to become the place where Manav Kendra was to be built.
At twilight Maharaj Ji would take us to sit outside the house and ask us to sing shabdas in praise of the Great Lord. I would sing, and Respected Tai Ji, who was also there at this time, would also sing. Afterwards, He would explain to us the inner meaning of the shabdas which was very illuminating.
While we were staying in Rishikesh, the Beloved Master took us to visit many Ashrams; He was always looking for holy men and saints who could go to the higher planes inside. Although He met many holy men and sages there, He didn’t come across anyone who could go very high inside except one; this was Yogi Raghuvacharya Ji who Maharaj Ji told us was a very high soul.
Maharaj Ji was fond of walking, and sometimes in the mornings He would go for long walks alone, and sometimes He would take us along with Him. Whenever we got tired He would make us sit down and tell us some humorous stories about the people of Rishikesh and its history. When He would (come across) Sadhus who had been living in the jungle for many years, He would tell us in His own way that if these Sadhus were still performing rituals— even in the jungle, and had not risen above in meditation—it was better to lead a normal family life. He would explain that wearing saffron robes and doing other superficial things would not help a person spiritually.
The main part of Master’s daily routine was taken up by meditation. As He was fond of very simple food no time was wasted in preparing the meals; there were only two meals a day; one in the morning and one in the evening. We always ate together with the Master.
He used to play with Raji and amuse him by giving him different colored flowers which the child very much enjoyed. He would shower the child with love, and look into his eyes, and make the child look into His.
My Respected Mother-in-law who was with us, was a very noble and loving soul greatly devoted to the Master. She used to relate to me the different aspects of His early saintly life, how He used to go out of the house at night to still His mind in lonely places, and sometimes would immerse Himself in tanks of water. She had great love and respect for the Master and she had great faith in Him.
When the Master took charge of the spiritual work, He told my husband that the responsibility for looking after the family would now fall on him; this he accepted gladly. At that time my respected Mother-in-law came to live with us. She told Maharaj Ji that she would stay with us from now on if it was His wish, but she would very much like to die at His holy Feet. Her request was accepted; in fact she told me that Maharaj Ji had assured her that she should spend the last two years of her life with Him. This indeed came true; she lived with us for about twenty years—until her last two years—which she then spent at Sawan Ashram where she left the physical body in 1970.
At the end of that month spent with Maharaj Ji in Rishikesh in 1948, we had to return to Delhi as my husband’s leave was up. After some time the Master also left and rejoined us in Delhi, staying in our apartment. People then started visiting Him early in the morning and they would stay until late at night, and He would pour out to them His spiritual treasures; His Mission had started. After a while He decided to build an Ashram. The number of people coming to the house had increased so rapidly that one day He told us in his own sweet words that His stay in our house had been very nice, and He appreciated our service to Him, but He told us that it was not possible to run an Ashram in the house, it was necessary that He should go and start an Ashram and work for the uplift of mankind.
One day the Master was returning to our home where He was staying after coming back from Rishikesh. Our small son Raji was standing on the dining table. He loved Maharaj Ji so much that when the Beloved Master came in he rushed to meet Him, forgetting he was on a high table. He would have crashed to the floor had the Master not caught him in His arms. Maharaj Ji caressed the child and then He told us, “This is how you should throw yourself into the arms of your Guru; then the Guru must take care of you.”
As Maharaj Ji’s Mission grew, it turned out as He had predicted at Rishikesh—we could never spend so much time again with Him in private; however, He would have His own way of showing His love for us whenever we went to see Him. Even when He was extremely busy He would shower us with His love in His own sweet way.
Something I can never forget happened several times over the years. Maharaj Ji would call me into His room in the Ashram I would wait as He would go to the bookshelves and pick out a certain book, open the book, and show me a photograph which He kept in there; the photograph was of my husband and myself side by side when we were married. He would say, “Who is he? Who is she?” Such were His ways of showing His great love for us.
Although the Master became extremely busy with His work, He would sometimes find time to come and visit us. We always ate simple food, and as He did not like spiced food we always knew what to serve Him. Even when He called unexpectedly I would hurriedly prepare a meal, and He would ask us to eat it with Him. We would like to have served Him on His own but He always insisted that we sat by His side, and sometimes He Himself, with great love and affection, put the vegetables and chapatis on our plates. After taking His meal He would just sit calmly in His own way appreciating the atmosphere of the house and the simplicity of the food. And then He would tell us the benefits of leading a simple life and eating simple food.
Sometimes Maharaj Ji would even come to visit us without informing us; He would immediately make Himself at home as if He was still living with us. The first thing He would do would be to sit in the drawing room on the sofa, and read the headlines of the newspapers that might be lying on the table. On one occasion he brought with Him a Jain Muni who picked up one of my husband’s books; it was a rare book not easily available. The Muni became so fascinated with it that Maharaj Ji said, “Do you like this book?” The Muni answered that as it was such a rare book it had given him much pleasure to glance at. Maharaj Ji replied, “If you like it so much, and as it’s not easily available, please take the book home with you.” The Muni remarked that it was not only rare, but also a costly book, so before taking it he requested that the owner of the house be consulted. The Master asked, “Who is the owner of the house? I am the owner of the house, and I tell you to take it!” So that man took the book with pleasure, and our joy knew no bounds when we heard that the Master considered our house His own.


The Supreme Being

Rameshwar Dass

Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj was no common saint. He was the Supreme Being in human form. Accordingly, He was possessed of all the attributes that we associate with the Creator. No one can describe His ineffable love for His disciples. I narrate here a few anecdotes which bring out some of the depth of His love and His Divinity.
I received my initiation from the Master as early as 1949 at His residence in Radio Colony, Delhi. I had come from Rohtak with one Surat Singh on the assurance that Maharaj Ji would give me a glimpse of our Eternal Home. There were some twenty or more persons who were initiated with me, and after Naam, Maharaj Ji served us lunch.
At initiation I failed to have any inner experience, and when everyone was gone, I told Surat Singh. Surat Singh en-couraged me to bring up the problem with Maharaj Ji. I told Maharaj Ji, “My friend here assured me that You would give me a glimpse of my Divine Home. But that has not been my experience.” “As for taking you up there,” He said, “it could be done, but in your present condition you will not be able to stay there; nor when you come back would you be able to carry on with your normal life on earth.” I then asked, “But would you indeed take me there at the time of my death?” Maharaj Ji said that assurance He had already given at the initiation. However, I need not have to wait till then, and He advised me to carry on regularly with my meditations as instructed.
I returned home and sat down for meditation that evening. I soon entered into a state of samadhi and the Sound Current was so strong and so sweet that the three hours within seemed as three minutes. This went on from day to day, and a month later I visited Maharaj Ji. He asked me what I heard inside, and one by one He Himself mentioned the names of various musical instruments for me to confirm. That evening when I returned home, I could not hear the Sound Current at all; it was the same from thence onwards: It was clear that whatever I had received, came from the Master by His grace, and He knew all that I was going through.
Maharaj Ji once visited us at Rohtak. My wife and I felt privileged to serve Him. When serving Maharaj Ji with some rice pudding, I added salt in place of sugar. He ate it and said not a word. I realized my blunder when I had some myself and I felt terribly guilty. But our Sat Guru was very happy. Turning to my wife He said, “You can ask whatever you wish for.” My wife replied that it was new moon that day and since it was dedicated to one’s ancestors could Maharaj Ji secure their salvation? “Done!” said Maharaj Ji, and I was soon to have testimony of what He said. In vision one night my father’s astral form came and embraced me. I began repeating the five charged Names; no sooner had I done this than his soul gave up its ghostly body and he was free to be reborn in the human form.
On the same day, when He granted that boon, Maharaj Ji gave my wife a ten rupee bank note at parting. She said, “Maharaj Ji, if You must give it, then give it in a way that it never runs out.” He said, “All right.” She went and placed it in a box, and whenever she was in need of money she would help herself from there and it would never run out. This went on for quite some time. One day she took the box for repair, and when she went to collect it later, the repairman giving it to her handed her four ten rupee bank notes which he had found inside.
On getting them she told him the story; thereafter there were no more bank notes!
Some fifteen years ago Maharaj Ji visited Rohtak. He gave Satsang at our place, and was to grant initiation next morning. A local lawyer also came who was given not only to cheating his clients but also shopkeepers and tradesmen. On seeing him arrive, I thought to myself: “A guru is said to take upon himself the karma of his disciples. With someone having such heavy karma which guru would be ready to carry his load?” Maharaj Ji then turned to me and remarked that there was a lawyer in the group; I proceeded to warn Him against his misdeeds and enlarged upon all his ways. When I finished, Maharaj Ji said, “It is God Himself who grants Naam, and can any karma attach to God?” When the new initiates sat for meditation, this man was blessed with the Sound of the drum.
Some ten years ago at the peak of summer, my daughter Sushila and her husband came to stay with me. Their son Sudhit, who was two and half years old, was out all day, playing in the sun. It was very hot and he probably got sun-stroke. My son--in-law kept the fact from me and took the child in a room at the back. The boy showed no signs of life: the pulse had gone, the eyes were motionless, the head hung limp from the neck and the hands and feet had gone cold.
I took the child and laid him out on a sofa in front of Maharaj Ji’s photograph in our living room. I prayed intently and silently to Maharaj Ji: “If the boy does not survive, we would be shamed forever. Maharaj Ji You are our only hope. Please Maharaj Ji, save us.” I then took the hand of the child in mine and began repeating the charged Names. A minute later, I could feel his pulse coming back, and a little later his eyeballs began to move. The child was then given a drink of water which he took.
My son-in-law was extremely attached to his son. At the anguish of losing him he was knocking his forehead against the wall, and it seemed as though he would not stop till he had collapsed. His wife ran to him and announced that the child had revived. The child is still alive and well—and is a living testimony of Maharaj Ji’s power and love.


The Earnings Carried Forward After Death

Mata Savitri Devi Singha

After the Partition in 1949, my husband was transferred to Jamalpur in Bihar. He had a colleague, Mulkraj, who was a very dear soul. After we had been in Jamalpur six months I went to visit his home as he invited me to come for Satsang on Sunday morning. I was very interested in spirituality so I went. Mata Shiva conducted the Satsang, and there flowed such love from her that it filled me with sweetness. I now began going every Sunday, and took my children with me.
One day on returning home I was filled with deep anguish. On sitting for meditation, something seemed to flow from my feet upwards. I began repeating the mantra I had from my previous guru and after some time I felt better. Next morning I visited Mulkraj Ji and related what had happened. He reassured me and asked me not to worry as such experiences were not unusual on the Path of Spirituality. “You will meet a great Master shortly,” he told me. “And He will grant you initiation.”
My husband was then transferred to Bengal. Before we left I took Maharaj Kirpal Singh’s address. But my husband fell ill and kept ailing for the next year; he was then transferred to Lucknow. It took some two months for my husband to recover. His illness had prevented me from attending Satsang; but now that he was better, I found there was no local Satsang I could attend. I decided to write to Maharaj Ji. In six days I received a reply in His own hand. He asked me to carry on with whatever practice I had been doing. At the appointed time there would be an opportunity to meet, He assured me, and it would give Him much joy.
I kept on writing to the Master and He always assured me that He would be glad to meet me when the time came. And so in 1952 the appointed moment arrived; the Master visited Lucknow. I went to meet Him and told Him of my problem— “Maharaj Ji, is it a sin to change from one guru to another? I have already been initiated, and I do not know what to do.” He answered me saying, “An elementary school teacher cannot teach students in high school, can he? Whatever your first guru could give has already been given; it is no sin to seek initiation into something higher.” When I came home and told my husband of my intention to get Naam, he told me that he would not permit it unless he was satisfied himself. And so that evening he went to meet Maharaj Kirpal Singh.
When my husband got there, Maharaj Ji made him sit by His side and for the next two hours they were discussing spirituality. Meanwhile, I was anxiously awaiting my husband’s return, and you may imagine my surprise when on coming home he announced that he too would take initiation. My son who was nineteen, also decided to join us; and so the three of us, along with six others from Lucknow, were all initiated by Maharaj Ji on that visit.
The day we received Naam, an initiate of Baba Sawan Singh Ji came to see the Master. She wept and said that she would eat nothing unless, through His grace, He could enable her to meet Hazur within. She sat down with us when the Master began giving His initiation instructions and went into meditation. When our initiation was over, she sat on for almost five hours. Finally, Maharaj Ji pressed her spine just below the neck and she came back to body consciousness and began weeping. “Why have You brought me down?” she sobbed, “I was with Hazur and was talking to Him.” “It’s all right,” Maharaj Ji reassured her, and turning to my husband remarked, “This is an inner science and not mere make-believe!”
The Master visited Lucknow again in 1955. When His program was being discussed, every satsangi wanted to have the Master come and visit his home. The secretary of the Satsang brushed aside all the requests and declared that the Master would only visit the one who would meet all the Satsang expenses covering the Master’s visit as well as being able to accommodate Him. I nudged my husband, and he offered to host the Master, and arrangements were made accordingly. We had a large bungalow and we prepared it for the Master’s visit. On His arrival He looked at me, smiled and said, “You are happy now that I have come!”
The next three days went by like a dream. Satsangis had come from far and near and we would have Satsang every day. In the evening Satsang on the last day, the Master remarked that wealth honestly earned and spent in the service of the Satguru was indeed an earning that one carried forward even after death. After dinner that night, with all the satsangis gathered there, the Master asked about the arrangements and the cost. The secretary explained how they had worked out things. “But you should all share the expenses,” said the Master, “the burden should not fall on one man alone.” Thereupon the satsangis present offered to share half the expenses, but my husband declined, and turning to the Master said, “But Maharaj Ji, You Yourself told us in the Satsang today that whatever we spent on our Guru was our sole earning after death. Whatever I have is by Your grace, so do not press me to part with the little that I have earned through this service.” My husband had great love for the Master, and the Master was pleased to bless us with His grace.
In the summer of 1956, Master was staying in Rajpur at His bungalow. It was Guru Puja Day on which devotees honor their gurus. Remembering my own Master, I walked over in the early morning to have His darshan, and sat down quietly on the front veranda. It was 7:00 in the morning, and Tai Ji soon emerged in a huff. “You disciples don’t let the saints be in peace,” she scolded me. “You hold them in perpetual bondage!” I was touched to the quick and quietly got up, returned home and wept copiously. I said to myself that after this reprimand I would not even go for Maharaj Ji’s evening darshan.
To my surprise the young girl living with me at that time came running to announce at about 4:00 in the afternoon that the Master was approaching with three others. I rushed to welcome Him. On seeing Maharaj Ji all my anguish and heartbreak was forgotten. He was all grace, and looking at me said, “You are always welcome at my place. You come whenever you like. Don’t take what Tai Ji said to heart. Her words were not really meant for you.” He spent a whole hour with us that day. At the end He said, “You are happy now, are you not?”
Once in 1962 when the Master was returning from Rajpur to Delhi, I had gone to have His last darshan, and stood in the veranda while His car waited ready in the porch. When the Master came out He turned to me and said, “You are unable to come to Delhi, and I am unable to stay here in Rajpur.” With these words He went in, and a little later, was out again, got into the car and was off. I kept wondering to myself over the Master’s words. It was true that I wanted to be with Him but I was also tied to worldly obligations. I wished to go and yet felt obliged to stay on. But there He was drawing me to Himself, and such was the urge I felt to be near Him that within three days I found myself at Delhi too. When the Master saw me He exclaimed, “So you have come!” I stayed at the Ashram for several days and partook of His boundless love and grace.
On another similar occasion, when I reached the Ashram the Master welcomed me with great warmth. Turning to Mohan, His driver, the Master said, “Please see that Mata Singha has her food.” I had a packed meal with me. “Oh,” said the Master, “I will have your food instead. I want you to have a freshly cooked meal.” I laughed and went off. It was only when Mohan reminded me that I should obey my Master that I returned and had my meal at the Master’s house.


My Year with The Master

Vimla Bhagat

I was among one of the first batches of initiates of the Master. In the first half of 1949, when I was seventeen years old, I decided to go in for Naam. I told myself that if there was no Supreme Being I would lose nothing; and if there was one I would be the beneficiary. The Master, one was told, takes care of all our burdens and does not leave us till the end of the world and beyond. But why Maharaj Kirpal Singh for a Guru? My father who had searched far and wide, assured me this was the highest path. He himself was an initiate of Baba Sawan Singh and was now helping with the Master’s Mission at Delhi.
As for myself, I saw nothing special in the Master. To me He seemed to be a human being just like anyone of us who had received parshad or some gift from his Master and had started distributing it to others. After initiation I hardly ever sat down for meditation with the full confidence that whatever we may do the Master never deserts His disciples. And so the years rolled by. I completed my education, got a good job, settled in marriage, and had children. Though I was in Delhi, it was only occasionally that I would visit Sawan Ashram for His blessings and parshad. Every time I would meet Him, He would inquire about the time I gave for meditation and would sweetly exhort me to give some time to it. I would just nod my head but do nothing about it back home.
The Master lets you have the world to your fill. When the cup breaks with the burden of the world, then you start seeing around you—seeing something more than the mere space enclosed by the cup. It was in the beginning of 1973 that I finally turned my face towards Him, and behold, I found in Him the Master who is more than a human being, the Father of all mankind, nay God Himself come down on earth in the garb of man to lead us back Home. In fact, I now realized that He had made His mortal frame a perfect instrument for His Will, responding to the call of each one of His disciples, be it in Satsang, at a personal meeting or even while you are working away at your own hearth. Any amount of praise that I may shower on Him would fall short of His glory and grace. He would not only talk, but also convey His mind to us at a distance through His glances and loving looks, as if He had established a deep rapport with each one of us and had the welfare of each one at heart.
Seeing His glory, my only regret was that I had come to Him, in the real sense of the term, rather late. He had entered the evening of His life and would keep ailing. Something in me told me that He would not be with us for long. Still it was a great blessing to have begun to perceive first hand His Godliness. When I got the news of His passing away on the evening of 21st August, 1974, it did not shake me; it was as if the foreseen event had come about in due course of time. It is only now that I miss His presence. But whenever I am miserable, He sends feelers and reassures me that He is always with me.
And so my experiences of Him as the Master range over a period of no more than a year. During this time I started calling on Him once a fortnight. Every time I would go there I would get something unique from Him. What it was cannot be described in words. At best one can only point to a few incidents.
Whenever I had any doubts or any questions He would answer me from within. It quite intrigued me. On a few occasions, I found that something in me other than myself was giving directions and guidance in my day-to-day life. Whenever I was on the point of making a mistake or a slip, He would come to my rescue. This sense of outside guidance began to bother me. I wondered if I was becoming possessed. Was I being reduced to a puppet through such outside manipulation? I was no longer my own master but someone else had taken over control of me. I was very much perturbed by these happenings. As usual, I went to see the Master after a few days. While He was going through some papers and talking to someone else, He looked towards me suddenly and said :
Oh tuhada naukar hai. Dhela paisa vi nahin lehnda, te tuhada kam piya karda hai. Oh naukar changa hai na, jehra bagair akhe de tuhada kam karda hai.
He is your servant. He takes no wages and is working for you. Isn’t He a good servant, who works for you without even being asked?
He repeated it a second time, then a third time till it sank home and set at rest all doubts about the nature of my relationship with the Master.
Soon afterwards preparations began for the World Conference on the Unity of Man, which was to coincide with the Master’s birthday. Having witnessed His greatness, it made me wonder why the Master was celebrating His birthday on such a scale, when He should be above such things. This idea kept rankling in my mind. When I went to the Ashram next, the Master was busy with the preparations and was giving instructions. In between He turned to me and said, as though directly answering my question: “The Sangat wants to celebrate my birthday on a grand scale. After all, what is there in a birthday celebration? It isn’t becoming. So I thought of calling a World Conference on the Unity of Man. This way the sentiments of the Sangat get respected, and it does not sound odd.”
On another occasion, when I went to the Ashram, my father had asked me specifically to inquire after the Master’s health on his behalf. There was a small gathering of around fifteen people, most of whom were foreigners. I joined them in a semicircle in the veranda where the Master was sitting. He inquired about me, my health and my father’s health. As I was about to open my mouth to convey my father’s solicitations, He started talking to someone else. After a while He again inquired about me and my father’s health. Just as I was about to speak He started talking to another satsangi. It went on for some time like this and I thought He was too busy to listen to what I had to say. After all, I could see how well or ill He was. In the end, when I looked around, I found that I had moved towards the centre of the semicircle while making attempts to convey the solicitations; everyone else was at a distance in the semicircle.
During my next visit when He saw me, He gave a chuckle with a twinkle in His eyes as if He said, “See how I played with you last time.” Now when I look back at my association with Him over the last year, He seems to be the Krishna who would tease the gopis and play little pranks with them. He was the Flute Player who had thousands of gopis dancing around Him whom He enchanted with the music of His eyes.
On another occasion, when I had gone to see Him, I had to wait outside in the veranda. He was calling the visitors in one by one who wanted to talk to Him. I seldom had anything specific to say to Him. In my mind I was cross with the Master— “He is sitting inside,” I said to myself, “calling in one by one only those who want to talk to Him. I have nothing to say. Why doesn’t He come outside and talk to them here? Then people like me can have His darshan and listen to what He has to say to others.” Just then Mata Sheila came with two ladies who brought a box of sweets to be blessed by the Master. All those ladies went straight in. I felt even more frustrated and cross and said to myself, “So there goes my chance of parshad today for they have gone in with the box of sweets and I am sitting outside.” Just then the Master got up from His seat, brought those ladies outside where we were sitting, gave them His blessings and two sweets each from the box. Then He asked them if there was any other member of their family to whom He should give parshad. As He was talking He picked up one ladoo and stealthily threw it across to me right in my hands in an underhand manner and returned the box to the owner. Mind you, there were half a dozen others who were sitting around me and I was the only one who got a ladoo as parshad that day.
I occasionally prepare Sohan Halwa, a rather special North Indian sweet, and it comes out very well. One day as I started cooking it I remembered the Master and began talking to myself, “I will carry it and offer it to Him as parshad...But He doesn’t eat anything of others. It is so tasty and I make it so well. He should eat it and pay me in cash for it if He must. No, He won’t pay me in cash, He will have to pay in kind. When He eats one piece of it, He will get burdened by so many of my karmas and He will have to pay for it through His own goodness. So that is why He does not eat our food…Anyway, I will give it to Him and tell Him to take at least one piece.”
When I called on Him the following day I carried the box of Sohan Halwa with me. He was sitting in the living room. After He had talked to those present, they left one by one. The next batch was being called in. When I saw that no one was around, I quickly took out the box from my bag, opened it out before Him. Without my saying a word, He picked up a small piece and started eating it. On coming out of the room, my father who too was with me, remarked, “I have never seen Him eating the sweets that the disciples bring, but today He took your Sohan Halwa.” May father, of course, knew nothing of my heart-to-heart talk with the Master while I was preparing the Halwa the day before.
















The Master’s Power

Allan Hudson

The best tribute I can offer is to describe the Power of the Master. I had searched diligently for thirty-five years to find the Truth. I had been to many churches and had been a member of the Theosophical Society for many years and had read all the literature I could find on the subject, when early in 1963 I was given a copy of “Divine Life Magazine" in which there was an article about Master Kirpal Singh. I tore the page out and kept it. Since there had been so much talk in the Theosophical Society about clairvoyance, I decided to go to Rishikesh to see Swami Sivananda who was head of an Ashram there, and with this intention I took a ship from Australia on September 2, 1963, calling enroute at Ceylon.
Several days later I was informed that Swami Sivananda had departed this world. I was rather bewildered, but cabled to Bombay to have a seat reserved for me on the train to Rishikesh. On arrival in Bombay I was informed by the agent that he had only booked me as far as Delhi. Arriving at Delhi on the even-ing of September 14th, 1963 I felt very strongly urged to go to Master Kirpal Singh’s Ashram; it seemed the logical and intelligent thing to do. Arriving there I was perplexed again; the Master was away on tour and would not be back for three months! I soon discovered the reason for this. I had not been eating meat, but had been eating eggs, and there three months were my cleansing period so that when Master returned I was ready for initiation, which Master gave me in a special sitting two days before His birthday. I had some excellent experiences. Two days later I sat in on initiation of some three hundred people. It was my very Special privilege to sit at His Holy Feet for a further eight months. I then returned to be His represent-ative in Australia, and by His grace, I passed on the holy teachings to fifteen others. When I left Australia I had no intention whatever of going to Delhi, but the marvelous Power and Will of the Master drew me to Him against my own puny will.
Now, instead of lamenting His passing, let us thank the Almighty God that He led us to His Holy Feet. It is for all disciples to help others to break their “bondage in Egypt” so that “Moses” the Master, may call them to freedom also; He would rend the “Temple veil” and their two selves would meet each other face to face.



Part Two