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Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj: The Ocean of Grace Divine (4)

The Lord of Life

Joseph E. Newman

I came to Master not by accident nor by chance but by a magnet of love that I felt from His glance. Meeting Master Kirpal Singh Ji could be described as meeting the purest form of Light and Love. To look into His eyes was like looking at a thousand blazing suns that let me know that I was undone, that I was in the presence of the Holy One.
He taught us that we have the ability to raise our consciousness so that we can become channels for that Light to be impressed on our mind-structure in a flowing, direct, and purposeful manner. As I gazed into His blazing, loving eyes, I could hear John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world: He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
Teachers such as Christ, Master Baba Sawan Singh Ji and Master Kirpal Singh Ji were God in fullest form and could well say, “I am the Light of the world.”
His teachings are not confusing nor disturbing but enlightening and can be approached in a beautifully simple manner.
In our meditations, and by embracing a pure life, we are preparing to make ourselves receptive to the Light, and to raise our consciousness to a level on which it does not normally operate. Light is one of the keys, Sound is the other.
Let me offer this humble prayer:
O! Great Master, we know Thy Name is our healing,
And sweet remembrance of Thee is our remedy.
Nearness to Thee is our hope,
And Love for Thee our companion.
Thy people have turned in the direction of Thy manifold blessings,
And have set their faces toward the tabernacle of Thy wisdom.
Thy love for us heals the sicknesses that have assailed the souls on every side.
In sweet remembrance we are clinging to the hem of Thy riches.
And by faith we are holding fast to the cord of Thy healing.
O! Great Master, as we meditate on Thy goodness,
Fix Thou our eyes upon Thee because Thou art truly the Lord of Life.


Blessed Are Those Who Die at the Feet of a Satguru

Dhani Ram Sharma

I was living in Lahore around 1926. I often had the opportunity to go to Satsang along with Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji. Once Hazur also came to hold a large Satsang and on this occasion Dr. Johnson, Hazur’s disciple from America, was also present. This may well have been around 1929 or 1930. It was about this time that Maharaj Kirpal Singh entrusted me with the responsibility of maintaining the accounts for the Lahore Satsang.
Some time after Partition my second son became a tuberculosis patient. During his sojourn at the hospital, my son was in touch with Maharaj Ji and would write to Him at Sawan Ashram. Once when I was visiting the Ashram, Maharaj Ji and I talked about my son and He suggested that I bring the boy to Delhi. Thinking of all the problems of having a T.B. patient at home and giving him proper care, I somehow did not carry out Maharaj Ji’s instructions, and put the matter off. Not long after, we received a letter from the hospital informing us that our son’s condition had got worse. My wife and I went to see him. The boy had been operated on and the operation had not been successful. The end was obviously near, and the day we reached him, he gave away all his clothes and things to the poor, and seemed preparing to depart. It was rather late in the evening when my wife and I left our son’s bedside and came back to our room. We had hardly been back and rested for half an hour or so when my wife wanted me to accompany her back to our son. I tried to remonstrate. But she said she had seen, as though in a vision, Maharaj Ji walking with the boy to our cottage and then walking away with him. We went back to find our son had already left for his heavenly home; it was a comfort to know that he had been looked after by the Master. Whatever our travail, his agonies at least were over. But as we were strangers, a new problem presented itself: how were we to arrange for the cremation and final rites? I could have left the disposal of all this to the janitors and menial staff at the hospital but I was determined to do my very best. My prayers were answered. As the next day dawned the son of another patient in the hospital arrived to see his father and he offered to help me out. We bore the body to the cremation ground. In spite of all the difficulties I was able to carry out things as best I could. When I returned to Delhi I related everything to Maharaj Ji. He looked at me and said, “Attending to all this in a strange place must have been so very difficult for you. It was anticipating this that I had suggested to you some time back that you bring your son to Delhi. Anyway it is all over now.”
Not long after this my third son, who was then studying in high school, also developed tuberculosis. We had him admitted to a hospital in Delhi, and after examining him very thoroughly the doctors decided that he needed an operation. When I met Maharaj Ji I told Him about the boy and He said He would like to see him and took his full address. Some time after, Maharaj Ji visited the hospital to see the child. He inquired about his illness, and when the boy touched the part of the chest which was affected, Maharaj Ji placed His hand on it and ran it over, reassuring him that he would not need an operation and that he would get perfectly well. I was at the hospital when the scheduled day for the operation arrived. Before operating, doctors give patients a final check-up. The senior doctor present on that occasion examined my son and was surprised to find that there was no spot on his chest; although he had been marked down for an operation there were no symptoms to justify it. At this they were told of Maharaj Ji’s visit. The boy progressed so speedily that within a few days he was discharged from hospital and returned home. Such indeed was the grace of Maharaj Ji.
I come now to my wife’s last illness. Maharaj Ji was departing for Dehra Dun and on the way He stopped to see her. At the time we were living in the Ashram. After seeing her He turned to me and said, “Have her properly examined and treated. Hazur will help.” After He left she was admitted for a thorough checkup to the hospital; it was found that she was suffering from cancer. Maharaj Ji visited her at the hospital and discussed her condition and treatment with one of the doctors. The doctor explained there was very little they could do: their primary concern was to help reduce the pain and make it more bearable.
I was advised to bring my wife home as there was nothing that the doctors could do. When we brought her back to the Ashram, Maharaj Ji sat by her side, placed His hand on her forehead and encouraged her to focus within. But such was her pain that she found this rather difficult. When leaving, He turned to me and remarked, “Dhani Ram, patients suffering from cancer find it very difficult, so intense is their pain, to collect their faculties within.” This was on Saturday, and the following day Maharaj Ji was very busy. On Monday, after meeting the brothers and sisters from the West and giving darshan to the Indian Sangat, Maharaj Ji came over to see my wife in the morning. He once again placed His hand on her forehead and asked her to gaze within. “Do you see anything now?” He asked. “I see Light,” came the reply. “Gaze more intently and deeper still.” “Yes, I can see Maharaj Ji within the Light,” she said. “Well, focus your gaze on Him from now on and engage in Simran,” Maharaj Ji instructed.
From then on my wife was much more peaceful. It was as though her spirit was withdrawn inwards and for two or three hours at a stretch she would lie quietly. When she would come back again, she would be in great agony and would ask for water. Monday passed in this fashion and so did most of Tuesday. At 8:00 in the evening she asked me to spread her bed on the floor and to lay her down there.*
(*In India it is customary among the Hindus to lay down a dying person on the floor. This is supposed to help the soul.)
My daughter-in-law was there so I asked her to help me, and quickly we spread the bed on the floor and laid my wife on it. I noticed that her eyes were changing and that her hands and feet were cold. Leaving her in the care of my daughter-in-law I quickly went to Maharaj Ji. He was having His meal so I waited outside. When He finished and got up to wash His hands, I slipped in and told Him that my wife was preparing to leave the body. Maharaj Ji picked up His flashlight and walked back to my place. On entering, He looked at my wife, and then at His watch, and said, “She’s not gone yet, she still has five more minutes.” He placed His hand once again on her forehead, and the end was extremely peaceful. While He sat there my daughter-in-law broke down and began sobbing. I said, “My child, what is there to cry about? The Satguru who is to look after her within is not only there but is also sitting beside her outside. What greater blessing could one ask for than to have the Satguru within and without?”
Knowing that He Himself was not too well, I begged Him not to join us at the cremation ground. “Dhani Ram, do you think I can stay back?” He answered with deep emotion. There were a large number of satsangis who accompanied us for the final rites. When all the preliminary ceremonies were over and it was time to light the pyre, Maharaj Ji arrived in His car and He was there when my wife’s body was consigned to the flames. On the third day, as customary, we collected the flowers (bones left over from cremation). That evening Maharaj Ji called me in and asked where I intended to consign them. I explained that I hoped to have them immerged in the Ganges at Haridwar. Two days later, He called me again, and told me that He was leaving for Dehra Dun the next morning and that if I so wished the flowers could go in His car with some member of our family so that the last rites could be performed.
Blessed indeed are those who can die at the Feet of a Satguru. I mention all of these facts in order to bring home Maharaj Ji’s great concern for those around Him, His care for every detail.
When Maharaj Ji went on tour, it used to be my great privilege to accompany Him. I would help look after the sale of books and photographs. If He was giving initiation, I would assist in screening candidates, finding out whether they had attended any Satsangs or read the literature and had followed the theory. Once after imparting the instructions, when Maharaj Ji stepped out He looked at me and said, “I have to carry out the orders of Hazur and have to go from place to place. But why on earth have you got to drag yourself like this? Why not sit at peace at your own home?” Tearfully I answered, “Maharaj Ji, I have come to Your door and cannot find a better one. If there is one better, direct me.” On hearing this, He was much pleased and moved.
Three weeks before Maharaj Ji left the physical body, He once again asked me to help during the initiations in Delhi as I did while He went on tour. And so I was there to assist in screening the various candidates at His last initiation after the July Bhandara. It was the 29th of the month and there were well over a thousand people who sat for initiation. After having checked with each candidate, I walked over to Maharaj Ji’s residence to tell Him everything was ready. He came down, and being very weak, sat in His car and drove across to the large tent. He sat down; His face was so grave. He asked me if we had carefully checked each seeker. I said we had; His eyes swept the congregation from one end to the other. He then turned to me and pointed out a blind man, and asked how he came to be there. I explained that he must have been allowed in while I had gone to fetch Him.
They may seem like us and we may regard Them as limited individuals, but Sants, and great souls like Them, have an eagle eye and They can perceive the Truth at a single glance.


Precious Moments

Eddie Boon

Our memories of the Beloved were sweet; they were precious moments that we now prize—they filled our lives with bliss.
Help me and teach me the more, Master—I am abashed. The chimney smoke curls upwards and upwards, the beard of time becomes greyer as it grows longer, but I am still ignorant despite my years.
The waterfalls’ music my ears cannot understand; the larks’ graceful flight is too swift for my aged eyes; the flower in my earthen vase withers, and I know not how to save it. Oh, I am truly ashamed of my ignorance, my Master. Teach me within and let me meet You face to face again in the temple of my heart.
The wonder of wonders and the most happy and worthwhile experience of my life was the time when I was beside the Master for six months in India. This happened in 1968. Busy as Master was, He asked me to have lessons with Him every day at 4 p.m. in His room upstairs. Now when I think it over, how precious and selfless was He. He would not spare Himself—even when He was thirsty. Once, during such a session, due to my carelessness, I asked Him a question when He was drinking water but He answered me nonetheless; the water spilt from His lips and wet His beard... O Master, where am I able to find such a Man like You in this world? I am crying now because of acute pining, an eternal wound, and this will always be so.


The Lion of Mercy

Vidyawanti Sethi

I was very young when I was initiated by Hazur. When He left the physical body we were sad and unsettled. Because of the Partition of the country we were also thrust into domestic problems. We were anxious to find Hazur’s true successor. Some ladies in our neighborhood said that He had appeared to them inside, and that His Power was now working with them. So for five or six months I served them with devotion.
Later on I was drawn to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj. He was gracious enough to make me sit in meditation, and He took my soul up to higher planes. I gave up my devotion to those ladies. But my husband still believed in them, and was very angry with me; he threw a metal utensil at my head. But Maharaj Ji was holding me tight; He was showering His grace upon us. My children also started going to Him, and He helped us in every way.
Then my husband left us and went off to Beas, intending never to return. The day he reached Beas and sat in meditation, Maharaj Kirpal Singh appeared to him within and told him that kind of meditation was not acceptable; his family was suffering in Delhi and here he was trying to pray—he should go back. He returned home next morning.
Since he had left the house, no food had been cooked; we were hard up. When he returned my husband told us all that had happened. I went to Maharaj Ji and told Him all this; He said, “I did nothing—it was all your love.” He was so very compassionate; His doors were always wide open.


It Is He Who Draws Us

Harcharan Singh

It is not for us to speak or write about a Being such as Maharaj Ji. There is such a gulf that separates us from Him: we are blind—He knows everything. It is not we who find Him, but He who finds us and draws us to Himself, either by direct revelation or by some other means.
I started with some family background. My father was fond of reading the Gurbani. My sister encouraged me to hear it being chanted. So sweet did the Gurbani sound and so full of meaning, that I began to lose interest in the material world around me and hungered for the gift of Naam.
It was in 1955 that I had my first darshan of Maharaj Ji, but it was not until 1960 that I started going regularly to Sawan Ashram. In the first week of November of that year I saw Maharaj Ji in a vision, and begged Him for Naam; He agreed to give it to me. A few days later I was given initiation.
As time passed I wished to help with seva; I was overjoyed when one day Sardar Dalip Singh, who was in charge of the Ashram office, called me in for typing. From then on I would help him with the office work. I was rather shy about going to see Maharaj Ji; but to my great surprise, He would often, His grace, come and visit the office giving us His darshan.
During a World Religions Conference, I took leave to do some seva. One day Maharaj Ji, taking me by the hand, turned to Muni Sushil Kumar the Sponsor of the Conference, and said, “From tomorrow he will be there to help you out with the work.” My prayer had been heard and from now on I was directly involved with day to day seva.
While serving at His Holy Feet, I witnessed a number of interesting incidents. At the time of this Conference, a group arrived one morning in strength and wanted Maharaj Ji to do things their way. He met them with courtesy and asked them to bring their proposal for organizing the Conference in writing and He would be glad to accept it. They made a draft and brought it to Him. Maharaj Ji looked at them and said, “Make doubly sure that this is what you want.” They looked at the draft, took it with them and after some time brought a fresh draft. Maharaj Ji quietly signed it and gave it back to them. Later, to their great chagrin, they realized that the proposal they had brought Maharaj Ji to sign really meant not the slightest alteration in the way He was already organizing things.
On another occasion, a group of satsangis from outside Delhi pressed Maharaj Ji to give a Satsang program for their town. They said that the Sangat carried more weight than the Guru, and if the Guru was twenty bisvas (Indian land measure) then the Sangat was twenty-one, and He must therefore accede to their request. Maharaj Ji very sweetly agreed to visit their town as and when He had a tour program nearby. As for the relative weight of the Guru and the Sangat, He remarked, “If we take away the Guru from the Sangat, twenty out of twenty-one, what are we left with? Just one. Now you can see for yourself that the Sangat is what it is because of the Guru and without Him it is nothing.”
Sometimes I helped Maharaj Ji with the Indian correspondence. Once a brother had a rather loaded question. “Those who follow the path of lies seem to prosper, while those who follow truth only get stoned. This being the case, what path should one pursue?” He was obviously hard put to it, being honest, and he wanted Maharaj Ji to be indulgent. But He wrote back to explain that untruth was like sugarcoated poison and truth like a medicine, which though it did not taste sweet, acted slowly but surely.
It was interesting to see how He dealt with every satsangi in an individual way. Besides their spiritual problems, they brought their worldly problems as well: someone did not have a child, another had lost his job. At times Maharaj Ji would be extremely sweet and loving and reassured them that Hazur would help. At others, however, He would say, “Do I have a factory here for making babies, or for creating jobs?” It was not that His love differed from satsangi to satsangi. It was simply that the needs of each satsangi were different. Those trying their best needed encouragement. And those who would leave everything to the Guru needed to be scolded and pushed on. Maharaj Ji expected us to work hard and do our very best—and leave the rest to God. If we did so, the Master Power was always there to help us.
I accompanied Maharaj Ji on His last world tour, and there are some incidents from that time which come to my mind. We were in California and I was with Maharaj Ji in a room when a visitor arrived—a lady dressed in black, coming directly from London for her first meeting with Him. She explained that while she was walking down a street in London He had appeared to her there, had told her that He was in California, and had asked her to come and meet Him there. She had never heard about Him nor had any plans about meeting Him. However, He had called her in person and so she had come. Her account was a vivid testimony that the Shepherd knows His flock and can reach out to His sheep no matter where they are.
While in Florida, I suddenly had an idea to take a movie of Maharaj Ji along the sea shore. When we were in Miami I gained courage and asked the Master if He could let me take pictures of Him along the sea’s edge as a record for our brothers and sisters in India. He graciously agreed. No one knew of it, and yet as Maharaj Ji came from the hotel a large number of brothers and sisters turned up and followed Him. The water was lapping some distance away and we all walked along with Maharaj Ji as little children with their father. Suddenly a great wave rose up in the distance and came straight towards us; it was tumbling across all the dry sand between us and the sea, and washed right up to where we were. It drenched those nearer the water, but surprisingly, the moment it reached the Master’s Feet, it touched Him and quietly receded. A single wave rising up like this, rushing across, and then quietly retiring after just touching His Feet—it was too extraordinary to be merely an accident. Maharaj Ji had come to bless the seashore with His presence and the sea was reaching out to pay its homage. One had heard of such things in legends, but now the legend was being enacted before our very eyes. To be at Maharaj Ji’s Feet was, indeed, to realize afresh each day that all the traditions and legends about holy men one had heard were not mere tales for children but literal truths.
On one occasion, I had gone to the Ashram from work. Maharaj Ji sent me to the office to locate some papers, study them, and bring them to Him. When He got the file He began turning over the pages. Suddenly He asked, “How is your daughter?” I had not breathed a word about her to Him, but she was ill and I answered, “Maharaj Ji, she is ill.” “But why don’t you have her treated? If you don’t do something she will die,” He told me. “Life and death, Maharaj Ji, are Your slaves and the girl is in Your hands,” I answered. “But you must have her treated,” He said very firmly, and then with great emphasis repeated, “take her to a doctor —this is my command!” He then explained to me the nature of my daughter’s special respiratory problem, and a little later asked me to return home. It was rather late when I got back; I did not tell my wife what Maharaj Ji had said until next morning to save her the worry. We took the child to a homeopath who only had to go through the motions of giving her the medicine. He gave her a dose right there, and the child was soon back to normal.
During His final months, Maharaj Ji gave many an indication of what was coming. On at least two occasions He cryptically remarked, “This body is getting useless now. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a new one?” I would answer that since everything lay within His power why not mend the existing one? To this He gave no reply. Once while He was traveling from Rajpur, referring to His spells of illness, He remarked that they were heralds of death. I asked Him what was the real cause of His malady, why His normal spells of work alternated with such anguished pain? He explained that the blood circulation in His limbs was insufficient. When He had to work, He concentrated so entirely on it that He had no awareness of the pain; but when He lay down to relax He had to live with the agony.
Some three weeks or so before the end, I had failed to visit the Ashram for a whole week. When I came, on seeing me Maharaj Ji asked, “Are you going to come here only after I’m gone?” If I could, I would have buried myself alive.
During His last days He once asked me to go downstairs to fetch a book on Guru Nanak. I did so but I could not find it. When I came up and told Him of this, He was talking about the Conference that had been proposed to be held on Guru Nanak’s birthday. “I, myself, may not even be there then,” He quietly said. On 11th August, after the last Sunday Satsang He was to deliver, as He struggled back indoors, visibly suffering and broken in health, He stopped and said, “However ill I may have been, however much my body may be giving way, who can say I have neglected my duty? Whether it has been Satsang or the satsangis, I have worked to my uttermost and have not failed in my calling.”
There is no grief like unto the grief of losing one’s Satguru—even though in spirit He is always with us. There is no blessing greater than that of dying during the lifespan of one’s Master, and since He passed into Mahasamadhi, plunged in grief we have, each in his own place, been measuring the extent of that blessedness which has been denied to us.


A Tribute to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj

Par Zamin Nizami

Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj was one of those great souls who enriched this land with the sweet melodies of the oneness of God. He spent His life in the service of humanity and dedicated Himself to the spiritual uplift of man. He supported integration at all levels and strived hard to demolish the barriers of caste and creed. His piety, devotion, spiritual greatness and magnetic personality attracted seekers after truth from distant parts of India and lands beyond. He met everyone with great humility. His was a saintly way of life.
Thousands used to partake of the free kitchen at His Ashram. His Naam-Daan initiation ceremony was a sight to behold. Each initiate was given some experience of inner Light and Sound.
Sant Kirpal Singh Ji was a strict vegetarian. In His Ashram even foreigners were served with vegetarian food. He was so much against injuring a living soul that He decided against cutting down a tree though it obstructed the construction of His house. It was left untouched and its branches were allowed to go up through the roof and spread above it.
Sant Ji Maharaj used to have great respect for Dargah-Hazarat Nizam-U-Din Aulia and always participated in our Urs celebrations. On a couple of occasions He even participated in the spiritual discussions on the Five Names. He was a man of such varied qualities that it is difficult to enumerate them. Sant Ji had great respect for all religions and such was the depth of His study that it would be no exaggeration to say that He was a living encyclopedia of religions. His Mission is a living force and will continue to be so.


The Master’s Last Months

Kate Tillis

The Presence on earth of the Luminous Godman Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj was a miracle of such magnitude that it passes comprehension. His acceptance of us as His spiritual children was a personal miracle for each one of us; ever afterwards we lived and breathed miraculously in Him. To try to pull out any aspect of His Divine Grace is just to catch one drop from that limitless Ocean of Love; we can only tell of the little we can comprehend with our limited vision, just that tiny drop, while all the time He loves us and lifts us in ways too marvelous for us to grasp.
He changes us. Even those of us who only saw Him once, even those who received His Initiation but afterwards did not follow the Path; none of us can ever be the same again: we have each been touched by the Finger of God.
That He allowed Malcolm and me to stay close to Him in India and work for Him on His manuscripts for the last ten months of His earth life was all His merciful Grace—it is surely those most in need of help (and a good scrubbing!) whom He draws close to Himself. During those months we watched Him pass from one phase to another, from outpourings of intense spiritual radiation and love to periods of withdrawal, from bene-volence to sternness and back to benevolence, from delicious bursts of humor to admonition, from periods of radiant vitality to sickness, and finally, to that fatal illness culminating in His departure for higher planes.
When we came to His Holy Feet in October 1973, it was realized that His precious talks given daily to visiting Westerners were only being recorded in the most haphazard way by anyone who chanced to have a tape recorder at that time, and that these dear ones who made the recordings then returned with them to whatever corner of the world in which they happened to live. Master gave permission that these heart-to-heart talks should be officially recorded and documented for future publication, and this was begun in January 1974 when the necessary equipment arrived. In the meantime, notes were taken by hand of the rare gems as they fell from His lips, some of which are given below.
Master frequently told us that we had not come to the Ashram to make friends or indulge in idle talk and idle pursuits. So on the last night of her stay, an English satsangi said to Him, “We don’t come here with the intention of making friends, but when we arrive we can’t help it—we grow to love people here because we have so much in common. Is this wrong?” The Master replied, “No, because you love the Master and they are all the Master’s children, and you are closer to each other than members of your own family. This relationship remains even after death. You love these people because of your love for the Master.”
On another occasion someone asked the Master, “What should we do on our return home to convey to others what we have learned here.” The Master said, “You must be changed, not the same old person in any way—in your behavior, in your dealings with others. Of course spiritually you are a little better. But let other people say you are changed! You need not act or pose. The more you progress the more it is a joy to me.”
Master often told us to “Go jolly!” So someone once asked Him how could we go jolly? And He replied, “Only when you come in tune with nature. Your soul is to be happy, not your physical senses. If your whole attention is absorbed, then you will go jolly—there will be joy!”
An Italian lady came to the Ashram and there was no one who could adequately translate to her what the Master was saying. After a lot of false starts and struggles the Master stopped all that, and remarked, “I think she can absorb more without words!”
To someone who admitted to Him, “I feel the Master knows all my faults and weaknesses,” He replied, “Well, try to weed them out. Fear of the Master arises through love—it is good to have fear. A man sees through the spectacles he is wearing—so have loving regard for all. When a man begins to fear displeasing Him it is a sign of going up; from fear will arise true love.”
In November the Master took Westerners with Him up to Manav Kendra, and while they were there invited them to spend a whole golden day with Him at His house at Rajpur. For some dear ones, however, the day was being spoilt by their inner criticism of the behavior in front of the Master of other dear ones—this the Beloved washed away in His Divine Love by remarking, “You are all beautiful to me.” He once told us, “The whole atmosphere is full of thoughts; if you think evil you will drain it from the atmosphere.”
On selfless service He said at another time, “It can only be selfless if there’s no personal gain in it. It is only selfless if it is done by your own wish and pleasure. If it is done by force or through fear it is not selfless service. It must come from natural impulse—it all depends on the intention."
In December the Master left on His last tour— a fifteen day trip to open the new Manav Kendra at Baroda and on to Bombay, with many stops on the way. He took a bus full of Indian and Western satsangis with Him. On tour with the Master one learns gratitude for the basic things of life which are usually taken for granted: a place to sleep (even if it’s the floor), water
to drink and to wash in, meals, and a hot cup of strong reviving Indian tea! On tour these things might be forthcoming or they might not; in this the Indian satsangis were a great example— they just trusted to Him to give what He would when it pleased Him. The Master told those traveling with Him, “All this is a lot of inconvenience to you. I am always tossing about, that’s my fate, but you don’t have to do it.” One young American remarked, “On the last tour I was always worrying and asking questions: What time shall we arrive? Where shall we stay tonight? Where will the Master’s darshan be? But now I simply get into the bus and it takes me where I have to go when I have to go.” Another Westerner said, “If we only come to understand that everything around the Master is given to us as a test, then we’ll say to ourselves, ‘In order to progress I must get through this next one.’ When we come to that understanding then nothing will pull us down.”
As the time for the World Conference on Unity of Man drew nearer, the tests increased as the whole Ashram became a building site; whole new stories were rapidly seen to top the existing buildings. The work went on night and day, sometimes exactly over one’s head. One day in late January the Westerners were moved into the main meditation hall for their meditation session—at this time one end of the hall was a carpenter’s shop; the hammering and banging and sawing and conversations of the workmen never stopped! When the Master entered to take everyone out of meditation He was beaming. He said, “When a student attends some class, after some training he is tested whether he has learned the lesson given to him. You have been putting in time for meditation for the last few days, now today was the test day. It was to be seen how far you have succeeded concentrating—a sort of test, you see? So how many of you have seen Master’s form? Hands up please.” And Master continued to ask for everyone’s inner experience.
Tests also took a much more personal form. All sorts of tensions build up round a Master causing clashes of personality, clashes which at times appeared to be fostered by the Master Himself. This was an essential part of His man-making for the disciples. One visiting satsangi became exasperated by another very nervous and talkative satsangi; Master’s way was to throw these two together—until they came to love each other! He also taught His children to be as flexible and fluid as possible, not to clutch at preconceived ideas. At the time of the Conference, for instance, Malcolm was told he should give a speech during one of the Panel Sessions, and it was to be on comparative religions. So we wrote a speech mainly quoting our Master’s words and teachings from His books. The convener, Mr. Srivastava, told us next day that the speech had been accepted, just one or two small changes would have to be made as it was to be given at a different Panel and would now be on the subject of “The Drug Problem Facing Youth Today.”
To be in the blessed physical presence of the Living Master is not of course all one long test—it is indeed to drink the pure Nectar of Spirituality at its very source. No one who was present during that early January can ever forget those extraordinary silent darshans when the Master seemed, for a time, to let us have a glimpse of Himself—a rare gift of pure Grace. The room became immensely charged; no one spoke, and the Master simply sat and looked at His children. At such times the soul is lifted out of the body and given illumination and bliss beyond compare, beyond expression. Someone who tried to give expression to one such experience wrote the following lines:
His Face is a thin veil
between us and God;
the veil shimmers and Light shines through,
the veil melts and Another Face appears.
Round Him moons, manifest
and overhead a Radiant Form is seen.
His Eyes are Pools of Light,
His Eyes are Fountains of Mercy,
His Eyes are the Ocean of Love.
Awestruck, we gaze not at flesh and bone,
but at the Living Substance of God.

During this darshan the Master did, at long intervals, speak to us. The words carried tremendous charging and seemed to come from a great distance. He said:
Silence is more eloquent than words.
We have to go down into the very silence of the heart.
That silence becomes vocal.
That silence sprouts forth into Light.
Those who went deep down into that silence gave us the scriptures.
The scriptures are the result of such people.
At the moment we are physically still and mentally still
we learn more by radiation.

These words were written down by Malcolm as they were spoken. Next day he took them to the Master for His correction (nothing could be released in any form which had not first been passed by Him). Malcolm said, “Master, apparently nobody recorded what You said yesterday” and the Master, as He took the paper, remarked, “You took it down. So you were one of the nobodies.” Master then corrected what He had said and put a large tick in the margin.
Once when He was talking to His children He told them, “I am not the Master—God is the Master; He is working through me.” And at another time He said, “Masters are never born— historically we have Their birthdays.”
During that winter the Master gave this advice about group leaders: ‘‘They have to be extra careful to be a good example to others and do things correctly. They are put on a pedestal, and if they do anything wrong they are pointed out—there is a great fall.” He advised those on the Path, “Instead of thinking of others, think of your own Self. Did you ever think of your own Self? Once a man was looking for the center of the world, but the center of the world is within you, right inside. If you know your own Self you can move the world.”
Someone asked Him if we commit sins in dreams how should we mark it down in the diary, and He said it should go down as failure in thought.
When asked to give parshad to a late-comer, He replied, “No one can have parshad if he was not here when it was given out.”
On another occasion He said, “The Kingdom of God is for children—not for the childish.”
And again, “Chastity is the foundation on which the house is built—the house of
spirituality.”
Of someone who was always changing clothes and obviously thought a lot of outer appearance, the Master asked repeatedly, “When did you come?” as if to a new-comer. Everyone laughed and said, “But Master, this person has been here for weeks!” The Master, however, was playing the game of non-recognition. “Oh,” He said, “You keep changing your form,” by which He meant dress. “You are looking after the horse and forgetting the rider. You are taking care of the house and have forgotten the indweller.”
At this time when the Master gave darshan in what appeared to be a noisy passage with members of His household and staff continually passing, talking among themselves and telephoning, some dear ones from the West complained they could not hear Him. But His reply was that everyone could hear perfectly well if he concentrated.
After one of His terrible coughing spells someone asked, “Master, are we tiring You?” The Master replied, “No, you are my solace.”
He told us we should have right understanding and that right thoughts and right speech would give us right meditation. He said, “Safeguard the principle of right understanding and you will guard yourself.”
On New Year’s morning He gave a talk from which the following is an extract.

Progress depends on your devotion and ruling passion. So work in a way that you may be able to fly with the Master within to higher planes. Always have the highest ideal before you. If you want to jump ten feet, don’t jump four or five. If you don’t have lofty ideals you will remain where you are. A man is really a man if he catches God. That is the highest ideal. Start this year by having the highest ideal. When God sees you are running to Him He will give you a boost. If you are always lying on the floor who will help you? I am only telling you all this to give you a new incentive. That’s my New Year message. Once you reach the destination, then lie down.

An open invitation was given to all satsangis to take part in the Unity of Man Conference in February, and to celebrate the Master’s Birthday; nearly five hundred Westerners accepted the Master’s invitation to come and stay at the Ashram. One or two of the more perceptive of them said quietly that they could not help thinking this huge gathering of the Master’s children from all over the world must have some deeper significance than the obvious one of the Conference. Indeed now we can see it as His generous gesture to all His spiritual family to come, without the usual special permission, for the last time on earth to His Holy Feet. During this time, in spite of the tremendous extra burden of work the Conference entailed for Him, He gave the Westerners two long meditation sessions every day followed by talks of profound spiritual depth. He poured out His love, concern and guidance in such a way that each person felt him or herself to be supremely blessed, and to be the center of the Master’s care and attention. Here was the Divine Sun of spirituality radiating in all His splendour and here was the loving, tender Father, the solace of all hearts. How could we understand what was happening— far less describe it? We used to think if we could really absorb one millionth part of what was being poured out we’d all become instant saints!
Living at the Ashram one could not but be aware that there was hardly a single moment of the day or night when the Master was not giving Himself. People came to see Him without ceasing: His secretaries with the huge load of daily correspondence, His household staff, Indian families or individuals with every kind of earthly and spiritual problem to lay before Him, and Wester-ners who wanted to concentrate as much on His counsel and blessed darshan as possible into a short visit. The work for the Con-ference, of course, tremendously increased His burden. A Master is the only authority on all points and on all occasions, thus every person and every detail is under His direct supervision. No man could begin to undertake what a Master willingly and lovingly does day in and day out—the human frame which held this Gigantic Soul was taxed to the utmost.
We would often be appalled by the sight of His physical suffering—the cough which wracked His whole frame so that it seemed He would never get the breath back in His body, His muscular contractions or cramps, those agonizing pains which wrung involuntary groans from Him— all the more appalling that these sufferings must have been caused by His acceptance of our karmic load. And yet He had the most extraordinary resilience; one moment He would be seen to be deathly ill, and in almost the next moment He would be glowing with vitality and sparkling with loving smiles. No spectator, and indeed no doctor can ever understand the interaction of body and soul in a Master Saint. Since a Master is perfectly in tune with God at all times and in all situations, His sufferings, and of course His physical death, must all be perfectly accepted and undergone by Him according to the Divine Plan. Yet the sight of such suffering starts painful self-questioning in the satsangi. As each one is indissolubly linked to Him, impulses pass back and forth between them in ways of which the satsangi is but dimly aware. In a sense everything the satsangi says and does must be registered within Him. Then so intolerable becomes the thought of personal imperfections that a profound restlessness and a bitter anguish is endured until, through His Grace, each one becomes as He is; until there is no intervening friction nor flaw, until the double image is the perfect reflection. This culmination, this consummation is His supreme Gift and Grace, never earned, never deserved.
In February, the Master took us all up to Manav Kendra, where He blessed us all by a period immensely rich in the outpouring of His teachings and His love, and He gave daily meditation sessions. The clear mountain air soon cleared away the coughs and colds so many people had suffered from in Delhi. Manav Kendra, especially the Mansarovar, is so highly charged that even when the Master left us for days or weeks at a time we still felt the glow of His pervading Presence.
That year the April Bhandara to commemorate the passing of Hazur was held at Manav Kendra. Almost overnight those beautiful tents and canopies in glowing colors of red, purple, saffron and sea-green in geometric designs went up everywhere looking like the setting for some medieval tournament of knights. Thousands of people were housed and fed and sheltered from the sun as they gathered to sit before the Master. The devotees who came were so quiet, so gentle and orderly and sweet-tempered that they came and went leaving no mess nor any disturbance; everywhere you went people smiled at you. It was a poignantly moving event as the Master showed His deep sorrow at the loss of His Master on the physical plane; one time, while speaking to us, His voice broke, and tears fell from His eyes. The bhajans then sung were of a heart-rending beauty and sorrow. The whole atmosphere was immensely charged with this divine grief; Hazur Baba Sawan Singh could be seen manifesting time and again, appearing through His great Spiritual Son and Successor.
On April 6th the Beloved Master blessed with His Presence the marriage of David Kippen and Tina MacKnight at the Gurdwara in Dehra Dun; it was such a warm-hearted and delightful occasion—He was the true Father of us all, and this was an intimate family affair—the air was filled with showers of rose petals and good wishes!
The following day the Master left for His camp at the Kumbha Mela at Hardwar, the great twelve-yearly gathering of saints and holy men from all over India where thousands of people come to sit at the feet of saints hear spiritual discourses and take the ritual bath of purification in the sacred river Ganges.
As the heat of summer increased, the visiting Westerners were advised to leave, but their place was taken by those dear ones who were schoolteachers and students and whose only free time was during these months. We all moved up to Rajpur; some stayed in the Master’s bungalow there, others stayed in Kirpal Ashram nearby. The Master was ill and withdrawn. He only saw us for a very short time each evening, and sometimes He scarcely spoke.
When the Master left for Delhi on July 4th, we understood He would soon be back, and many of us were advised to stay on at Rajpur and wait for His return. However, as the time for the Bhandara in Delhi on July 27th to commemorate Hazur’s birthday drew near, we were all asked to go back to Delhi. We imagined we’d be back in Rajpur with the Master after a few days.
At the Bhandara it was obvious that the Master was very ill; nevertheless, He carried on through all the ceremony and speeches, and on the last morning He initiated over one thousand souls into the Holy Naam.
The Master was the first spiritual leader to address members of the Indian Parliament; this meeting was arranged for August 1st. Although the Master was then so ill that He could scarcely speak, He kept that appointment. He began by apologizing to the audience for the weakness of His voice. He was always deeply concerned that those with national responsibilities understood that they hold the welfare of millions in their hands. That evening, as He was too ill to come downstairs, still the Master gave us His blessed darshan in His bedroom.
A few days later the Master indicated that the taping of His talks should be stopped; the last officially recorded talk, given on August 7th, He devoted to the reiterated theme, “Burn all scriptures! They are useless without the Living Master.”
Once the taping of His talks stopped, Malcolm, who was at first rather bewildered, found he was able to sit in front of the Master with no tape recorder or notebook to attend to, and could absorb the divine radiation of bliss with undivided attention for the first time in eight months. Some of the last words the Master spoke to him were in acknowledgement of this blessed state, for He said, “You must be happy now!”
It was always impossible to tell how long we would stay in any one place. We thought we’d be in Delhi for a short time during the Bhandara, so we’d left most of our work and equipment up at Rajpur. We knew that the Master was desperately ill—but He had been apparently just as ill many times before, and had recovered. So we were waiting and waiting for Him to take us all back to Rajpur—so that we could rescue the equipment, Master’s precious tapes and manuscripts, many books and papers which we feared would be moldering away in the monsoon. When it became obvious that the Master could not travel because He was too ill, we asked His permission to go up to Rajpur for a quick visit to collect our things there, and He said that we could go. Before we went we were present at His last Darshan Talk, the last time He spoke to His children from His bed on the roof terrace outside His bedroom. This was Saturday August 17th. During that night one was shaken by wild uncontrollable sobbing—why? Because the soul knew what the mind did not. Next day was Sunday, but the Master did not give Satsang; instead a tape was played. Afterwards, from the roof terrace, He appeared for a few minutes to give the Sangat His last silent darshan and blessing. On Monday we traveled up to Rajpur, and indeed found everything there much in need of drying out and attention. On Tuesday Malcolm—like many other satsangis—became inexplicably very ill and had to stay in bed. On Wednesday morning, while walking down the lane from Kirpal Ashram to the main road, a dazzlingly brilliant white sun began to manifest exactly before open eyes. With closed eyes it was even more brilliant. We sat for half an hour, while it persisted, in meditation on the roadside. What did it mean? Did it mean that our Beloved Master was leaving the body? This thought was so unthinkable that a hundred reasons why He could not leave us rushed into the mind: there was the pending Asian Conference, there was the new Manav Kendra at Baroda under construction, there were the houses for the Westerners being built at Rajpur, and so on. (Other satsangis also reported seeing this sun at this time—was it perhaps the sun Baba Sawan Singh referred to when He was passing from the earth-plane?)
That evening a message was sent to us to tell us that the Master had left the physical body, but this message never reached us. At three o’clock in the morning we were woken by peo-ple with torches (the electricity was off) saying, “The taxi is here, why aren’t you ready?” Bewildered, we lit a candle and asked, “What taxi?” They replied, “To go to Delhi.” Then they told us, “The Master left the body at seven o’clock last evening.”
His Mission of Mercy on earth completed, the Resplendent Sun of Spirituality had ascended to the highest Heaven.
And yet, miraculously, He remains with and within each of His children. At the end of a visit to Him in Sawan Ashram five years previously He said, “I am your Father, I have you by the hand and I shall never let you go.”


The Light of the World

M. M. Chopra

Sant Kirpal Singh Ji, the true spiritual Son of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji, gave motivation in spheres of religious truth, world peace, moral regeneration and spiritual consciousness. Sant Ji is adored by millions in India and abroad as the Divine Harbinger of Fundamental Truth and Ultimate Reality. Those of us who were fortunate to be blessed by Him know and believe that a Godman came to awaken mankind, to rekindle the dying fires of divinity by providing the luminous spark from the abundance of infinite knowledge and bliss.
His Holiness’s message, which instead of limiting the frontiers of religion to a fixed doctrine, stresses the fundamental Principles common to all religions, which have advanced society and lit a bright flame which cannot be smothered. It is in this sense that our Master’s Light is still with us. It will remain with us to illuminate mankind for years to come, and one thousand years hence that Light will still be seen in India and abroad. The world will see It, and It will give solace to innumerable hearts.
Throughout His life, Sant Ji carried on the Mission of bringing harmony among people with utmost devotion and enthusiasm. He pursued the Cause unmindful of the physical and mortal limitations of the human body, and He virtually died in harness.
The Light has gone from our physical sight, the Light which always showed the right direction to wandering minds, the Light which disseminated the idea of the unity of mankind and the love of one for another. Yet in more than one way this Light has not gone out: the Master sends His benediction from Heaven and urges us to remember that even the lowliest of creatures possesses in him the Divine Spark.


A Servant in His Household

Hayat Singh

I was just a boy of thirteen or fourteen when I left my village in Almora up in the hills. It was in 1968, and I had left home to look for work in Delhi. I became interested in finding out about God, and asked someone what I should do. He told me that God was about in the very early hours of the morning, and one should seek Him then. I got hold of pictures of Rama, of Krishna, and of Durga, and began getting up very early doing aarti (burning incense and lighting candles) and praying to them, especially to Goddess Durga. The family with whom I was working at the time happened to be satsangis. I began reading Sant Mat Prakash published from Beas, and Sat Sandesh from Delhi. The satsangi with whom I worked, told me about Naam and about the need for a guru. But I would always say, “I am a Hindu—how can I become a disciple of a Sikh guru?” To my great surprise however, Maharaj Ji began appearing in dreams, and on one occasion He took me in His lap and gave me much love. I told Him I wanted to be at His Feet and He said He would grant me Naam.
I told my employer I wanted to go in for initiation. “You are too young for that,” I was told, and when I insisted, he said, “Maharaj Ji does not give Naam to boys of your age. But if you will not listen to me you can go and demand it yourself.” After my dream I was determined; I took a rickshaw and got to the Ashram. The sevadar would not let me go in; dejected and desperate I came back. I went again, and on meeting Maharaj Ji complained that He had told me He would give me Naam and yet I had to return disappointed. “If the sevadars would not let you in, did you tell them I had called you from within, and did you send in a note?” I was asked to come next time and I did so with Mata Sheila who lived near me. And so on 7th July 1969 I was initiated at the age of fifteen.
Wanting to serve the Master, in March 1971 I went to Manav Kendra, and a month later became a member of the Master’s household and helped with the cooking. I was a little fellow then and at first no one would let me get near the Master. But seeing the Master’s love for me, people soon let me go in and out as I pleased. I do not have the words to describe what it was like, being with Maharaj Ji. He would joke with me and pull me up. At times He would playfully call me “Yahya Khan,” and at others He would call me “Para Singh.” Yahya Khan was very much in the news at the time and Para Singh was a popular wrestler. He would call me Para Singh because, He said, I was like mercury (para in Hindi) and could not stay still.
In the last year He suddenly told me to begin learning driving at Dehra Dun, adding I could become a driver that way. By then I had lost all reserve and would tell Maharaj Ji everything. I said, “But Maharaj Ji, if I do that I would be stuck at Dehra Dun and be away from You.” He went on, “But once you learn driving you will get a good job. You will be a rich man and then I can come and stay with you.” Putting on a mock sternness, He added, “Don’t back out. You must give me a place. No excuses—mind that!”
If I prepared food for Him out of a spontaneous impulse, He would be sure to have it. Once in Rajpur akulfi (Indian ice cream) vendor came by and I had a kulfi. It tasted good, and I took one for the Master. Not sure if He would have it, I told the vendor not to take it out of its container; you might say I carried it in on approval. I told the Master I had tried one, it seemed
good, and had brought one in case He would have it. He not only took the kulfi but gave me two rupees to pay for them and to keep the change for myself.
We would always keep crystal sugar, cardamom, and cloves handy. Maharaj Ji was given to coughing, and when He coughed He liked to have these. Instead of running for them each time, I would often carry them for Him in my pockets.
As for sleeping, I doubt if Maharaj Ji ever slept. He was always up and working, and when He would be tired and there was time, He would just stretch Himself out for a little. He was extremely fond of the Jap Ji and read it every morning before starting work.
In 1973, my father was taken seriously ill and had vomited blood. On getting the news I had to go home to be by his side. When I talked to the Master about it, He asked me, “If your father goes, what will you do?” I told Him that I would come to Him; I had no worries. He was preparing me for what lay ahead, and when I departed, filled a whole bag of puffed rice parshad for me to take home. Generally He would give a handful to each devotee, but for me He took a large paper bag and filled it up. When I got back home, I would give some parshad every day to my father. On pooran-massi day (full moon) in October, I gave the last parshad left to my father around 10:00 at night. At 4:00 in the morning He was gone. That night as I lay fast asleep, Maharaj Ji appeared in a dream, and with His stick marked out a particular spot in the open. Next day when we took my father’s body for cremation, the pyre was laid out at the very spot He had indicated. After various ceremonies, I returned to the Ashram; Maharaj Ji was upstairs. It was November and I ran up the stairs. He was with His elder son, His daughter-in-law and a couple of others. As I looked at Him, His head was one mass of bright Light. I could not distinguish His face. Two or three days later I asked Him about my father: not being an initiate, I was worried what would become of him. “But you are his son, and you are an initiate. He will be looked after. Why do you worry?” Maharaj Ji inquired. “Will he again get human birth?” I asked. “And what if he does not need to come back at all?” He said.
Maharaj Ji gave us many hints about His departure during the final months. Unfortunately we did not understand them. Once He told me in the morning, “If you want me, get up early and have your bath, and after praying to God in whatever form pleases you, then only come to me.” There was a certain solemnity and sternness in His command, and from then on I was particular to bathe early, and after a little Simran, then only would I show myself for work.
In early August, when the Master lay in His room upstairs, I told Him, “People get well through simply remembering You. Then why are You ill Yourself? Why don’t You make Yourself all right?” Maharaj Ji answered, “What is the point of getting well now—I shall be going soon!” I thought He was just joking, and responded, “And where will You be going?” He answered, “Oh, where we all go.” “But You must take me there first before You go Yourself,” I said. But Maharaj Ji lay silent and made no reply. A few days later He was indeed gone from us as He had warned.


In Sweet Memory

A. R. Manocha

I came into contact with the Beloved Master in 1955. I was passing through Shakti Nagar when I saw some people going into Sawan Ashram; on enquiry I came to know that Satsang discourses were held at this place. Just for curiosity sake, one Sunday, I went there and heard the Master’s Satsang. On that first occasion I felt a great charging and radiation and was attracted as iron is attracted by a strong fully charged magnet. Such was the effect on me that the next week I requested His Holiness for initiation, and by His grace, this was given.
During the many years that followed, I found that whosoever met Him, was attracted similarly and conquered by His great Love. He Himself was the Personified Soul, the mouthpiece of God, and strived so that every disciple of His should reach the same state. How far we could understand Him and follow Him in practice depended upon our receptivity. He never looked or cared for our shortcomings as human beings or our outer appearance, but having overpowered the base instincts and being one with God, treated everyone from the angle of Soul, as a part of Himself. He expanded Himself beyond the body, relatives, caste, creed, nations and thus became the Master of the Universe. His qualities were unlimited, indescribable in any tongue or language or by any pen as is Almighty God. He was one with the God-Power working through His body.
I would like to recall a few instances which will remain always fresh in our minds and which will give inspiration to all humankind for thousands of years. One of His general teachings was that the moral and ethical life is a stepping stone to Spirituality and secondly to rise above body consciousness, of which He used to give practical experience which is called Surat Shabad Yoga—The Science of the Soul.
He would attribute everything to His Beloved Master Hazur Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj and thus overcame the ego of self-praise. On 28th July 1974 in the morning when He was sitting on the dais, and the Sangat was in meditation, I was fortunate to be standing beside the stairs at the back of the dais. His Holiness started a conversation which remains always fresh and inspiring in my mind. He just leaned on the pillow towards me and said, “Manocha, it appears that the Science is affecting the masses and mankind is being benefited by it.” With profound joy, I said, “It is all by Your Holiness’s grace.” He nodded His Head and said, “No, it is the grace of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj.” I again humbly said, “Master, let me know if there is any difference between Hazur Sawan Singh Ji and Yourself? I, at least, do not feel so.” On this He smiled and said, “No, no, Kia pidi aur kia pidi ka shorba” (meaning that while comparing Himself to His Master, He was telling us, that He is nothing). This shows His deep humility and how much He had regard and love for His Master.
On 18th August 1974, just three days before He left His physical body and disappeared from human sight, He was physically not feeling well and at the time the whole Sangat was waiting outside for His Sunday morning Satsang. He was lying on His bed on the first floor. We, who were present there, requested Him to rest and not to move from the bed. A tape recording of His voice was played. But after a time He put on His turban, sat in the wheelchair and started going towards the balcony to see His Sangat. saying, “Sipai voh hai, jo maidan-e-jang main kam aae” (meaning : A solider is one who gives his life in the battlefield). Looking very grave, He came to the edge of the terrace; the tape was stopped, and He gave His Beloved Sangat His last silent blessings. One minute later He returned to His room; the Satsang was over. This was the type of love He had for His Sangat. Whenever He was bodily sick and someone would come to Him, He would immediately get up and it would appear as if He had no sickness at all. Such was His charging, His radiation that He imparted happiness and peace of mind to all who came to His Lotus Feet.
In the middle of February 1974 after the Unity of Man Conference, a thanks giving function was held in Sawan Ashram for those who had worked for the Conference. He specially pointed out that whether His body lives or not, the Spiritual Current working through Him will not stop, and the spiritual revolution will go on.
Let us all jointly strive hard to advance and further His Mission for the benefit of mankind.


How I was Taken Up in His Fold

Gurdial Singh

It is always the long and strong arm of the Master that finds the lost sheep from wherever it may be. I was told about His being a Living God on earth by my friend, Gurmail Singh, a noble and dedicated soul. He would always talk to me about the Beloved Master and His Mission. I, of course, used to speak in a layman’s way—why should one try see the sun, moon, and stars by closing one’s eyes when all of them were visible to the open eyes? He would then ask if I could see the sun at night and the moon and stars during the day. All this fantastic talk ultimately brought me to the Lotus Feet of the Master at Amritsar where I was, at the time, studying in dental college.
I was by nature emotional and sentimental. It was because of my disturbed mind that I gave up the Path for one year. During this period I had a chance to meet many spiritual teachers; I also read books on spirituality. This was His way to make me realize what religion was. After one year, I found myself once again at His Lotus Feet; I then realized I could not get out of His strong hand.
The first time I went to see Him at the Ashram, I met the age-old problem of “no permission to go in,” as one generally meets at private residences of officials. I started thinking that there was no difference between the place where a Living God lives and the place of ministers and officials. The moment I thought this, the gatekeeper came running, opened the gate and asked us to come in. It was midnight. The Master greeted us and asked me to explain the purpose of my visit. I started putting questions one after the other, but the Master politely asked others to wait outside, and with a wave of His hand He detained me. When all the others were out and I was alone with the Master, He began consoling me and prepared me for asking for His grace rather than useless questions
It was in March 1971 when I got a chance to do some physical seva at Manav Kendra. His instructions to the sevadars were to stay in their places and go on working when He went on a round to the different work sites. By His grace, I kept doing the work allotted to me when so many of my brothers and sisters ran after the Master as He came out of His residence. I alone remained at my post with my work. The Master came directly to where I was working. He asked for a chair and sat before me for about half an hour. I inwardly rebuked myself for not going to the Master but troubling Him to come to me. I was feeling fatigued; the Master laughed at me saying, “Be a lion!”
At Manav Kendra we had a unique opportunity to have His darshan daily. It was there that I learned the Master could read our minds without our asking any questions. Again He would never allow us to speak anything not to the point. This is how He would guide us. I had so many things to discuss with the Master, He would say, “Do not tell me anything; tell these people present.” I was in the habit of narrating the Master’s miracles. This is how I learned that the Master did not like listening to His praises.
The Master advised me to open my dental clinic at Jagraon. So many of my friends wanted me to open my clinic at their places, but Master always ruled it out by saying, “Ask me a hundred times again and again, I shall say what I have said already.” So with His blessings I settled at Jagraon. The Sangat there pressed me to request the Master to give a Satsang there. The Master blessed us with a one day program on 28th October 1973. This was His first and last visit to Jagraon.
It was one day in the month of July 1974 that I saw Master physically for the last time, on the occasion of the July Bhandara. I don’t know how it happened, but suddenly I started weeping before the Master. The Master consoled me and in a subdued tone said, “A day will soon come when there will be none to stop you from weeping.” I could not understand what He meant until on the morning of August 22nd, 1974, I learnt to my great despair that the Master had left His physical body. The moment I learned this I experienced all His grace flowing towards me, so much so that He appeared to me once again in His physical form.


A Favorite Poem of the Master’s

Bibi Hardevi

It is a blessing to have this Punjabi poem which the Beloved Master would often recite in the sweet remembrance of Hazur. It has been translated into English, and in expressing Maharaj Ji’s grief at the passing of His Master, it helps to articulate ours.
In those early days, there were no tape recorders, else it would have been such a treasure to have the words in Maharaj Ji’s own voice. He would murmur the verses softly and tunefully
—such beautiful verses, such pain, such anguish!

The one gift which I ask
Is that of Your wondrous Love.
May I never forget the anguish of separation,
And may I die in the sweet remembrance of Your Love.
When the soul leaves the body,
May no other thoughts arise,
And may I go singing of You alone.
The one gift which I ask
Is that of Your wondrous Love.
May I never forget the anguish of separation,
And may I die in the sweet remembrance of Your love,
And in full realization of Your Ineffable Grace.


His Selfless Love

Gloria Smith

It is the greatest blessing on earth to be in the physical presence of a Perfect Living Master. Those fortunate souls who came within the Divine radiation of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj know the depth of this truth. To come within the personal aura of the Beloved Master was to come in contact with a Power which could transform human lives. It was His Love which drew us to Him—a Love unknown to man. His Love was universal, encompassing all of God’s creation, not just man alone.
The Master was a Living Bible, and by His example one slowly began to understand the previously hidden and simple truths concealed in the sacred scriptures of the world. He frequently told us: “Spirituality is simple—it is you who have made it difficult.” He taught us to have love for all, to serve all. He often repeated: “Animals live for themselves; man is one who lives for others.” He transformed the meaning of Love into a practical day-to-day experience capable of being performed by all—then He requested that we live up to the knowledge He had given us. He impressed on us, “Don’t harm anybody, God resides in every heart.” Thus He began to lift the veil that separated God’s creation from itself. As the awareness, the consciousness begins to dawn that all creation is just Him disguised in different forms, then how can man bear to see Him suffer in any form which He may take, be it the form of man, animal, bird, or even the plant kingdom? The Master’s reverence for all life opened our hearts and expanded our capacity to love. He showed us by His daily example what Love is, and how we could live Love.
He would give out truths, and then give us unlimited opportunities to live up to and realize these truths in our daily lives. These lessons, when given in His physical presence always were very intense and frequently painful—for the Beloved was before us daily reminding us that “Truth is highest, but higher still is true living.” He demanded that we strive to live up to what He had taught us. It was a training ground, a School of Spirituality at His Holy Feet, and the Great Teacher would not allow His students to waste their precious time with Him. We had come for one thing and one thing only—the Master—all else was to be left behind. Those who were able to do this, by His Grace, experienced profound transformations in their lives.
Once at Manav Kendra an initiate was trying to work out a means to live in India so as to be near the Master. The Master lovingly listened to the entire plan, nodding His head back and forth saying, “That’s all right, that’s all right,” in seeming agreement. Then He uttered profound words which changed the life of the initiate: “Look here, we must leave these things up to the Master Power, for only He knows what is best to wind up our karma.” The charging of His words went deeply into the heart and the initiate realized that one should not be attached to anything—not even to places. The Master, in His complete selflessness was showing that the desire should be to go to our True Home rather than any place on earth. If it is our karma to live in the physical presence of the Master, then that Power will make all arrangements and it is nothing that we can do ourselves. All life is just a series of give and take—we have come here to wind up these debts and the Master Power, if we will surrender to It, will guide us, taking us where we need to be in order to finish off, so that we might once again be free and merge into Him—ending all separation.
Our Beloved Master was the personification of Truth, Love, Simplicity, Humility. He was the abode of all virtues. And by His great example, His life of total selfless service, He showed us that we too could regain our forgotten Godhood, but it would require the same complete dedication, the absolute and total surrender of ourselves to the Guru, so that He might clean and prepare the vessel to be filled. This surrendering He had done with His Master, thereby showing us what one man has done, another can do.
O Beloved Master! We knew You but a brief moment—yet You have stolen our hearts. You came to earth in Your beautiful garment of flesh, disguised as man. With the delicateness of Your pure Love, Your Simplicity, Your Humility, You awakened our slumbering souls and put us on the way back Home. But the deep pain; Your total selflessness, Your life was given to humanity, yet You took nothing for Yourself. In your Humility, Your Love, You did not unite us with Your physical body, but with that Eternal Master Power which never dies.
O Beloved! Your selfless Love breaks the human heart. Accept the offering of this prayer: have mercy on our souls; we are blinded by so many veils—forgive us, for we know not what we do.


The Saga of Love

Bhadra Sena

The spirit of inquiry: where have I come from and where am I going? and the “Why” and “wherefore” of the world—all these questions haunted me from my very early age. In my quest I frequented temples, mosques, gurdwaras and churches, but never found satisfaction. It was in the fall of 1936 that I was picked up at last by Maharaj Kirpal Singh. From then on there grew up a personal bond which gradually developed into an indissoluble link.
Now began the period of intensive training as He took me into his hands; I started attending Maharaj Ji’s Sunday discourses in Lahore given under Hazur’s instructions. After several months I decided to go to Beas. At the Dera, Maharaj Ji took me to His brother’s bungalow where His family was staying. At night we went to see Hazur who was relaxing on His roof, it being summer season. Introducing me to Him, He requested that I should be given initiation the next day. Hazur kindly remarked, “Very well, it will be done.
From then on the Dera became a place of pilgrimage for me. In one Satsang, Hazur remarked that by initiating a person the Master took over the responsibility not only for the initiate but for everyone in his family, including even the rats in his house! After Satsang I had my kerchief full of sugared puffed rice as parshad from Hazur before leaving for Lahore. At home after dinner we all partook of it, and tied the rest in the kerchief and suspended it from a wall tack. The next morning as we came down we were surprised to see the sugared rice scattered on the floor. Looking up we found that the kerchief had been bitten by the rats who had indeed come to partake of the parshad!
Once I persuaded my wife to visit the Dera for hearing the Great Master and having His darshan. It was in the hottest months of June and July. My wife had fear of heat. Anyhow, she agreed and we reached Beas. Maharaj Ji was there to greet us first. He placed us in a room next his. By evening my wife developed a high temperature with cramps in her legs and a severe headache. She was shivering in spite of the quilts which were placed over her. In the evening Maharaj Ji came and took some homeopathic pills out of his pocket, and turning to my wife said, “Take these pills. You will be all right. Don’t worry. These will one day bring you to the Path as well.” (She received her initiation some years later in early 1949). By morning she was all right and dressed for Satsang. After hearing the Great Master we returned to Lahore. On reaching home she explained why she had that bitter experience of cold and fever. She was quite reluctant to travel in the summer heat, and had inwardly prayed, if the Great Master was really a Godman she should not feel the impact of the summer sun. Hazur however, would not change the course of nature for her, but gave her a cold fever, and she not only escaped the heat, but had to be wrapped in quilts. Later when I told Maharaj Ji what had happened, he gave a hearty laugh and remarked, “We try to test Godmen, and we do not even know what to ask. This is why our prayers at times go amiss, and we have to repent afterwards.”
After Hazur had passed away, I heard that Maharaj Ji was in Delhi and staying at Lodhi Colony. One day I went to see Him and sat at His Feet. With His characteristic warmth He pulled me up, made me sit alongside Him, remarking, “I am not an untouchable; even if I am, when you get home you can take a ‘bath and clean yourself.”
Countless are the benefits I derived from the company of the Beloved Master, as I began to address Him in my personal letters and in submitting draft replies to some of His foreign correspondence which He would so graciously entrust to me. The love between a Satguru and a devotee is an uncommon bond. He would teach me how to approach this work not only by His words, but through His eyes as well. He could make me fill in any weakness in my understanding of His wishes; and to my great delight they were always appropriate. He would graciously remark that the power within works with great precision and therefore it is this Power that brings forth the very word the Master wished to use.
During one of those early days, I happened to be alone with the Master. Suchlike occasions He often provided to my ecstatic joy. He was, on this particular occasion, in a highly benevolent mood, and Tai Ji sitting close by, looked towards me, and said, “Maharaj Ji is in a mood to give whatever you wish. Ask for it!” I hesitated and kept quiet for a moment. Again she pressed me to speak out, adding, “Do you want earthly riches?” “No!” was the reply. “Then name and fame in the world?” she asked. Once again the reply was in the negative. “What else then?” she inquired. Thereupon I blurted forth, “I want just one thing, and that is Master’s love, and that He should see that the flame of love He lit in me should never grow dim.” The Master gave an enigmatic smile, and kept quiet.
The saga of love is one of smiles and of tears; it has no beginning and no end. I always felt that His Love was oceanic and came in tidal waves. As I think this over I feel it runs through ages past and will continue till eternity. Once, while on an evening walk with the Master, I remarked: “Master, You are so exalted, so pure and so godly that at times I wonder how You allow a sinful person like me to come near You. Is there any link between us from the past?” He simply replied, “Without any such close relationship from the past, it would not be possible to be together now all of a sudden.
One day when the lawn was being laid in the Ashram, the Master and I were strolling in the dark. All of a sudden the Master stopped, turned on the flashlight in His hand and focused
it where I was standing. “What is it Master?” I asked. “I wanted to make sure you had your shoes on, lest there be a snake,” was His loving reply. I was really taken back by His deep concern for my safety.
As for the correspondence work, the Master took great pains to train me in His own inimitable way: “You are just an instrument. You have not to exert yourself. Read each letter carefully noting down the points on the margin. Then take the pen in your hand, and without any premeditated thought, start writing. The Power within will do the rest,” Following this advice, I would read the correspondence before going to bed. Early in the morning I would sit at my desk and start the work with a brief prayer: “Master You have to do it—I don’t know how.” Any references, Biblical or otherwise, would come handy by just opening the books at random, and to my surprise in the right place as if directly marked out for the purpose. It was all His love that did the work. I was just like a pen in His hand.
The Master was very particular about the use of words in His correspondence. He always moved in accordance with the spirit of the time and the temper of the individual correspondent. He believed in gentle persuasion with a personal touch, to take each one from the line of least resistance and then leave him off to decide for himself. “In a scientific age like the present,” He would remark, “categorical assertions would not do. Everyone wants a rational explanation for everything and more so in expounding abstruse truths. Precision and concision is all that is wanted. There is no need to thrust anything down one’s throat. It is God’s work and God alone knows how to fulfill His purposes.”
In the matter of drafting replies, He was once pleased to remark, “Be very, very careful, for once I put my signature to anything, it is as if God had put His signature to it.” This is how He would at times give an inkling of the God Power that was working through Him.
The Master had in His library a wonderful collection of books on varied subjects, particularly on health: health of body, mind and soul. He was gracious to allow me free access to them which benefited me so much. As soon as new books would arrive, He generally passed them on with instructions to make notes for comparative study of the various systems proposed and advocated therein. And then, in between the strenuous work on hand, He would still find time to point out the subtle distinctions between the various system—Theosophy, Anthroposophy, Rosicrucianism, Seventh-Day Adventists, the “I Am” Movement, The White Brotherhood, Subud, Transcendental Meditation, Ultimate Enlightenment, Kundalini Yoga, Kriya Yoga, and lastly Nirankaris, and Brahmkumaris. At times He would provide me with His own copious notes on one or the other subject in hand. He was an indefatigable worker and I remember occasions when past midnight, He would not hesitate to call us in to solve our difficulties so as to enable us to proceed unhampered with the work.
The Master was master of all situations. Near the end of my office career (1960) I had serious differences with the management, with the result that I developed low fever which
persisted for months on end. I felt such a strain that I resolved to resign two years ahead of my retirement. But before doing so I went to seek the Master’s permission. He emphatically said, “No!” and then added, “For thirty years you have worked for yourself. For the remaining two, I order you to carry on. Henceforth you will be serving me, and not anyone else!” It was enough. In a few days I was transferred and taken out of this impasse.
At about this time when our home was completed in Kalkaji, the Master graced it, to give His blessings, and He gave it the name of “Sawan Kutir.” (Kutir is the Hindi for humblest abode.) Before leaving, He said, “Today I give you a piece of advice—never, for a moment, consider this house as your own.” I humbly replied, “Master I have never thought of it as such. It is Hazur’s, as You have named it so graciously.”
He had His own inimitable way of reaching out to those who were unreceptive by an over-plus of love. After the birth of my granddaughter, I accompanied my son and daughter-in-law with the child to the Ashram. That evening the Beloved Master was exceptionally gracious to my daughter-in-law who was not an initiate. After blessing the baby He turned to the mother and said, “Why don’t you come more often? It gives me so much pleasure to see you. Come again soon. No excuses. Whenever you have time, just give me a ring and I will send the car to pick you up.” My daughter-in-law was rather overwhelmed and felt embarrassed. Seeing this, He continued: “Yes, I really mean it; whenever you remember me, just phone—the car will pick you up and drop you back.” My daughter-in-law stammered that that would be too much trouble. “Trouble!” laughed the Master. Then getting serious, He looked at her, then at the baby, and then at her again: “You yourself have a child. You know what a joy it is for parents to have their children with them. If you had to send your car to pick up your child, would it seem any trouble? That is the way I feel towards you and it would be my joy to have you over.” Later, when it was time for us to depart, He made a point of having us dropped home.
Once, while I was in a nursing home, He graciously came to cheer me up and said, “What is this operation—just repairing a part of the dilapidated wall. There is nothing to worry about. You will soon be all right.” Before leaving the room, He quietly placed a few hundred rupee bank notes under my pillow. My wife noticed it and told me of this. I pulled them out and humbly inquired what these were for? He simply said, “It is possible you may need them.” With folded hands, I returned them with the words, “Master, I am yet having enough funds of Yours. Kindly keep these and I shall gladly ask for them if and when needed.” Master often used to say that the so-called gurus were always getting things from their disciples. A Satguru, on the other hand, was always giving.
When in 1971 Bangladesh was passing through a holocaust of fire and sword I felt so worked up by this event that I went to the Master and said, “Master, what is all this butchering and gunning? Can’t it be stopped?” With His characteristic tranquility He said, “You have come to plead for them? I think you hold no brief. It is all a question of action and reactions. If it is God’s Will that the world should go up in smoke, who can stop it? Be at peace, and everything will be all right!”
In July 1974, the Beloved Master wrote to say that He was in Delhi and that I could come to visit Him; I met Him twice during that month; after that I did not have the blessedness to be with Him again.
On the first occasion, I found Him on His bed in the living room downstairs. He appeared so weak that I could not forbear pleading: “All this illness is vicarious. It is not Your own, Master, but on account of us all. I pray that there be no further initiations for the next six months at least.” “I have already missed a couple,” He answered and dropped the subject.
On the second and last such occasion, He was very ill and in His room on the first floor. As I was going upstairs I found Him coming down. When I sat at His Feet, He inquired after my health. With eyes full of tears, I unburdened myself with an Urdu couplet I had composed to the effect:
You know me too well for me to reveal the anguish, the anguish of my heart.
Too feeble to meet you, I gaze upon your image and weep the weary hours away.
When it was time for me to depart, He got up to see me down. That He should even think of such a thing in His condition was quite incredible and with much difficulty I prevailed on Him to stay. Little did I realize then that knowing it was to be our final meeting, it was a parting gesture of that Ineffable Love which He bore for each one of us.
During the 70’s I had badgered the Beloved Master more than once to take me up within or to relieve me of life itself. As with age I grew less and less able to go to see Him, existence had come to be a burden. I was to repeat my plaint at one of my meetings during the last year. The Master looked at me and asked, “Have you finished your give and take that you want to go?” I submitted that I had nothing to take from anyone and was happily giving whatever I might be owing to others. Thereupon He said, “You still have something to take from Malik (God), and something that you still have to render to me.”
Every word of Yours, Beloved Master, was pregnant with meaning and I still ponder over the possible significance of your remark. I wish I had had the temerity to ask You to amplify Your meaning that day itself. Whenever I had a question You always helped me find the answer and I know that one day this enigma too will be resolved. Meanwhile, I live with it, not
forgetting to water with ceaseless remembrance the garden of our Love. I know that You are ever with me, looking after me and mine. If a Satguru forgets not even the rats in a devotee’s home, why need I have any worry for myself! Only the other day, when my housekeeper was ill and wondered if she should not give up work, You appeared to her in the early hours of the morning to exhort her to carry on. But to be cared for, O Heart’s Beloved, is not enough. I yearn to have Your darshan, and since the eye of the flesh can no longer see You, open the eye of the Spirit that I may behold You once again and have my fill. It is with this last hope that I linger here a suppliant at Your door, and while I thus wait it is my solace to continue to render up to You what is Yours.


Mere Sahib (My Lord)

Rajinder Singh Bedi

Writing about Sant Kirpal Singh is like an ant trying to figure out an elephant.
There was a suggestion during the lifetime of Sant Kirpal Singh that I write about Him in a biographical way. I did not do it—for dates, places and later events in the life of a man, howsoever evolved, were never more than a catalogue for me. One had to be realized inside before venturing to write about Him. Perceiving the Radiant Form of the Master required a discipline and deep meditation of which I was not capable, on account of my mental condition. Again, if one realized His inner and Radiant Form, could that experience be narrowed into utterance? Was language adequate to describe His glory?
Sant Kirpal Singh was actually my gurbhai, for we, with a difference of many years, were initiated into spirituality by the same Master, Param Sant Baba Sawan Singh. This relationship continued even as I took Sant Kirpal Singh Ji as the Master’s torch-bearer and my Guru. In His boundless love and compassion, He, too, treated me as a brother disciple. But, the strangest of things happened. Sant Kirpal Singh’s face resembled that of my late father. As I looked at Him I always melted as a child does in the lap of his father. And, Sant Kirpal Singh accepted this part of our relationship, too, and became my father, brother, and Guru, all rolled in one, and took me under the mantle of His care and affection. He would also, for reasons known to Him, single me out from among His countless adherents for special attention. Or was that my feeling? For all who came to Him felt the same way—such was His embrace which spread from one corner of the earth to the other. His relationship with everyone was personal, special, known only to Him and His devotee.
Sant Kirpal Singh never let me feel the myriads of miles that lay between Him and myself, the two disciples of the same Master—one following the hukum, the Divine Will, without any reservation, the other remaining a Doubting Thomas on account of his being a man with left leanings, tending to the rational, knowing little that the Master always laid stress on the word “science” in describing spirituality as “science of the soul.” I found later that there was nothing really mystic in Sant Mat. And, after the fission of atom, it was clearly established that the finer the thing the more powerful it was. The supremacy of mind over matter, therefore, was not such a cliche. After that, the spiritual side of my life was ever at variance with my left leanings and progressivism. Friends wondered at the strange bedfellowship, but I remained calm and resolved, through the blessings of the Master.
When I went to the USSR a decade or so earlier, as a delegate to the Afro-Asian Writer’s Conference at Tashkent, I took messages of fraternal greetings from the Master to Baba Khanov, Head of the Muslims in Tadjikistan, and the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church at Zgorsk. Accompanying me were leading communist friends from India and Pakistan, Sajjad Zaheer and poet Faiz Ahmed ‘Faiz’.
A piquant situation arose when Master Kirpal Singh would chide me that it was from us Bedis that He had taken it all, alluding to Baba Nanak who was a Bedi and My progenitor. And then He would laugh as a flower opening its petals in the morning breeze. He was not chiding me, for that was His affectionate way of hearkening me back to my great heritage.
The heritage of all men and women in the poets and pro-phets preceding them was superbly brought out in Gurmat Sidhant, which He wrote under the inspiration of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji. He did the same in scores of books and treatises which flowed from His lucid pen. His writing was simple, so simple that it was liable to be ignored at times. Apart from being simple, He was direct and reached the heart of the matter in no time. His writings were as natural as a duck taking to water. There were no trappings which are a rule with the exponents of our religious philosophies today. He would laugh at the “scholarliness” of the exponents who marvelled at the many meanings to which the scriptural texts lent themselves. Sant Kirpal Singh stood for only one meaning, for there could not be more than one in the utterance of a great Mahatma. In His discourses, the teachings, synthesized from all knowledge (“What is that knowledge after which no knowledge is required?”), flowed freely and effortlessly from Him. It was always a mighty river flowing out to sea, overflowing its banks occasionally. The banks were His compassionate eyes set in a leonine, fatherly face.
Sant Kirpal Singh knew our failings. But, a gaze, a pat from Him made us rise phoenix-like from our ashes and we became guiltless, sinless. Only an ocean could take it all by simply saying, “Don’t do it again...” The Master would say, with laughter as simple as Himself, that it was not the job of the dhobi(washerman) to question the filth. His job was to wash!
So enormous was His compassion that once I fell at His Feet confessing that what He told us to do was beyond me. I even quoted scriptures, after Hafiz:
Thou hast tied me to a plank and cast me into swirling waters of the sea
And Thou sayest: beware of getting drenched.
And I wept. This time the Master’s compassion was frightening. He lifted me up, embraced me and said, “Don’t...some people get it just, like that...!”
I had known Sant Kirpal Singh since my childhood. He used to hold weekly Satsangs in Lahore, at the behest of His Master. I went there holding the hand of my father. I understood Him partly and then got restive, itching to stretch my limbs which could not remain folded in a squat for two hours. But going to the Satsang had its own benefits: it built my later sanskaras (trends and tendencies). Howsoever I strayed from the righteous path, I had to come back to it. “You may leave your Guru but the Guru will not leave you.” That was more true when He gave you initiation. It was a solemn assurance, an insurance, a release, and also a bondage; for the Guru would follow you to your next birth or still the next until you had worked out your salvation and had become one with the Infinite. So, shirking it would be no use; why not do it now and here and finish with it!
I went to Lahore where Sant Kirpal Singh Ji lived: a cot, a chair, a table and an asana (prayer carpet) to sit upon and meditate for hours on end with no sleep. He was an important officer in the Military Accounts Department, yet He lived so so simply!
Sant Kirpal Singh was already walking in God, with God, I used to meet Him in Dera Baba Jaimal Singh where the Great Master Baba Sawan Singh would entrust Him to hold Satsang occasionally. To my mind Baba Sawan Singh Ji had already elevated Sant Kirpal Singh to be the coming Messiah. One could hear whisperings from the satsangis, “There is none comparable to Kirpal Singh and His kamai (tapas) .” So, Kirpal was already our mentor.
People have a way of testing Godmen by the miracles they perform. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji was averse to those, for the use of ridhis and sidhis (occult powers) frittered away the energies and, therefore, were not enjoined by the Masters. They would much rather submit to His Will and say, “Not mine, but Thy Will be done.” But occasionally, they would become catalytic agents in alleviating human suffering and draw from their deep reservoir to alter the course, paying themselves a high price in illness. If only the disciples knew about it, they would never bargain their health and happiness for the Master’s, the kalpavriksha (a wish-yielding tree); I have ample proof of this, but I would not go in-to it for a test of my reader’s credibility. This, again, is something between me and my God, my Guru. For me, His miracles were small, almost monosyllabic, but to be meditated upon and put into practice. I give only two examples :
Clear your desk.
Do one thing at a time.
The more you thought of such utterances, the more you realized that in thinking and acting upon them, one could attain moksha (freedom from transmigration). A man whose desk was clear could die at a moment’s notice. He neither whined nor whimpered when the final call came. He did not look back, and merged with eternity, a smile adorning his face. The world today is full of tensions simply because we think and do too many things at the same time, so that nothing is really accomplished. We take our office to the home and home to the office. At work we are with play and vice versa. When you are eating, eat; when working, work...
Let me come back to my personal relationship with my Father, my Mentor. The day He was to attain Hisparinirvan (His conscious rest in the Great Consciousness), He appeared in a vision and gave me the date. A miracle! A call comes and booking a seat in the plane is no problem; going from the terminal was no trouble for the coach is waiting. I reach Pambari Road on my way to the Ashram and the Master’s earthly remains are already on the way atop a carriage. I rush and get mixed with the milling crowds that had gathered to mourn the loss bigger than their gain. Darshan Singh, Master’s son, spots me; he singles me out from amongst thousands. Another miracle. He stretches his hand. I jostle to the carriage and he pulls me up. We embrace and break down in common anguish. I touch Master’s Feet. He is as serene in death as in life. But... Oh no, how can a promise wither? How can God die?!


The Last Darshan

Virginia Vidich

In July 1974, Master graciously granted me permission to visit Sawan Ashram where I was able to imbibe His Blessings during the last five weeks of His earthly life. Being in His presence was a rare gift but one that unfortunately, I did not appreciate at that time. My mind rebelled and I had desires to escape the Ashram and the oppressive heat of Delhi and go to the mountains. I even asked Master for permission to leave for a few days. He replied sweetly, “Yes, if that is your desire.” Then, fortunately for me, the two people who were going to accompany me changed their plans and the trip was cancelled. From that day on Master showered His Love on me, stilling my mind and filling my heart with joy. At one evening Darshan, I asked Master about the power of grace. He gave a beautiful discourse on the subject for nearly twenty minutes, never taking His eyes off me. This demonstration of grace for one who was so unworthy of His Blessings was a lesson. I have never forgotten. I was bathed in His glances of love and as I gazed into His deep blue eyes, His whole form began to glow with a beautiful white radiance, all Light and Love.
On August 17th, in the evening, Master gave two of us our last Darshan for we were leaving in the morning. Master was on His bed, resting with Hs son, Darshan, at His side. Although Master was in pain, He was so sweet to us, asking us about departure plans and blessing gifts for friends. I told Him I was going to Kashmir for a few days before leaving Delhi on the 21st. Master smiled and said, “Go jolly.” He was so cheerful that it eased the pain of our good-bye. Little did I know that was to be my last glimpse of His physical form.
The next two days were incredible; Master not only granted me my desire to go to the mountains but filled me with such intoxication for God that I felt His constant presence. Although I had left the Ashram, Master had not left me. The locket of Kirpal which I had always worn seemed to be specially charged—like a magnet it drew people, who inquired about His picture. One peddler in particular became charmed as he was trying to sell me some jewelry. Slowly his eyes began to focus on the image of Master. His voice slowed to a halt and then he stopped and asked in a wistful tone, “Please tell me who He is.” I spoke about Master and the Path and he was eager to hear more. In the evening he returned with three friends and a ring and locket made from two small snapshots of Master I had given him. They had many questions about Master and I was overjoyed to share His teachings.
I took a bus to the foothills of the Himalayas. It was a beautiful drive. On the bus some passengers engaged me in conversation about Master—the charm of the locket again! I rented a horse from one of the many herdsmen and we started up the trail, the herdsmen walking and I on horseback. Two crows accompanied us for a short distance, flying in front of me, cawing very persistently. I felt they had a message for me but I was too ecstatic to allow myself to worry.
Though I am not musical and seldom sing, during that ride up the mountain, songs about God and Master flowed out of the depths of my soul. Both the tunes and the words were spontaneous and expressions of beauty, harmony and unity of the Universe, which Master conveyed to me. Unself-consciously I sang the entire trip up the mountain. At the top we stopped and had some tea. We were joined by several herdsmen, all Moslems. Again the conversation focused on Master and they listened attentively, nodding their heads and praising Allah.
That day it was effortless to see God in everyone, for all faces were shining with Light. Not only the children, but everyone smiled at me as I walked in the village streets. It was a golden day. I didn’t walk but floated on Master’s vibrations. All were bathed in glory—children scampering on the streets, women gracefully bearing bundles of sticks on their heads, old men crouching in doorways, soldiers prancing in their uniforms. I felt no separation. We were all one—young, old, male, female, Moslem, Sikh, Christian, Hindu, American, Indian, Kashmiri. God’s Love radiated intensely from each and everyone. Tears were flowing down my cheeks, an expression of the intensity of my experience. Oh Kirpal, what was the meaning of this God intoxication—this holy ecstasy?
On August 21, still high on God, I flew back to Delhi late in the afternoon. As I was collecting my luggage, a young Indian steward, no more than 19, walked up to me and said, “My Master is Kirpal Singh too. Let’s go to the Ashram.” I thought, of course, why not? He tried to phone first but the line was busy, so we decided to go anyway as Phul had to return to his job in an hour or two. We arrived at Sawan Ashram at quarter to six. It was deathly still—even the birds seemed strangely quiet. An American student ran over to our taxi and told me that Master had been taken to the hospital. Although He was very ill, He said we should not worry. I was stunned by the news.
There was no point in staying so we got back into the taxi. As we were leaving, an Indian lady ran out and asked if we were going to the hospital. I told her we had to return to the airport. It was then 6:15.
Phul wanted me to meet his family who lived in a hamlet near the airport. I agreed, and that cheered him up considerably. We had to walk a short distance across some fields to his family compound. They were all there to greet me—his blind father and his uncle who were both initiates of Sawan Singh together with all his sisters, brothers and cousins. Such a happy scene! They offered me a coke and gave me their one chair which I tried to refuse. They insisted, and I sat awkwardly while they stood around me. We all communicated through that universal language of smiles and embraces since only Phul and I spoke English. During these moments of joy I noticed that the Western sky was aflame with golden-red clouds. The blind father stood with his back to the sun, his white hair wreathing his head like a halo, his arms embracing his sons.
Phul ran into the house bringing out the only picture of Master his family had in their home. He presented this mounted picture of Master as a gift to me. We all looked at the picture, murmuring, “Sat Guru.” I refused to accept this generous gift, so he offered me a picture of himself instead. The children by this time were crowding around me, giggling and happy. The adults, more bashful, were smiling. We were one family united by God. I shall never forget how everyone was bathed in a special golden haze as the sun slowly set behind the clouds and the Great Sun of Spirituality, Master Kirpal, left the earth plane. Only when I arrived at Kennedy Airport did I learn that Master had indeed left the earth at the time we were having His Darshan in a simple hamlet in India.


Let His Words Be Part of Ourselves

Leora Herold

Through His grace, I am His representative for Mexico. I have tried to give out His sacred teachings as He wished. He blessed Mexico, the country where I was born to work for Him, and also gave us strength through His third world tour. How true this is! For me, His Words are Truth. I have not experienced all of this, but I feel nearer to Him now than before He left the physical plane.
His last words to me in Mexico were, “Remain in contact with me.” This I try to do to the best of my ability. But the words He gave us concerning the instructions for Holy Initiation are the most sacred ones to me. I think it would be good for all satsangis to hear them again and again. There is a partial copy of the instructions at the end of this article.
I would also like to relate that months before His passing I twice had a vision of Him lying covered in white. I then knew He would leave us physically. And so it was. But when I heard this on August 21st during a trip I made to the different Satsangs in California, I could not help but feel a deep inner release that I cannot explain in words. He no longer had to suffer our karmas. Yes, this grateful feeling overcame my heart, and this was why I had to shed tears. Later I remembered the words of a past Master; we should not wish that the Master should not leave, but rather let Him be free of the pains of the physical body, which the Master takes on Himself to enable us to start on the Path of Liberation. How grateful I was, even with the grief knowing I would never see Him again in the physical body. And then, I really felt the
tremendous blessing of His presence, more than ever before! No words can express this, nor can words express the love He lets us have and give to Him, as well as the love we give to others. How can we be grateful? I think by trying to let His very words be a part of ourselves. Live with and through them. Then, we can really experience His presence within ourselves. Then, we will start to experience that He is the Doer, and that He moves our fingers and body. It is the Master Power that is keeping us going and living in the body.
How can we then, start to criticize or see the failures in others if we would see Him within them? He smiles at you when you try to see Him within others, no matter who it is. He is purifying us, one by one. He is bringing the Diamond out of the dirty, stonehard filth we allowed to be put on ourselves. Only He can do this work, so allow Him to do it. This is what we should think and work toward. Not to show to the world the failures of others. We have enough ourselves! But know He is within us. He loves us, more than we can imagine.
I cannot put on paper what I have experienced through His grace. His grace is beyond expression. I do not deserve it, but He gives, gives and gives. I would like to learn to give, give and give as He gave and gives at every moment.
In the vineyard of the Lord, the crop is almost ready; so many hands are needed to bring it to hungry or starving people, our sisters and brothers everywhere.
So, please let us remember His sacred words which were conveyed at the end of the Holy Initiation.
Master said: There are three retarding factors:
1. Do not convey the method of practice to anyone unless with the permission of the Master. By doing so, you will lose the Master’s thought transference, and your inner progress will stop. Moreover, you will not be able to give inner experiences to them, nor guide them.
2. Do not tell your inner experiences to any other except by permission of the Master. You may convey your experiences to the Master!
3. If a form appears within while in practice, repeat the five Names. If it is the Master it remains—if it is not it disappears! If anything is offered to you, do not accept it. Do not pay homage to anyone but the Master. Do the Simran test. By doing Simran all apparitions of the negative power and maya will disappear, and will not harm you. Last of all—my relation to the initiates: Respect my words more than my body. That will give you real lasting good. Be true to your own self. God is in you and the Master is also in you, and you will receive help.


God Came To Me

Trudy Ravens

Where does one seek to find the answer to all life’s riddles? Who does one look to for release from the give and take on this earth plane? How does one escape from the fears, frustrations and anxieties heaped on us from all sides?
Since the age of ten years, on the death of my beloved mother, determination to seek the truth became of paramount importance to me. I embarked on many paths. Each helped a little to disengage me from meaningless values, but somehow the import of life seemed always to be elusive.
Through the medium of my son, Michael, I came to the feet of my Beloved Master. God came to me in the form of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj, who was a Personification of love, and through His love He accepted me as His own. He poured out His love to other members of my family also.
One night my son, Bobby, was stranded outside in the bitter cold of winter. Not a soul in sight. The door through which he could reach a phone to call for help was locked. Freezing, he didn’t know what to do. Suddenly he remembered the picture of Master in his wallet. He took it out and prayed, please help me. He then put his hand on the door and it opened as if by itself!
He blessed me by the privilege of seeing His Form and that of Baba Sawan within. No longer is there anything more for me to seek. With Beloved Sant Kirpal Singh Ji came all the answers. Now it only remains to follow His Path and pray that He holds me tightly in His grasp. Straying as I do, He still bestows His Grace.


Three Flowers For Kirpal

Sandra English


Dare I to die
In Joyous Fusion

to fathom Thy Heart!
Let me understand Thy depths.
Thy Deaths,

O Love Divine,

With Thee
Into the depths descend
and heights ascend.

To know Thee is to become Thee.
To drink in Thy Love.
Let me taste the depths of Thee,
My Lord, My Love.

* * *


If I were close to Thee
I’d hug all the trees,
and kiss all the flowers.
I’d touch my forehead to the
dust under Thy Holy Feet
and weep at the sight of Thy Face.

* * *

From the depths
I cry out, to commune with Thee
but cannot weep.
You ask me to, but dare I?

Your eyes speak Holiness.
Holiness thunders from Thy Voice,
and Thy Heart Heaves
like sea-waves.

May my soul enter
the doors of Thy Great Heart
to drink the sweetness of Thy Song,
Subtle Sound,
from afar
muffled by Thy cries,

seeking me,
Prodigal Daughter
deaf through centuries,
deaf to Love and dumb to Light

that undulates
behind the darkness,
pleading, “Child,
end this sojourn in the dung
hills of the mind.”

“Bow down O Soul,
and leave Thy fears behind,
bow down
and worship Him,
the King of Kings.”

“Be shattered by
His Gaze
as the Sun
on the windows
blinds Thy Eye,
and only the Sun Remains.”


The Greatest Miracle

Jamna Das Akhtar

You may call me a conservative, but despite the atomic age in which we are living, I believe in miracles. I used not to believe in God—I used to laugh at the idea of spirituality—but the moment I had the privilege of seeing Hazur Baba Sawan Singh, my way of thinking changed. It was a miracle. His beaming face and His sparkling eyes attracted me, and His very first sermon impressed me so much that I had to surrender myself to Him. He even changed dacoits and murderers into God-fearing humans. Is it not a miracle?
I do not agree to the idea that a devotee does not stand in need of guidance from the new Master after the demise of one’s own Master. The Master does not die; He leaves one garb and enters into a new one. I remember that Hazur Baba Sawan Singh’s elder son, Sardar Bachint Singh, refused to recognize his Father as the new Master. He was of the view that as he and his Father had their initiation from Baba Jaimal Singh, therefore, he did not need spiritual guidance from Baba Sawan Singh. However, after about twenty years, he realized his mistake, and touched the Holy Feet of Baba Sawan Singh, saying that he had now seen Baba Jaimal Singh in Him.
Incidentally, there was a time when I did not believe in Sant Kirpal Singh Ji. I knew He was a saint, but not my Master. It so happened that I became seriously ill. Doctors failed to restore my health. I was helpless. I prayed to Hazur Baba Sawan Singh. He appeared before me and said, “Go to Kirpal. You will see me in Him. He will make you all right.” This was another miracle. I wrote a letter to Sant Kirpal Singh Ji praying for mercy. That night He appeared before me and gave His blessings. The next day I felt that I needed no doctor; His blessings had cured me.
Several times I saw Hazur Baba Sawan Singh’s picture changing into Sant Kirpal Singh’s picture. To me both were one. The Light had not disappeared after Baba Sawan Singh Ji’s worldly demise—It reappeared in Sant Kirpal Singh’s person. It was because of this that a large number of Hazur’s devotees gathered together under the spiritual canopy of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji and received His blessings and grace. Is it not a miracle that the new Master was able to change the lives of millions of men in different parts of the world? Like Hazur, He preached the eternal Truth. He tried to break all those barriers that stood in the way of reorganizing human beings into one single and compact spiritual society. It was one of the greatest achievements that the world has witnessed. A true devotee of the Master does not believe in barriers that divide mankind into warring communities; he forsakes bigotry; he loves everyone because he has been taught to see God’s Light everywhere. That is the greatest miracle the Master performs.


The Beloved Master Never Left Us

Robert Gildener

I am twenty-eight years old and have been an initiate of Great Master Kirpal Singh Ji since 1970. After our Beloved Master’s departure for His Home Eternal in August 1974, I, like all of Master’s children round the world, experienced deep pain and grief. Although I kept up my worldly duties and job, my heart was not in it. Life for me had become a hollow nothing.
On August 27, 1974, I started for lunch from my job at about noon. It was my custom to drive a car to a grocery store, buy some food there and then return to work. However, I do not remember going through this usual routine on this day. It seems on this day Master took me above my normal body consciousness while I acted out my usual luncheon routine. During my ride to the store, my car was struck by another car going about sixty miles per hour. In the impact of the collision, my head struck the dashboard of the car full force, resulting in a severe open cut on the head and a concussion. Now, although I have no conscious recollection of the accident and was not in control of my outer faculties, by Master’s grace I managed to get myself out of the car and lay myself on the nearby sidewalk. I am told that I told some ladies attending me, “God bless you, thank you.” I now wonder in amazement at the power of the Master which controls one’s outer personality in situations like these.
Later in the hospital I received twenty-four stitches on the head wound I suffered. One sister and two brothers came to the hospital. They told me that during the operation I seemed to be in quite an ecstatic state, singing bhajans, quoting Master’s sayings to the doctor, and alternately sadly asking if it was indeed true that our Beloved Master had left us. Again, during this period of time I was functioning in another state of consciousness which only Master would understand, for I have only vague recollections of saying anything or of the operation itself. My first strong memories and resumption of normal consciousness came, after the operation in a room at the hospital. There my smiling sister and brothers helped me “go jolly”.
Night fell and I found myself alone in the room. I did Simran and the Sound Current was clear to me. Master’s grace was all around. Yet somehow I kept thinking that if Master was gone, I too should die. Then as I gazed at the open doorway of my room a beautiful white Light began forming there. The Light sped up; and lo! in its center appeared the physical form of our Beloved Master, in His usual black topcoat and vest and white pajama pants. He smiled a most wondrous and mysterious smile. Yet I must confess I became restless with joy at His appearance and within five seconds He disappeared. I bowed my head in thanks, and was now truly happy and peaceful. I had seen with my own eyes that our Beloved Master had never left us. He was still with us in the Form we knew if He so chose, and His protecting hands still guarded us from the sting of our own sufferings.


In Remembrance of Our Master

James Forte

How can one speak of one’s Master? Tears are words enough. His total humility let the total Divinity shine through and pour down upon us, drenching us with love through every pore. If the longing to see Him was of supreme intensity, the agony at His departure from the physical world was still greater, and His inner grace and consolation since has made all before it seem as nothing. So intensely is He loving us that we are vibrated through and through. We, worthless as we are, have a supreme lover who does not go away. He would often say, “Words cannot describe that experience.” Only sobs of the heart transformed.
How to speak of Him? How can we who have nothing praiseworthy in us praise Him? But it is all a tale of love. He came for love, He gave love, He is loving.
He was always concerned with the real, the living, the alive, and was not at all concerned with monuments, and yet His total humility was monumental.
He told the tale of one disciple who was writing the life story of his Master, and after years of no written pages being produced, he explained that he was writing all the time. The true story of a Master is to live up to what He says. As initiates we are all meant to be the living story of our Master’s life, for His life was not a story or a tale of events. His life was living love—alive and vibrant, not just a description of it. Then we would be true disciples constantly demonstrating the story of our Master’s life, just as He was the constant living story of His Master’s life.
If ever beauty of Nature was a promise of something higher, He was that promise come walking among us. He loved us—He loves us. We were more lost than we could realize, and He came to save us. So immediate yet so infinite. It seems impossible that any picture frame could even get around any picture of Him. In His presence infinity shone out—and we were happy, we were joyful, overjoyed.
He said that when we are on the same earth-plane as our Master, that is beatitude. Then He said, “You are having that beatitude but I am not.” Even He, the Master Himself, could not have that beatitude on earth, for His Master had left the physical form. It would seem that by His leaving us on the physical plane we have suffered an irreparable loss. Indeed we have. Where can we go? Yet His sacrifice—and sacrifice it was— so purified us. Even His departure from the physical was a gift. The longing is greater and we are dragged in, for nothing else can satisfy us. We must see Him and be with Him.
His essence and life force was love itself. Every word He uttered was to bring us away from all other lives to the life of love; that is, life with Him, for life with Him is a life of love. Like the proverbial salt dolls, we are dissolving slowly into the ocean of Love as we follow His instructions and do our spiritual practices. We may sometimes think that we are more like some insoluble tar doll, but though we may not know it, the process is going on. To the degree that our attention resides in Him we are at peace.
Who was this man—none less than the very presence of God Himself. He is writing the true story of His life in the salvation of each one of us.


Overflowing Grace

B. R. Misra

I am very grateful to my Beloved Master Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj for accepting this soul at His Lotus Feet and initiating me into the mysteries of the Beyond. Since I came into the fold of the Master I have received immeasurable inner and outer guidance which cannot be put into words, as the Grace of the Master is beyond human description.
I was at Sawan Ashram for the April Bhandara in 1967. I had attended every Satsang for two days and listened to discourses given by the Master, religious heads and holy men. I knew I was blessed to be there, but I was just one among many thousands, at the back of this great gathering. I had an intense longing to come closer to the Master and have His darshan. I became miserable in body and soul because I was so far away from Him.
On the evening of April 2nd, knowing He would visit the langar to bless the food, I placed myself in His path. I stood there dejected and hopeless. After some time, the Master came out of His house; He walked through the crowd with folded hands, looking at the people on either side. He passed the very place where I was standing, but did not look at me; my courage all ebbed away. Suddenly, after He had gone a little distance beyond me, I cried out in desperation; “Maharaji! I am so sad and miserable.” The Master immediately turned back. He came to me and embraced me and looked into my eyes for a couple of seconds. He said, “Tell me what is the matter.” In those brief seconds He lifted me out of myself—I was lifted so high and experienced such bliss that I cannot describe it in words. It was not because the Master touched me or talked to me for a few seconds, it was because He filled my inner being with so much Divine Grace that it overflowed from my body and my soul. I became as happy as if a dying tree had burst forth into blossoms. The love of the Master overflowed my body and soul for a very long time afterwards. I am too small to know and to contain the Grace of the Master.


The Compassionate One

Prem Chand Gupta

It was His Compassion that drew us to Him,
It was His love that raised us to His arms.
Like refreshing spring rains He showered His grace on all.
“Mankind is all one” He said,
“No high no low.
We are all brothers and sisters in God.”
He backed these words with the Light of His Life.
He gave the demonstration thereof in the time of His Life.
Oh! those glorious days,
When we sat in His radiant circle,
His love-laden glances a soothing balm on our lacerated hearts,
Without Thee we are lost souls in a Land of Shadows.


The Mission of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj

Darshan Singh

How does one encompass with words the attributes of a personality so cosmic as Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj? A Light broke out in the East and spread to the West. A Fragrance sweetened our hearts and minds and penetrated to the inmost depths of our souls. A Master of the Tavern, with a heart as large as the ocean, poured out with abandon the Wine of Life, whose intoxication is eternal. A Beauty was born on whom Nature expended its grace and splendour, whose every glance was a transport of bliss, and whose every word was a song of spiritual awakening.
Ours is the age of materialism in which man has lost himself in the world of the senses. Having forgotten his true identity, his True Home, man wanders in a labyrinth of darkness. It is to get us out of this wilderness that Maharaj Ji came among us. He pointed out the Path of Light so that we may once again live in God. Those who were seekers, He blessed with the seed of Naam or Word and enabled them to develop further. At a time when the atom bomb and the hydrogen bomb seemed to destroy man’s humanity, He helped to revive it by the gospel of love.
The Mission of the Masters is to lead us from darkness to Light, from untruth to Truth and from death to Immortality. The Saints are above the dualities of this world: life and death, success and failure, mine and thine, good and evil. They are liberated Souls; and They are born, not in consequence of reactions from past lives, but to free us from the prison-house of this world by bestowing the gift of Naam. They are Love personified and it is on account of the lack of this Love that the soul, caught in the duality of good and evil, loses itself in the wheel of life and death. Given the seed of Love from the Master, the soul nurtures it as Guru-bhakti—devotion to the Master—and develops it until he himself becomes permeated with Love, unites with God and reaches his Eternal Home.
Ours is an age of science and it has furnished us with all kinds of opportunities. It has provided us with marvellous means of communication and transportation which have brought us nearer to each other, narrowing the world into a compact mansion of the Lord. Even language is becoming less of a barrier. But in spite of all this, if we look to his heart, man stands divided from man. Maharaj Ji, making full use of the facilities of modern technology, undertook three global tours and travelled the length and breadth of India. He endeavoured to bring us together, to remind us of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. In undertaking all this, His purpose was to sow the seed of Naam. We begin by loving our immediate kin, and as we develop, this love in due course becomes universal love and love of God. It is through such love that the Kingdom of God can be realised.
We need to bear in mind that in spreading this Mission and in sharing this supreme wisdom, Maharaj Ji used the simplest words to reach everyone, the learned and the unlearned alike. We have also to remember that the Masters are the embodiment of Truth. Our soul too is of the same essence, but entangled in the material world it has forgotten its divinity. And Maharaj Ji would charge those around Him with this Truth through His love-glances. This capacity for charging others with His glance is the prerogative of a true Master. That is not all: a Master, from thousands of miles away, using the principle behind telepathy, links His devotees to Truth and moves their hearts to righteousness. If needed, He can manifest Himself at several places simultaneously, here and on the inner planes, in order to carry on His work. The Master Saints alone are able to give us this inner link by means of Their attention.
Kabir has said that through His powerful attention He can launch us forth. In this connection one may recall an incident from Maharaj Ji’s life. During His first world tour, He was giving a Satsang discourse to an audience in Germany. An interpreter was translating what He said into German, but the translation seemed to be an interruption to the listeners. Some mem-bers of the audience requested that the translation be dropped for they could understand Maharaj Ji’s meaning much better by simply gazing into His eyes.
Para Vidya, the Knowledge of the Beyond, is the mother of all sciences, for it is from its roots that all other forms of knowledge originate, Maharaj Ji was Para Vidya personified; and in this age of science, He embodied the Source of all other sciences.
On the behest of His Master, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji, Sant Kirpal Singh Ji commenced His Mission in 1948. During the twenty-six years that followed, He worked ceaselessly around the clock, imparting spiritual understanding through countless discourses, through His books, through letters, through personal interviews with all who came to Him—educated or uneducated, men or women, young or old, rich or poor, believers or sceptics. He not only gave out the theory, what is more, He imparted to vast numbers a firsthand experience of the God-Power latent within. He established over eighty Satsang centres within India and two hundred and nineteen abroad.
Insanyat, or man-making, was Maharaj Ji’s religion. In His discourses He would focus on what constituted being a man in the fullest sense and on what was true Dharma. Dharma, or true living, He would explain, centred on linking oneself to that Power which is all-pervading, all-sustaining and all-controlling. The English word “religion,” He would go on to explain, pointed to the same principle—remeaning “back” and ligio “to bind,” that is, to bind us back to our Source. Thus Dharma is as old as man himself because the questions—Who am I? From where have I come? Where do I go?—have been with us from the outset. The true religion lies in the soul knowing its true identity and returning to its original home.
The founders of the great religions spoke from their own personal inner experience, and the different creeds were started to help preserve their message. Men of realization have all shared in the same experience, and teach that Seeing is believing. Men of realization, from time to time come to impart the True Knowledge, but later on those who follow them, in spite of their sincerity, move away from this universal core because of lack of firsthand spiritual experience. In the absence of inner knowledge, men begin interpreting the words of the Saints in terms of their own limited reasoning, and so Dharma or religion becomes increasingly a subject of intellectual wrangling, and no longer serves to unite men in the common quest for peace and salvation. This process of decay reaches its climax when those who have little awareness of spirituality become the official propagators and ministers of religion, reducing it in course of time to mere rites and conventions. With time, these rites and conventions grow increasingly rigid, and religion becomes the sphere of those given to blind orthodoxy.
Through the grace of His Satguru, Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji, Maharaj Ji was blessed with firsthand inner knowledge, that knowledge which is at the root of everything. He founded Ruhani Satsang and Sawan Ashram as a common ground for all religions. He taught only what He Himself had tested in His own inner laboratory, and He imparted to those who came to Him a direct contact with the reality within.
In the West when one gives a talk, one is usually paid for it. At many places those who came to hear Maharaj Ji during His world tours, wanted to recompense Him with money. He would answer that He gave His discourses not for Himself but in obedience to his own Guru, and that spirituality like all the gifts of God, such as air, water, and sunshine, was given free.
Maharaj Ji had the gift of stealing men’s hearts, and whomsoever He met He drew to Himself. Such was His humility, His love, that people were drawn towards Him, and through gentle persuasion He would rescue them from their rituals and narrow outlook and direct them towards a true conception of the purpose of life. Whoever came to Him as a seeker, He bestowed on him the priceless treasures of spirituality.
Speaking on the basis of inner experience—experience which He could grant to those who came to Him—Maharaj Ji emphasized that the human body itself was the true temple. “God does not reside in the temples made by human hands,” He would say, and, pointing to the body, would add, “He resides in this temple which He has made Himself.”
In our times everything seems to have reduced itself to politics. We have no lack of political persons even in religion, and they profess one thing in public and practise quite another in private. Such people have done great harm to the cause of religion and to the public at large because they tend to divert us from our inner goal and from our desire to know ourselves. Seeing this, even those who are religiously inclined become sceptics. As a result, the majority in our times, in the absence of a true understanding of religion, feel alienated from it. Consequently religion has been reduced to mere rituals, an expendable superfluity in our lives.
It was at such a dark time that Maharaj Ji came to spread His Light among us. He helped us to understand the basic principles of religion and emphasized that religious fraternity held the key to world peace. He therefore helped organize the first World Religions Conference in 1957 in Delhi. The second Conference followed in 1960 in Calcutta, and the third and fourth at Delhi in 1963 and 1970 respectively. These Conferences were attended by religious leaders of all denominations and representatives of various sects and faiths. He was the Founder President of the World Fellowship of Religions and presided on all the four Conferences. He helped to disseminate the spirit and the message of these Conferences during His three global tours. Maharaj Ji, at the Ardh Kumbhi in 1968 and the Kumbha Mela in 1974, helped bring together on a common platform the heads of various Hindu sects and orders. The result of all this was that representatives of various faiths who had once eyed each other with suspicion, learned to live in harmony with one another and to see that the real threat to any religion comes not from other religions but from the growing scepticism in the general public.
In the Christian world, those who have rendered meritorious service to the Faith and humanity are honoured with the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta. In 1962 Maharaj Ji became the first non-Christian to be thus honoured. At the time of the Kumbka Mela, Swami Ganesh-waranand, an authority on the Vedas, remarked that men like himself had only studied the Vedas and could only comment on them. Sant Kirpal Singh Ji on the other hand had lived them, and was a living embodiment of Vedic teachings. He had given their quintessence into a single phrase—Manur bhavah—Become a man—and made it available to humanity at large. On March 14th, 1972, Mr. V.V. Giri, the then President of India, while on a visit to Manav Kanav, remarked that Maharaj Ji was carrying on God’s work. On August 1st, 1974, Maharaj Ji was invited to address the members of the Indian Parliament and became the first Saint to be thus honoured by the supreme body of the land.
When writing Gurmat Sidhant, Maharaj Ji had envisaged man’s at-one-ment with God as a universal religion—a religion that in course of time would come to be accepted by all mankind. While continuing to live within their different social orders, men would be able to experience God, and honour the memory of all the sages, saints and mystics of all ages. This religion has been an ideal from the earliest times. It was in pursuance of this ideal that the World Religions Conferences were organized. But there was a limit to what such gatherings could accomplish, and in course of time He sought to tackle the problem at its very root. Man-making was a prerequisite for at-one-ment with God. As Maharaj Ji would put it, “Finding God is not difficult— what is difficult is learning to become a man in the true sense.”
With this subject in view, Maharaj Ji founded Manav Kendra at Dehra Dun in 1970. It was based on the three principles of Man Making, Man Service and Land Service which includes Animal Service. By developing these, one could realize more fully one’s human potential by seeing one’s relationship not only to other human beings but to all life. He laid great emphasis on education, and besides establishing a school, there was a hospital, a dairy and provision for farming. Man-making, He would say, involved perfecting oneself in every possible way. To be a man in the fullest sense one had to exercise great self-discipline. Man is a conscious spiritual entity, and it is the spirit which is sustaining the body, the mind and the intellect. If one can be spirit in the true sense one can function simultaneously on the spiritual planes and the physical plane, using the body at will as a mere instrument. According to Him, that form of education which taught us how to free the spirit from matter was the only true education. “Knowledge without action is insanity,” He said, and stressed that that knowledge which was purely theoretical was a hindrance, not a help. He wanted children to be taught the first principles of right understanding from their early years, for which purpose He set up the school at Manav Kendra. In establishing the hospital, He proposed that all systems of medicine be made use of for the relief of human suffering.
Keeping before Him the object of man-making, the first lesson He taught us was the lesson of Unity. The whole human race is God’s family, and in February 1974 on Maharaj Ji’s sponsorship, the first Unity of Man Conference was organized in Delhi. About five hundred delegates from eighteen foreign countries and some sixty thousand Indians took part and
experienced what it was to live together and work as one family of God in spite of differences of race and religion.
In this manner, Maharaj Ji endeavoured to help us raise ourselves at every level. He always told us we are spiritual entities and should be linked with the God-Power and become conscious co-workers of the Divine Plan. We have minds and bodies and should learn to stay healthy and cultivate clear thinking. We should learn to be useful to others, and this not merely to other members of the human community, but to birds and beasts alike, for all life is of God’s creation and we should live in harmony with it. Race, colour, creed, community—all these factors which seem to divide us from one another are, in fact, no barrier. They only bring out the infinite variety of God’s family, and as for different religions and social divisions, they were created to help man and not to be a stumbling block.
Maharaj Ji was the great scientist who made us sit the laboratory of the human body and experience the spiritual reality for ourselves. During His first world tour a distinguished American scientist met Maharaj Ji and had a discussion with Him. After the questions and answers were over, Maharaj Ji turned to him and asked, “In spite of all the scientific development, can you produce an ounce of consciousness?” The answer was in the negative. Science and philosophy have to do with mind and intellect, whereas the spirit goes beyond both intellect and mind. When we can learn to withdraw our spiritual currents and focus them at the centre between the two eyes, then from that point religion, in the true sense, begins. This point is the seat of the soul in the laboratory of the body. In developing spirituality as a science, Gurmat Sidhant is a unique gift which Maharaj Ji has left for mankind. This treatise comprising two volumes of about two thousand pages holds the quintessence of all the scriptures of the world and provides quotations and references from them to bring out their true mystic import.
In most prevalent schools of thought purity of mind is emphasized as the highest virtue. Such purity is ultimately a means, not the end. Ethical living is the prime religion. Maharaj Ji emphasized that we must overcome our limitations and shortcomings, and become the abode of all virtues. It is only after one becomes a man in the true sense, that one can become a Godman. He who loves the Creator, loves all His creatures and is a stranger to fear or hate. He would practise Ahimsa or non-violence in thought, in word and in deed. He would not engage in hypocrisy, fraud, falsehood and deceit, nor would he in any way seek to exploit others or deny them their due. In keeping with this attitude he would refrain from meat and drink. In all things he would seek to cultivate purity in thought, word and deed, and seek to serve God’s creatures in a spirit of humility.
To help seekers transform their lives by rooting out their failures and cultivating in their place the cardinal virtues of Ahimsa, chastity, love and humility, Maharaj Ji devised a daily diary. At the end of each day if we could look back and remind ourselves of our failures and shortcomings and maintain a systematic record, there was no reason why our lives could not begin to undergo transformation.
The headings He devised for the diary speak for themselves:

I. Failures

a. Truthfulness: falsehood, deceit, hypocrisy, fraud and illegal gain.
b. Non-violence: thought, word and deed.
c. Chastity: thought, word and deed.
d. Humility: vanity of knowledge, pride of wealth and intoxication of power.

II. Meditation

a. Meditation (Simran-Dhyan): how much time devoted.
b. Contacting the Holy Sound (Bhajan ): how much time devoted.

III. Selfless Service

a. Physically and intellectually.
b. Financially.

Maharaj Ji enjoined His disciples to maintain such a diary regularly and to send Him the same periodically. The diary also included a section on spiritual progress, and He would make
concrete suggestions to help each individual overcome his difficulties so as to progress further.
This spiritual diary is a unique method. It is a systematic instrument of introspection and is typical of the scientific and practical manner in which He reinterpreted the timeless teachings of the Masters for modern man. In fact, He used to say that such a diary could help anyone. Even a non-initiate if he experimented with it, would see his life taking a turn for the better as he plotted it out day by day.
Maharaj Ji was omniscient from the very first, and above the deceptions of duality. In Gurmat Sidhant He explained the various aspects of spirituality and illumined the nature of God. God is not only All-Knowing, but the Creator, Sustainer, and the Ultimate Refuge. He is eternal and it is through His Will that all the worlds were created and are being sustained.
The world is still ignorant of the true nature of a Godman. Maharaj Ji brought home to us that such Beings are indistinguishable from God, and it is God Himself Who works through Them. Their eyes are the eye of God, Their words the word of God. “The heavens may fall, but not the word of a Master.” Maharaj Ji would often cite a parable from Maulana Rumi to bring out the nature and Mission of a Godman. Once a mouse was scampering along, and a bird flying by asked him where he was off to in such a hurry. “I am going to Mecca,” replied the little creature. Hearing this and taking pity on him, the bird picked up the mouse and flew him to Mecca. The Masters ferry us across the ocean of this world to our ultimate goal. They are the bridge between the soul and the Lord. They look after us in the world without and the world within, and at the time of initiation take Their abode within the soul, protecting and guiding us at every step; for once we come to Their Feet They are with us evermore.
Maharaj Ji defined evil as, “Every thought, word or deed that keeps a man away from God is a veritable sin,” and good as, “That which brings us nearer to Him.” The Science of the Soul is a matter of self-knowledge which precedes God-Knowledge. To practise this science we have to withdraw ourselves from the world outside and concentrate our attention at the eye focus; to do this is to learn to die while still living. Once we master this technique, we overcome the fear of death, and Maharaj Ji has left with us this secret of dying while still alive.
The words of a Master have great power, and on reading or listening to them the veil of ignorance in a receptive heart is suddenly lifted. Maharaj Ji has written about a score of books and pamphlets on all aspects of spirituality which have been translated into various languages, and His teachings have had a far-reaching impact on seekers all over the world.* (* Details of His works are given at the end of the book.) They bear upon the most fundamental problems of life, and embrace the widest conceivable scope. Like Guru Nanak, Maharaj Kirpal Singh crystallized the message of the Masters and presented it to the people at large in a simple and lucid way. Such was the force and charging of His words that those who came to Him gave up meat and drink and accepted a whole new way of life. Even as a child He had told His family when pressed to partake of meat, “I do not want to make a graveyard of my stomach.” He could compress a whole world of meaning into a single phrase and through it change the lives of those who came in touch with Him. To take some examples:
Love, Light and Life. His teachings centred on these virtues, and He explained that love was an innate attribute of the soul and it could not find fulfillment except in God Who is the Ocean of Love. Without love we were no better than beasts, and the more we developed this quality the more our minds would be illuminated.
Be Good, Do Good, Be One. In these words He brought home the basis of an ethical life and the need for living in harmony with the world around us.
So long as you are in the body, give, give, give. This saying of Kabir’s was very dear to Maharaj Ji and summed up His philosophy of life. He would frequently say love knows service and sacrifice. If we could begin to live by this principle we could soon attain universal love and brotherhood in this world. We have tensions and conflicts only where we seek our own
advantage at the expense of others. If we only seek to give, there is no room for tension, only for peace and love.
People should rise above isms, and kings above kingdoms. During His last world tour Maharaj Ji was repeatedly confronted with the question, “How can we have peace in this world?” His answer was as penetrating as it was simple—there could be peace only if we as individuals rose above narrow loyalties, and those in authority rose above territorial loyalties. It was only when we looked to our own narrow good and not to the good of all that there was unrest and conflict.
Modern science has revealed how even the smallest atom in our material world is constituted of Light and Sound. When you break an atom it resolves itself into these two elements. This Light and Sound are at the heart of all that is, and in the human incarnation it is possible for the soul to traverse back through the inner planes to its Source with the help of the
and Sound Current. As it moves higher and higher, the Divine Light and Sound become subtler and more absorbing. The inner planes are progressively more enchanting than the world we know and the more we get absorbed in the beauties within, the more we are able to detach ourselves from the love of the material world. Progressing thus from plane to plane, with the power of Naam cleansing us further, we can arrive at our final destination, that is, Supreme Truth, Supreme Consciousness and Supreme Bliss.
Maharaj Ji taught us that the Path of Spirituality demands that we earn our livelihood by the sweat of our brow. He who seeks to be spiritually free can hardly hope to attain his goal when he depends for his very sustenance on others. In our times Maharaj Ji imparted to us a method, a technique which anyone could follow without having to give up hearth and home. He shared with us the highest form of mysticism and taught us to complete cheerfully the give and take of our karmas. Living our normal lives and accepting whatever Providence brought our way, if we pursued our daily meditation in obedience to our Master, we could eventually attain to the highest goal. By initiating thousands and by helping them develop spiritually while continuing to live their normal lives, Maharaj Ji demonstrated to the rest of the world that the Spiritual Path did not demand that we escape from life or that we opt out from our social or family responsibilities. In fact, He stressed that by developing spiritually we could function more efficiently in other spheres as well, for the spirit is the basis of everything and if we neglect it we deprive ourselves of much of our real potential. What was needed was the guidance of a Satguru and our willingness to reshape our lives in obedience to Him. “If you love me, keep my commandments,” He would say, and brought home to us how in every religious tradition there was the same insistence on surrendering oneself to the Will of the Divine Guide. Whether it was the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Jains, the Christians, or the Muslims, they all stressed the need for surrender, and the Sufis spoke of Fana-fil-Sheikh—merging into the Master.
In spite of phenomenal scientific progress in modern times, we are further away from happiness than we ever were. This is because material knowledge by itself is not enough. What is needed is the strength to put spirituality into practice. Maharaj Ji had this capacity in an absolute measure, and the secret of His power lay in the fact that He taught only what He Himself had experienced and practised.
How does one express in words the anguish at the physical passing from among us of such a One who was All-Wisdom, All-Grace, and All-Love! He was an image of Truth, and to have His glimpse was at once to engage in worship and devotion. He was the Perfect One who came to free us from the wheel of birth and death, and through His boundless grace bestowed upon us Life Eternal. He was all mercy and compassion, and His was the hand of God, His the eye of the Almighty. He was Love personified and our hearts are now smarting with the pain of separation. The more we can sit in His remembrance and develop one-pointed concentration, the more this anguish will be sharpened and will help carry us back towards Him. The pain of our separation from Him is not a pain that will go away in a day or a week or a year—it is a pain that will be with us forever. As we sit in loving remembrance of Maharaj Ji, tears well up and flow down in spite of ourselves, tears which wash away the attachments of many an incarnation, and cleanse and purify the soul. These tears have brought us to the condition of which Guru Amar Das spoke when he said, “When I forget Him even for a moment, it is like a burden of fifty years.”
Thus even in passing physically from among us Maharaj Ji is continuing the revolution He began in each of us. The Mission He undertook was nothing less than transfiguring us from within, and the anguish of physical separation from Him is as much an instrument in furthering it as the joy of His physical darshan had been in the past.
The conqueror leaves behind testimony of his greatness through the extent of his empire, the builder through the bridges and towers that he builds, the sculptor through the monuments executed in wood, bronze or marble. But a Master Saint works with the subtlest of all materials—the human soul—and the testament He leaves behind is the transformation He effects in those who come to His Feet. His Power is boundless, but we can know Him only to the extent He chooses to reveal Himself. This is His precious gift of Love. Let us pray to Maharaj Ji that He may purify us further and extend our inner receptivity so that we may realize His teachings to the full, and thus become torches that carry the Light of His Mission of Love to the darkest corner of the world.


Flowers of Ashes at Rishikesh

Susanne Horatschek

Just a glimpse could be had by mortals—
but blessed by vibrations
of clear, pure light, not to be imagined
is the devotee, seeing—

When sacred waters
carry along holy flowers of ashes, strewn into
a tenderly golden dust followed by thousands of eyes
withering up...blowing away...

When light gathers over the waves
and holy Masters quickly approach,
those left times ago... who knows their names—
who knows the number of all the bright figures...
now Kirpal returns home, received...

Oh mind, wise soul—
the Master Kirpal—giver of the Naam
takes His seat thousandfold in ready hearts
which are the dwelling-place of the Lord...
how should one describe it!

There is lack in words
and thoughts do not rise—how to put it?—
which soul can imagine the grace
witnessing the return of a perfect One;
Kirpal returns home!

Kirpal returns home
to the fountainhead of His Being
to the Masters who receive Him...
and at once His seat is within me—
this unworthy soul!

A feel of eternity—in sacred intoxication—
this soul receives the light
rising from the holy ashes...
and rises as well, to accompany Him
she loved—Him she loves...


Important Dates in the Life of Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj

1894 February 6th. Born at Sayyad Kasran, district Rawalpindi—now part of Pakistan.
1905 Read of Ramanuja and, like him, became determined to give out the Wealth of Spirituality if He received it.
1908 Joined the Inner circle of Dev Samaj in Peshawar. Met Baba Kahan there.
1910 Matriculated from Edwards Church Mission High School, Peshawar.
1912 January 4th. Joined Government service in the Military Accounts Department.
1917 Began seeing His future Master, Baba Sawan Singh Ji, in His meditations, but thought it was Guru Nanak.
1919 Formed a social service corps during influenza epidemic.
1921 September 14th. Son Darshan Singh was born at Kountrila, district Rawalpindi.
1924 February. Met Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, and received Naam initiation.
1929 Had an Inner vision of the death scene of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh.
1929 Birth of son, Jaswant Singh.
1935 Began writing Gurmat Sidhant.
1939 Initiated over two hundred persons at Dera, Beas, on the orders of, and in the presence of, His Master.
1944 September 5th. Death of His elder brother, S. Jodh Singh.
1946 July 22nd. Death of His eldest brother, S. Prom Singh.
1947 March. After thirty-six years of meritorious Government service, retired as Deputy Assistant Controller of Military Accounts.
October 11th. Went to Amritsar on an urgent call from His Master.
October 12th. Assigned the task of Naam initiation by His Master. Planned Ruhani Satsang—spirituality stripped of all outer encrustations and presented as a science.
1948 March. One day in the early morning hours, called by Hazur to sit in meditation so as to attend a meeting of the ascended Masters to decide about the future stay of Hazur on the earth plane.
March 28th. Last Satsang held by Sant Kirpal Singh in the Dera during the lifetime of Hazur.
April 1st. Last meeting with His Master at which Hazur transferred to Him His Spiritual Wealth through the eyes.
April 2nd. Hazur passed from the earth plane.
April 6th. Left Beas, and came to Delhi. Then went to Rishikesh; stayed there for five months devoting His time to meditation.
Gave His first initiation to Shri Gopal Das, at the behest of Hazur, in Rishikesh.
December 2nd. Started His Mission, and began giving regular Initiations at Delhi.
December 31st. He fell into the Dasna Canal, on the Delhi-Hapur Road, while looking for a suitable site for Sawan Ashram. In deep waters He saw in very bright red light Hazur and Baba Jaimal Singh, who rescued Him. In the Horoscope of His son Darshan, It had been written that his father would leave the earth plane in 1948. A new lease on life enabled Him to do the work entrusted to Him.
1950 Ruhani Satsang established.
1951 June. Sawan Ashram founded at Shakti Nagar, Delhi.
1955 May 31st. Went on His First World Tour.
1955 November 5th. Returned from World Tour.
1957 First Conference of World Religions. Elected President by unanimous vote.
1958 First tour to Pakistan.
1960 Second Conference of World Religions in Calcutta.
1962 First non-Christian to be honored with the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights of Malta.
1963 June 8th. Went on Second World Tour.
1964 January 30th. Returned from World Tour.
1965 Third Conference of World Religions.
1968 April. Ardh Kumbhi Mela (Hardwar).
1969 February 6th. Diamond Jubilee celebrated in Delhi.
1970 Fourth World Conference of Religions in Delhi.
Manav Kendra established at Dehra Dun.
April 3rd. His wife passed away.
1971 June 29th. Operated upon in the Mahajan Nursing Home, Delhi.
1972 March 14th. President V. V. Girl visited Manav Kendra.
August 26th. Left on the Third World Tour.
1973 January 3rd. Returned from His last World Tour.
February 6th. Eightieth Birthday celebrated.
February 7th. Abhinandan Patra presented by Raja Mohinder Partap at Vigyan Bhawan.
April 2nd. National integration Day celebrated at Manav Kendra, Dehra Dun.
April 13th. All India Freedom Fighters Convention at Vigyan Bhawan.
April 14th. His Excellency Akbar Ali Khan paid an official visit to Manav Kendra.
1974 January. Inauguration of second Manav Kendra, at Kandari, Baroda.
February 3rd to 6th. Sponsored and Presided over Unity of Man Conference in Delhi.
April. Kumbha Mela, Hardwar.
July 26th and 27th. Rashtraya Sant Samagam, Delhi.
July 29th. He gave His last initiation sitting in which over 1,000 souls received the gift of Holy Naam.
August 1st. Addressed the Indian Parliament.
August 15th, Indian Independence Day. Last Satsang Talk in Hindi,
Sawan Ashram. Delhi, on the importance of human independence.
August 17th. Gave last English Darshan Talk at Sawan Ashram.
August 21st. Entered Mahasamadhi.







Publications by Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj,


Books

Vol. I 1935 Gurmat Sidhant is a compendium of all aspects of spirituality.
Vol. II 1936 Originally written in Punjabi, it was published under the name of Baba Sawan Singh Ji at Beas.
1959 Jap Ji: The Message of Guru Nanak. This is an English translation of Guru Nanak’s beautiful work with a comprehensive commentary by the Master.
1959 Prayer: Its Nature and Technique. To whom should we pray, and for what should we pray, and what is the true prayer? All these questions are answered by the Master.
1959 Spirituality: What it is. This is a lucid and comprehensive analysis of spirituality which is so simply explained that it reaches the hearts of all true seekers.
1960 Naam or Word. In this book the Master takes quotations from all world religions which refer to the Sound Principle or Audible Life Stream: this is the Manifestation of God vibrating through all creation in the form of Light and Sound, contact with which, as given by the Godman, leads the soul back to God. This is the basic teaching of Sant Mat and indeed of all world religions although it has often been overlaid or lost. "In the beginning was the Word.”
1960 A Great Saint: Baba Jaimal Singh. The Master describes the life and teachings of the “Soldier Saint,” the Great Master Who initiated Baba Sawan Singh Ji.
1961 The Crown of Life. In this all-embracing study the Master explains and compares all the forms of yoga which man has developed from time to time in order to help him reach his spiritual goal, and it emphasizes the special relevance of the Surat Shabd Yoga—the Path of the Masters—to our times.
1965 The Wheel of Life. The law of karma—cause and effect—is Inexorable and only a Satguru can take us off the wheel of recurring life and death. Both good and bad actions keep us in bondage from life to life. It is only by being linked with Naam by the Godman that we can escape.
1967 Godman deals with God-in-man or man-in-God. Who is a Master? What Is the nature of this Being Whom we see at the outer level as our teacher, but Who on the inner planes is revealed as God Himself? He sustains and protects His initiates at every turn and is there to take them into His lap at the time of death.
1967 Spiritual Elixir. This is a collection of selected excerpts from the Master’s letters to His disciples in which He answers questions on spirituality. Included also are some of His messages sent out from time to time.
1968 Mystery of Death. The Great Masters of spirituality tell us what they actually see and know of the higher planes to which they daily ascend. This unique work on the nature of death and life in the Beyond could only have come from a Supreme Soul Who had Himself conquered death during His lifetime. He teaches us how we may, with His Grace, ultimately merge In God.
1970 Morning Talks. In these recorded talks, the Master spoke informally to a group of disciples on many aspects of spirituality and daily living, explaining that “ethical life is a stepping-stone to spirituality.”
1975 The Night Is a Jungle is a collection of fourteen discourses given by the Master which are a continuous source of inspiration to His disciples and an invaluable introduction to the Path for new seekers.
Vol. I 1975 Heart-to-Heart Talks Is a compilation of a series of question and answer sessions
Vol. II 1976 between the Master and His Western disciples held in Delhi and Rajpur. In these informal and intimate talks which date from 1970, many aspects of the Path are covered, difficulties solved and guidance given.

Pamphlets

1949 A Brief Life Sketch of Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj describes the main events in the life of the Master’s own Guru, and illuminates His teachings.
1954 Man Know Thyself is a summary of the basic teachings of the Masters of Sant Mat. It describes how, by following the Path, the seeker comes to know his true Self and to know God. It has been translated into many languages.
1954 Simran: The Sweet Remembrance of God. Simran is the technique by which the five charged Names given at initiation, may be repeated by the tongue of thought, thereby stilling the mind and holding the attention at the seat of the soul.
1962 Seven Paths to Perfection. This is a pamphlet which emphasizes the virtues to be practiced for spiritual advancement. They are: non-violence, truthfulness, chastity, humility, selfless service, a vegetarian diet and abstinence from alcohol and drugs.
1963 God Power, Christ Power, Master Power explains how the Power of God manifests through different human poles at different times and under different names, but in essence is always the same.
1969 Manav Kendra. This is about the Master’s great project for Man-making, Man Service and Land Service. It has been put into practice at Dehra Dun where the Master established a free school, a free hospital, an old people’s home and a farm.
There are two other Manav Kendras, one at Baroda and another in the State of Maine In U.S.A.
1970 Ruhani Satsang: Science of Spirituality. Spirituality is a science which is exact in theory and practice. This pamphlet describes the purpose of Ruhani Satsang.
1972 How to Develop Receptivity. This is a collection of three circular letters the Master wrote to His foreign disciples. He explains how the Grace of the Master can be had not only at His Feet but also from thousands of miles away, if receptivity is developed and the commandments of the Master adhered to. The Master emphasizes the importance of keeping the spiritual diaries for
self-introspection so that faults may be recognized and weeded out.

Magazines

1956 Commenced publication of Hindi and Urdu Sat Sandesh.
1968 Commenced monthly publication of English Sat Sandesh.



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