Chapter 2 [Pita-Poot — Father and Son]
“Someone, please take me to my Beloved Lord?
And in return, I will sell myself and become mortgaged to Him.”
— Aadi Granth (Suhi M.4, p.757)
Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji often said in his Satsangs that if someone develops a longing to solve the mystery of life and to know “who am I?” then, nature automatically responds and provides him the solution. Once this question comes to mind, then the solution is not far away. He often said, “Almighty God does not live far away in the skies, but resides within us. He is the very life of our life. When He sees that His own child is seeking him, He paves his way to meet him.”
In the same context, He would say, “We do not create an overriding ideal (ultimate goal) before us in our life, for which we would be prepared to sacrifice our all, which we hold ahead of everything else. There is never a ruling passion within us, a great longing, which is why we are unable to achieve that goal. We pass our lives in a state of wishful thinking and inconsistency, seeking to do this, that and the other. The consequence is that nothing ever materializes.”
The Ideals
Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji declared that there were three ideals before him:
(1) Humanity (Man–Making)
Call it the making of man or the development of humanity, the first ideal was to make man a complete human. One should oneself become a complete man, and then make others as well.
Man is gifted with a body, a mind, and a soul (life, spirit or consciousness). The soul is man’s true Self, residing within this bodily mansion, providing power to both body and mind. Hence, man has to progress in all of the three aspects, the three perspectives. The development of the body involves aspects such as leading a life of honesty, purity, humility and virtuous living and so on. The body of a man is like that of a horse — we have to utilize this body for the task of the development of humankind.
But what task is that?
“Let His Lotus Feet abide within your heart,
and with your tongue, chant the Name of the Lord.
O Nanak, meditate on God in remembrance,
and nurture this body of yours.”
— Aadi Granth (Bihagade ki War M.4, p. 554)
There are three reasons for which this body should be utilized: to use the intellect to know (understand) the Truth, imbibing (acquire the knowledge of) the Scriptures, and prayer and contemplation (to develop yearning, love and ultimately a ruling passion for God).
After completing matriculation, Maharaj Ji wanted to go in for higher education, but the family circumstances were not conducive and his desire remained unfulfilled. Even so, being sharp minded and possessing great interest in learning, He made spectacular progress in the task of acquiring knowledge.
The beauty of the body is on account of the soul. The body is the house and the soul its occupant. Self-knowledge — the knowledge of one’s soul and God-realization is the spiritual aspect. The soul is an essence of that God Almighty. God Almighty is the Great Consciousness, the very Ocean of Consciousness. The soul is a drop of that great Ocean. It is also conscious. But it has forgotten itself at the level of mind-sensory organs due to the distractions of the world, with which it has become so much identified, become engrossed with, that it has lost awareness of its being the soul, and not the body; the occupant, not the residence. It was due to his past karmic accumulation of divine virtues that Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji had before him the goal and purpose from the very beginning that the soul becomes free from its bondage of body-mind, break through its shackles, and get to realize itself and recognize its own very essential source, Almighty God, and then go on to guide others in its pursuit.
(2) Man–Service
The second ideal before him was service of mankind. Hence, in order to be able to serve the poor and the needy, He called in the syllabi of several medical colleges, so that He could study the material and be able to provide free medical aid to the poor. However, without sufficient means, He could not pursue studies in a medical college. Despite this, He studied the homeopathic medicine system on his own, with which He helped numerous patients.
(3) Land–Service
In this connection, the ideal before Him was:
“To grow a blade of grass is better than a patriot’s work.”
In this country, to develop such a perspective, is the need of the hour. He acquired the syllabus from the Agricultural College Lyallpur, but since the circumstances were not suitable, He could not go there as well. The core essence of his Teachings and the result of all the books that He read was contained in these three ideals.
God First and Everything Else Next
Citing an example from his life, Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji said, “When I passed out of the 10th class, I put a question to myself as to the most important task in life, to which I need to attend. What was to be the chief aim of my life? A definite aim and goal ought to be provided, so that every step taken shall be in that very direction. I spent six to seven days in ascertaining the answer to this question, after thoroughly examining and considering the various facets of life, at the end of which, I finally decided that for me, finding God is the foremost task, the world could come later ― God first and the world next.”
It is evident from the discourses of the Master as to how, with his subtle vision and farsightedness, He examined each and every aspect of this question and pondered over them. He said, “All knowledge and science stands on the foundation of a hypothesis. When this imagined hypothesis proves false and baseless, the entire mansion crumbles like a wall of sand. The entire worldly knowledge is limited to the domain of physical elements i.e. earth, water, air and fire. What if all the natural powers are brought are under one’s control when all the worldly possessions and our body shall remain here only?”
“What profits a man if he gains possessions of
the whole world and loses his own soul?”
— Holy Bible (Mark 8:36)
What does it matter if man is able to possess all the worldly material wealth, but loses his own self, gathers all the knowledge, but does not know his own self? With this penetrating vision, Kirpal Singh Ji considered all the aspects of this question and evaluated them, before explaining them to the people. Whenever He spoke on this topic, all the veils covering the hearts and minds of the listeners were lifted, and their doubts were removed. The world and its various achievements, scientific knowledge, arts and other disciplines appeared petty and meaningless before Spirituality. Outer knowledge is entirely hollow, while self-knowledge is the essence of knowledge, the very knowledge of all knowledge.
“What is the basis of all learning?
What is essence of all knowledge?
To know who you are.
If you have acquired all the learning of the world,
but have not known about your own self,
then surely you are a fool, a total imbecile.”
All the scriptures, upon which all the religions and sects of the world stand, where do they come from? They have all emanated from the enlightened hearts of the perfected men. They contain the personal experiences of the great souls, which they had while having acquiring the knowledge of self-knowledge and God-realization. That real Truth cannot be described and is beyond any words. The religious scriptures provide mere indications of the Reality (God).
Then, why should we not go in search within the two pages of the book of the human body, from which all the knowledge and sciences, all inventions, all religious scriptures have emanated? Presenting authoritative testimony of citations from the various religious scriptures of the world and through verification of his personal experiences, the manner in which Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji presented Spirituality makes it amply clear that He had the full realization of His Mission, the task ahead in his life and had programed it accordingly. Even so, He considered all the various aspects of this question in the manner of a normal human being and evaluated them and found its solution, and then put it across to the seekers from a human perspective.
Behold Us, O! The Departing
What ought to be the aim of life? After deciding upon this vital question, there appeared an incident which turned the spark of Spirituality, which was smoldering in the heart of Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji into a raging fire, in which all other thoughts were reduced to ashes.
Maharaj Ji described this incident, saying, “I happened to watch a young woman on her death bed. She was sitting and speaking normally, when all of sudden she said, ‘Okay, I am going!’ And within minutes, her body grew cold and she was no more. I was looking at the person who was fully alive a while ago, walking and talking like us. Something had gone out of her, which was still present within us. What was it? Although I had access to permanent bliss within me, its continuity broke at times. I could also soar on my own into the inner regions, but was unable to solve the complete mystery. And that mystery could be solved only when I reached the lotus feet of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj.”
Maharaj Ji, along with the others, accompanied the bier to the cremation ground. Nearby, there also lay the dead body of an old man upon the pyre. After seeing this, the thought came to his mind that death does not differentiate between the young and the old. When the cycle of karma is completed, one has to leave the body, whether young or old — death has no favorites. While returning, He saw the stone inscription of the sepulcher (Samadhi or tomb) of Munshi Gulab Singh along the way, which read:
“O Traveler, once we too were like you —
walking and talking upon earth
but today, we lie, as dust below the feet.”
Three incidents in a single day! Maharaj Ji says, “Upon reading this stone inscription, my heart was even more wounded. I lost my sleep from that very day (as it is, Maharaj Ji had very little sleep since seventh standard). After this, my entire life became a search. What is that thing which keeps the human body alive, makes it work, and when it leaves, the body ends up as a handful of dust?”
This burning desire and search took him through many twists and turns. After this incident, He studied the religious Scriptures, whatever books of each religion He could lay his hands upon, and made an in-depth study. He also read translations of Vedas, Shastras and Upanishads. He read the commentaries of Pandit Guru Dutt, and in order to comprehend the imports and nuances of the literature of Sufi Saints in their root language, He prepared for Munshi Fazil — the highest course in the Farsi (Persian) language. The aim was to acquire adequate mastery of the Farsi language in order to properly comprehend the writings of Maulana Rumi, Shams Tabrezi, Khwaja Hafiz and other God-realized souls. He also studied the Bible and the literature of other Christian seers. Whenever He got to know of some realized soul or saint, He visited him and did all He could in order to know the Truth. When a person has single-minded desire, He leaves no stone unturned in order to accomplish it. In Maharaj Ji’s case, it was even more so, as it was the longing of the soul!
All the Saints pass through the anguish and ardent desire to meet the Lord and he traveled through all those stages which Kabir Sahib’s verse indicates as:
“None has obtained the husband-Lord in mirth;
those who have obtained him have done so by shedding tears.
Should the husband be obtained through laugh and play,
why would anyone at all be mournful?”
— Kabir Sakhi Sangreh (Bireh ka Ang 19, p.37)
In the context of the pangs of separation from God, Maharaj Ji once said, “Who would have wept more than I did? Quite often, while working in office my eyes would fill up with tears and the papers would become damp with them.” In his Satsang discourses He has expounded the various facets of separation and agony, and has thrown light upon this subject in a very scientific manner. He would say that separation is such a flame, in which both the inner and outer worlds are consumed, and only the sweet remembrance of the Beloved remains.
“The heart in which separation has not been aroused
is like a cremation ground or graveyard.”
— Aadi Granth (Salok Sekh Farid, p.1379)
The heart in which the fire of separation has been sparked off, take it that the days of meeting the Divine Beloved have dawned. Just as the appearance of the buds is the indicator of the flowering of the fruit, similarly, the heart that feels the pangs of longing for the Divine, is a precursor of the meeting with the Lord.
Meeting with Saints and Mystics
After making a study of all the religious scriptures with an unbiased outlook, Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji was indeed convinced about the necessity of a living Master, but feared falling into the hands of an incompetent master, who himself had not realized God, and had not reached the ultimate destination. During his search for a spiritual teacher He met many a saint and mystic, fakirs and Mahatmas (Great Beings). Once an acquaintance informed him about the arrival of a great mystic who claimed that he had reached the True Home. Upon hearing this, He went to the mystic who said, “On this path, one is required to sacrifice his head. Only then the Inner Eye can be opened.” He thought that the one who on his own asks for the head (total surrender), what is he capable of giving? He did his obeisance to the mystic and left the place. Maharaj Ji often used to say, while referring to Hazur, “Those who were to take this sacrifice, they took away the head on their own.”
There was a meeting with another mystic. When Maharaj Ji took up the discussion about inner experiences, the so-called mystic felt trapped and said, “You are not entitled to it.” Maharaj Ji then left the place saying, “Okay Maharaj, I will return when I become entitled.” He then went to yet another mystic, who used to practice yogic exercises and in order to mitigate the dryness due to the heat generated out of his practices, he used to drink milk laced with ground coriander and almonds several times a day and also placed butter upon his head. Maharaj Ji told him, “I desire a practice in the manner of that of Guru Arjan Dev Ji, which He practiced at the Pipli gurudwara, surviving on mere dry bread.”
Meeting with a Muslim Wizard
In 1912, Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji met a Muslim wizard named Abdul Wahab, who could rise three to four feet into the air and would then remain suspended there for hours. He used to live alone far away in a hut and did not allow anyone to come near him, but he greatly loved Maharaj Ji, who could visit him without hindrance anytime in his hut, even if late in the night. Indeed why not, since only a saintly person can recognize another! Maharaj Ji met several faqirs, some of whom had inner spiritual experience, but never felt satisfied until He had met Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj.
Father’s Blessings
When his father, Sardar Hukum Singh Ji, fell ill in old age, He served his father with such dedication, a parallel to which is difficult to find. His father had an acute diarrhea problem due to which his clothes were soiled repeatedly. Thereupon, Kirpal Singh Ji would tie a towel around his waist and wash his father’s dirty clothes several times a day. During the illness, his father also lost his memory, and his mental state became not unlike that of a little child. He was required to be re-taught the names of each and every small item such as a spoon, glass and bowl, etc. Kirpal Singh Ji explained the process of remembrance of the Lord (Simran) to his father, with the result that his mental condition became normal and his memory also recovered in due time.
At last, when his father’s health was much improved, being immensely pleased with the devoted service of his son, he said, “Kirpal! I am most pleased with you. If there are great bounties in the blessings of the parents, then you shall get whatever it is that you ask for.” Kirpal Singh Ji replied, “Respected father, you are aware that worldly goods such as money, name and fame or progeny is not what I desire. I only wish to realize God, nothing else do I desire for myself.” On hearing this, his father, who was taking a stroll in the house with a stick in his hand, stood still all of a sudden. He appeared to be deep in thought for a while, as indicated by the folds on his forehead. After a brief silence he announced, “I have not seen God. But if at all God exists, whether anyone finds Him or not, you certainly shall.” Kirpal Singh Ji always considered his meeting the perfect Master to be the result his father’s blessings. After his father’s good wishes, Kirpal Singh Ji began to have darshan of the Radiant Form of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj in his meditations from that very night on.
Radiant Form of the Master Within
Before receiving the blessings of his father, Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji had prayed, “O Lord Almighty! I am aware that for realizing You, it is necessary to have Initiation from a perfect Master (Satguru), but fear that I would run into some incompetent master, who may not have realized you, thus laying to waste my entire life.” It was perhaps the consequence of his father’s blessings that his prayer was accepted, and He began to have the vision of the perfect Master within. In this context, the Kirpal Singh Ji said, “He who is standing on the peak of the mountain can see where the fire is burning, where the smoke is coming out from. He saw my inner condition and knew that I fervently wished to meet God, that there is true longing in his heart to meet me. Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj showered his compassion on my condition and began to grace me by appearing within, and thereafter, showered the same grace without as well, whose value none can assess.”
This incident relates to the year 1917. Seven years later, in 1924, Kirpal Singh Ji had the good fortune to go to the feet of Satguru Dayal Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj. Having the vision of the Satguru within, He presumed that the Radiant Form was that of Guru Nanak Sahib. That was why He wrote several poems in English and Punjabi, wherein He mentioned about having the vision of Guru Nanak Sahib within and also described the Radiant Form in words, as far as was possible. This Radiant Form remained with him constantly for seven years, as pathfinder, guiding and assisting him all the time. The Radiant Form journeyed with him into the higher divine planes, and with its grace, He continued to have rich spiritual experiences.
Meeting with Hazur Maharaj at Dera Beas
In 1924, exactly seven years after this incident, Kirpal Singh Ji had the first meeting with Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj. He would often relate the story of this meeting. He would say, “I was fond of rivers from the beginning. I have always enjoyed walking alongside the river bank, to sit silently in contemplation along the shore of the flowing river. When I heard that the River Beas flowed near Lahore, I went to visit it. Upon reaching Beas Railway Station, I enquired from a person, ‘Where is the River Beas?’ He replied, ‘Have you come to seek blessings of the Saint?’ I asked, ‘Does a Saint reside here?’ to which the reply came, ‘Yes, there is a residence of a realized great soul.’ I said, ‘That is wonderful! It will be doubly beneficial — I shall be able to make a journey to the river and also have the glimpse of a great Saint.”
When Kirpal Singh Ji reached there, Satguru Dayal was having lunch in his room. When Hazur came out, Kirpal Singh Ji recognized that He was the very same Great Being, who had been giving him Darshan and guiding him in the Spiritual regions within for the last seven years! Kirpal Singh Ji asked, “Hazur, why has it taken so much time for you to bring me to your feet?” Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji replied, “This alone was the appropriate time for the meeting.”
Kirpal Singh Ji had made an agreement with his elder brother, Sardar Jodh Singh, that should Kirpal Singh Ji come across a competent master, He would inform his brother. Likewise, should Sardar Jodh Singh come across one, He would inform his younger brother. Accordingly, Kirpal Singh Ji sent this telegram to his elder brother:
“I have seen a personality walking in all humility
of a Guru Nanak, but wait till you hear from me next.”
After a few days, Kirpal Singh Ji again sent a message to his brother saying: “Have found the True Guru (Sat Guru). Come and join in.”
Story of the Master and His True Disciple
The story of ”the Father and the Son,” of the Guru and the Gurmukh — the disciple who became one with the Master, starts from here on, which passing through different stages, reaches a stage where the duality between Father and son, Master and disciple, vanishes completely. The disciple calls out, in the words of Saint Paul:
“It is I not now I, it is Christ that lives in me.”
— Holy Bible (Galatians 2:20)
This is law of the love, the age-old tradition of the lane of love.
“The lane of love is narrow indeed!
For twain cannot be contained therein.”
— Kabir Saakhi Sangrah (Prem ka Ang 10, p.44)
From here onwards, the two have to journey as one. The disciple surrenders his identity completely and becomes one with the Master. In the terminology of the Sufis, he becomes “Fana-fil-Sheikh”, merges in the Master. One who merges in the Master then merges with God and becomes “Fana-fil-Allah”. In the words of Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji, “Guru (Master) is Godman i.e. God and man, both. One who becomes a ‘Guru-mukh’ (who becomes the image of the Guru), one who has merged in the Guru, the Godman, becomes a Guruman. God, Godman and Guruman are all names of the same Absolute Power.”
The saints and mystics who have come till date, in their teachings and sermons, through their discourses and writings, and more so, through the example of their own life and conduct, have clarified the various circumstances, stages and regions related to this story of Divine Love. The scriptures and texts have repeated the very same story, only to the extent it could have been expressed through words. The texts contain only description, a mere mention, but no glimpse of the reality. Life alone can identify life, present its own living example. Texts describe a physical power, but what power is, can only be realized only once we see a wrestler. Similarly, the glimpse of love can only be had from the eyes of the Beloved. The natural “Law of Demand and Supply” was, is and shall ever remain in force. That Power of God always appears in human form in order to connect sincere seekers to the God Power. That Power — call it Master Power, Christ Power, if you like, never dies. Even though the bodies containing it alter, the power remains the same. Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj used to say, “If one bulb fuses, another takes its place; if a second bulb fuses, a third one takes its place — but the light remains the same. We are all lovers of that Divine Light.”
What Does Writing of a Biography Mean?
What is the biography of a great soul? It is the history of the stream of Truth that presents itself in the human form and connects the souls with itself. Whenever such a history has been written, it has been penned with the pen of life. The Great Beings (Mahatmas) have always, in their lives, provided a glimpse, a replica, a model of the same.
In this context, Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji quite often used to quote the example of Pandit Guru Datt, who had been assigned the task of writing the biography of Swami Dayanand. A year, and then two passed. Upon enquiring about the biography, he would always give the reply that I am writing with great effort. The others asked to see at least what had already been written. What was the kind of biography being written that did not seem to come to a conclusion? He replied, “I am writing the biography of Swami Dayanand in such a manner that the ideal of life, which he presented during his own lifetime, is reflected in my own life that was molded upon it, so that the people could get an inkling about who Swami Dayanand was.” On the eve of the birth centenary celebration of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, in his message before the entire Sangat worldwide, Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji said:
“In real sense of the term, to write the biography of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj is to live the ideals of life, which He presented before us and to adopt the same in our own lives. Pray so that I may succeed in writing the biography of the great Master during my stay upon this earth. And I request all my brothers and sisters to adopt and practice those high ideals in their lives. The Master (Satguru) is all-knowing and aware about each and every soul. He sees to everything, and showers his grace upon those who follow his will (commandments) and live according to it.”
What is the writing of an autobiography?
As to what extent this ideal has been realized, the proof of this lies in the shower of grace and mercy showered by Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, which during Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji’s time has continued with greater extent than ever before. The entire mankind has benefitted from this stream of benevolence. Humility is the adornment of the saints, which is evident from each and every word of this message. To be able to live up to the ideal of writing a biography, which Maharaj Kirpal Singh Ji accomplished during his lifetime, was presented by him before every initiate. He often said,
“No father wants that his child should accomplish less than him.
A king a wants his child to be the king too, not the prime-minister.”
— Kirpal Singh
As has been mentioned earlier, this is a story of the Father and the Son. Hence, it is appropriate that a separate chapter is provided to describe the life and the divine personality of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, without which this story will not reach its climax, that is to say, will not reach the point of convergence, where it takes the form of:
“The twain (the Lord and I) became one in form.”
— Dasam Granth (Bachitar Natak, p.55)
And,
“The Father and the Son are dyed in a single color.”
— Aadi Granth (Bhairav M.5, p.1141)