A Life of Spirituality

However, Hazur did not immediately leave his work, but came to live in the Dera on his retirement in 1911, when he then gave all his time to the spiritual work. Everyone is aware of the change that took place in the Dera during his residence there, where from merely one or two houses a small town shaped up through the years. A huge T-shaped Satsang hall was erected, with dimensions of 120 feet long in both directions - each forty feet in width. Whoever wanted the Truth came to him and gained the priceless boon, no matter to what religion they belonged. All were endowed with the riches of Spirituality.
 
One might ask what lessons one can learn from the life of Baba Sawan Singh Ji. Without hesitation, the following observations can be upheld as food for study and an example to mankind:
 
Chastity. In Shri Hazur Maharaj's life we find the highest virtue of brahmcharya or chastity. He was married at the age of about eleven or twelve, but according to custom, after the ceremony the girl returned to her parents' home without even seeing her husband. The final ceremony is normally performed after eight or ten years when the girl has matured, so after nine years had passed the arrangements were made, but unfortunately the girl died twenty days before the appointed date. Hazur was twenty years old at this time, and the second marriage was arranged when he was twenty-five, so this means twenty-five years of chaste life. Then during his thirty years of marriage he lived with his wife for only a sum total of six months. His wife's name was Krishna Vanti Ji and they had two sons - Bachint Singh and Harbans Singh. Hazur used to say, "By my own wish I was living a chaste life many years before Babaji left this world."
 
A keen student of literature, Hazur read enthusiastically his whole life through, and studied carefully whatever sacred books he could get. In his huge library of holy books selected from many sources, more than a thousand had annotations in his own hand throughout the pages. There are certain books which are not normally available to the public but Baba Sawan Singh Ji had many of these copied for his own library.
 
Never idle. Hazur was always occupied with something - with either Satsang, meditation or reading holy books. His activeness started early in the morning and continued until late in the night.
 
Now a few words about the criterion of a true Master, although truly speaking only a Mahatma can recognize a Mahatma. However, there are indications for the keen observer. A Mahatma's outer form has a certain attraction for the heart. They are not like cobblers who are concerned only with the leather or skin, but their attention is always on the soul. They are the Lord's messengers - Hazur used to say, "We are not here to make religions; so everyone should stay in whatever religion he already belongs to. The connection between you and me is through the soul. Get the connection with the Holy Naam."
 
Mahatmas always live on their own earnings and not on donations. Kabir Sahib, Guru Nanak Sahib, Maulana Rumi Sahib and others all earned their own sustenance. "Earn and give with your own hands to others. O Nanak, only he who lives thus would know the True Path." They depend only upon God. Hazur also had this criterion for he lived within his pension and performed free service unto others. His love and kindness extended to all souls, and with joyful enthusiasm he would spend up to eighteen hours per day in selfless service. Throughout his life, which was ninety years in length, Hazur cared little for rest and when he started his spiritual mission he devoted his whole time to awakening the souls. He taught the true seekers to live in the world and simultaneously progress in their meditation.
 
Mahatmas never encourage the people to be attached to outer worship, but explain that the true temple of God lies within man. Emerson also said, "Tap inside," meaning that one should search for God within. Bulleh Shah says, "When you seek the inner path, only then can the secret of the Godman be realized." Rise above the mind and the senses, and whilst living learn the secret of death. Learn this mystery, separate the awakenedness from the physical form, and reach to where your Satguru is waiting with mercy and love in both hands. Whosoever has realized God has done so in the temple of the human form, and whosoever desires to realize God will have to do the same. This is the third criterion for judging a true Master, and Hazur Maharaj always taught the method of inversion.
 
He repeatedly informed the seekers that salvation can only be achieved through the Holy Word, or Naam, and that Naam was the highest form of devotion of all the sadhnas (devotional practices). Hindus call it Nad, Udgit and Shruti. Muslims call it Naqmai-i-Asmani, Kalam-i-Illahi, or Kalma. Christians call it the Word. The Lord manifested Himself into Creation through the form of the Shabd or Word, so if the soul gets a connection with the Holy Word, then it can reach back to God. "When you get the Shabd, you have got a contact with God. Through that service, everything is achieved." "Contact with Naam is the true devotion. There is no true worship without the Holy Naam. The whole world is in a delusion." The Saints never interfere with outer forms and rituals, but give excellent advice for achieving the best results. Hazur would tell his followers, "The Word is within you - just be devoted to that and nothing else." Those who search for God outwardly remain empty within. "He who forgets himself through the nine outlets (of the senses), will never find the priceless treasure lying within him."
 
I have briefly placed before you four criteria for judging a true Master, and all these could be seen in Hazur. There are also outer indications: a Mahatma's eye is deep as a lion's, the forehead is broad, his way of walking is graceful like a dove's. Hazur had all these features. Masters also have a sign of the lotus on their foot. It has been written that Lord Krishna and Guru Amardas both had this sign, and so did Hazur. Hafiz Sahib said, "If my Master takes possession of my heart, then I will give (in exchange) my faith, my world, my home here and hereafter, just to see the gray mole on his face." Hazur Maharaj had a beautiful gray mole on his face.
 
The lives of these great personalities cannot be fully understood by the common man. They are not simply man alone, but manifested God in man, and only those who have the rare secret opened up to them can know what this means. Most other people think of them as atheists. On this very subject, Khusro Sahib onceremarked, "People say that Khusro is the worshiper of a human being, and I say, `Yes, I do it' and do not care for the world and its opinions." True seekers will sacrifice their mind and body for the privilege of the company of a true Mahatma.
 
Many seemingly miraculous things can happen around a true Master. I saw many amazing incidents through being connected with Hazur Maharaj Ji, from which I will tell of two. 
 
In the Holy Bible it is written that Jesus Christ gave sight to the blind. In the early thirties in Rawalpindi a lady lost her eyesight, and after consultation with the best specialist it was found that the optical nerves had shriveled, and there was no hope of recovering the sight. She could see nothing, though outwardly there seemed to be no difference. Inwardly however, she was constantly enjoying the darshan of Baba Sawan Singh Ji, and was therefore not at all dismayed:
 
Two days of blindness passed, and on the third day I was sitting with her and her husband when she said, "The Master and another man are discussing something. The gentleman is beseeching Hazur, saying `Hazur, have mercy - please give her sight back.' Now Hazur is saying, `Alright, alright.' "The lady's husband, sitting with closed eyes, suddenly saw a brilliant light, and at exactly that time, the lady, who was lying on the bed, got up and ran across the room saying, "I can see - I can see." In an apparently magical way, her eyesight had been restored.* (* See With a Great Master in India by Dr. Julian Johnson (Beas: 1953 ), p. 26, for another version of this story. The lady of course, as Dr. Johnson points out, was Bibi Hardevi [Tai Ji] (the wife of Raja Ram); and Bibi Hardevi has since confirmed that the "gentleman" who interceded for her was Kirpal Singh himself.--RP)
 
There is also an account in the Bible of Jesus feeding five thousand people with a little bread in a basket, each one being fully fed and satisfied. Hazur used to visit his home town from time to time, usually accompanied by hundreds of followers, and there was always a free kitchen arrangement for them. 

On one visit there was a large group of Akali Sikhs camped nearby for some special celebration. These Akalis were against Baba Sawan Singh's teachings, so they planned to bring disgrace upon him by going to his free kitchen after the meal had finished and the kitchen closed. Nearly three hundred of them sat down outside the kitchen door and demanded that food be served to them immediately. Someone told me what had happened and I hurried to the kitchen to find that there was just half a basket of bread. I called the cook and told him to light the fires and make more bread, but the three hundred people outside started shouting for food. Just then, Hazur entered the kitchen and said, "Kirpal Singh, why are you not giving them food?" I replied, "Hazur, there is only half a basketful of bread, how can I feed three hundred people with that? We have to make more." Baba Sawan Singh smiled and said, "Fear not, but cover the basket with a cloth and go on serving thebread." I did as Hazur had instructed, and the three hundred men ate and ate until they could eat no more, and when the meal was finished there was still the same amount of bread left as there had been at the start.
 
It is very often considered that miracles are just stories inventedout of the imagination, but in fact, very few people know what a miracle truly is. The word itself literally means "things which astonish." Coleridge says that the fact that Christ performed miracles was verification that he was carrying out his Father's orders. Locke says that miracles are like a letter of promise from God, which Saints and Avatars bring with them to this world. The common man does not know how such happenings are performed, and calls them "miracles" which actually shows his ignorance of the real facts. In the Patanjali Sutra of MaharishiPatanjali, in the third stanza, verses 5-51, it is written that creating worldly things like curing the sick, making barren women fertile, producing precious gems, etc., are called riddhis and siddhis and performing these things beset the way of perfection; it is no proof of perfection. For he who goes into samadhi (the state of leaving the body at will) such things are like plucked flowers scattered before and behind him on his path - a true pilgrim in search of God will never stoop to pick them up.
 
So-called miracles are merely a child's play which can be done by focusing the mind to a single point. All perfect Masters are in control of these powers, but do not work through them. In Peshawar, some years ago, a hypnotist came to the Edward Mission College and to show what he could do he hypnotized a boy and then asked anyone to question the boy in any language they chose. The boy answered all questions accurately, even replying to the questions of a professor of Latin. When Madam Blavatsky visited Lahore, she was having a discussion with a number of people when a certain professor exclaimed, "Madame, all that you are saying is a rigmarole and as impossible as flowers falling from the ceiling." Madame Blavatsky replied, "Professor, do you think that is really impossible?" At once, a shower of blossoms fell from the ceiling and covered the table. Madame Blavatsky turned to the professor and said, "These things are according to the laws of nature, but we are not acquainted with them."
 
Maulana Rumi was a teacher, and he first met his Master Shamas Tabrez when he was giving a lesson to a number of children. Hazrat Shamas Tabrez approached and asked, "What is this?" Maulana Rumi replied, "This is that knowledge of which you know nothing." Shamas Tabrez kept quiet, but when the boys left for the break period he took all the books and slates and threw them into a nearby pond. When Maulana Rumi returned with the boysthey demanded to know where their books were. Shamas Tabrez took them to the pond, and one by one took out the books - but astonishingly, they were all dry! Maulana Rumi, his eyes wide open with surprise, said, "What is this?" Shamas Tabrez replied, "This is that knowledge of which you know nothing." As is well known, Maulana Rumi later became the disciple of Shamas Tabrez and eventually succeeded him in Mastership. What I want to impress about this subject is that miraculous happenings are merely the fruit of concentrated attention, and that true Masters do not give them any importance because they have gone far past this stage. Hafiz Sahib says, "Do not mention miracles to me, because I have crossed that stage, and I am where such things are not necessary."
 
Perfect Masters never work through these lower powers, and they forbid true seekers from doing so because they are an obstruction on the path to God. However, through meditation the student will automatically acquire them, but they are forbidden to be used. Even though the Masters use them at times for certain purposes, they will tell you that the greatest "miracle" is when they raise the soul above the mind and the senses, thereby severing the knot which binds it to the wheel of births and deaths. The progress which the Mahatmas used to achieve in thousands of years, by the grace of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj, is today achieved in months. Great Masters have the most miraculous power of making the Holy Naam manifest in others - what more miracle than this is to be desired? (4)
 
Hazur revived the teachings of the holy Saints and brought them into the limelight. Like his predecessors - Guru Nanak, Kabir Sahib, Tulsi Sahib, Paltu Sahib, Swami Shivdayal Singh Ji, Maulana Rumi, Shamas Tabrez and others, he pulled up the aspirants from their deep slumber and put them on the path of Surat Shabd Yoga or Sultan-ul-Azkar which is the most ancient and eternal path leading to Reality and which being natural is unchangeable from times immemorial and will ever remain as such without any modification whatever.

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