The July Celebrations

This account of the great Bhandra held in the memory of the Master's Master, Baba Sawan Singh Ji, from July 26-28, 1970, was prepared by the sat Sandesh staff at sawan Ashram.


THE 27th of July arrived rainless in Delhi, but it was humidly hot in sawan Ashram where the birth anniversary of Baba Sawan Singh Ji, the Master's Master, was being celebrated –attended approximately thirty thousand people from all parts of India.

Perhaps the chief difference this year was the bustling arrival of the television experts from all India Radio and television, who busily pushed their way through the thronging crowds. They must have been thankful for the absence of the rain; as surely were the devotees who have often over the years sat faith fully and cheerfully for the five or six hour satsang session in the pouring monsoon rain, facing the prospect of more sopping wet cloths to don afterward from out of their sodden luggage. However, those very damp occasion held their own special kind of quietly excited devotion.

Had it rain this year, very few of the satsang would have huddle in the wet for lacking of coverage; for, due to the recent hard –pressing efforts of bibi Hardevi Ji, the ashram now has a number of newly constructed rooms and halls which will do much to solve the problem of accommodating the many thousands who attend the three principal yearly functions at ruhani satsang.

The short television film –shown to the viewing public on India TV screens on Thursday, July 29 –included a talk by the Master at Satsang, and close-up interview impression from the visiting speakers of different religions, who voiced their feelings of respect for both the Master and Baba Sawan Singh Ji. 

A number of religious speakers took part in each part in each satsang –one on the evening of the 26th, and again on the morning and evening of the 27th. As is soul at large programs, the Master spoke last and briefly. During the various meditations sittings, many among the sangats mixture of initiated and noninitiated saw the radiant forms of the Master, Baba Sawan Singh, kabir sahib, Guru nanak and other Saints. On Wednesday, July 28, four hundred and fifty-four people were initiated into the holy science of spirituality, marking the conclusion of the celebrations held in sweet memory of a great Master who walked the earth giving Light and life to tormented, build humanity.

The Master's children arrived at his feet via diverse channels. Some are encouraged by friends; some “accidentally” wandered into a Satsang being held in their own town; a lucky few are even guided personally from within by the Master's radiant or spiritual form. Among the fortunate brethren who received the priceless boon of the holy Naam on the 28th were two dear souls, husband and wife, from the southern part of India. The following day found them sitting joyfully at the Master's feet. They explained to him that for many years they had held devotional puja (a Hindu ritual), attended by the public, to worship the God in his various forms, and to show particular respect to Lord Shiva. The Master smiled, and commented that he too had worshipped Lord Shiva as a small child, with his parents. “Now we know,” they explained, “that without a doubt, only you will give us salvation.” The Master asked them why they were so sure of that, and the husband replied, “because, during our devotions Lord Shiva himself came and gave us your name and address, and that’s how we came here; so we know you are our true Guru. But what do we do now? Do we continue with puja or not?” the Master gently asked them if it was good for a wife to have one husband or many. “Oh, of course, only one,” they both replied. “Then is it not clearly better to have one Lord, and a single-pointed attention in worshipping him? We should, however, be thankful to the persons, for whatever we have learned from them.” Gratefully, the acknowledged the simple truth in the Master's commonsense explanation. It was yet another demonstration of the Master's often repeated maxim that truth is one, but man makes it varied and complex on account of the want of right understanding.

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