Sant Kirpal Singh

Sant Kirpal Sing was born on February 6. On matriculating from school, he engaged in a week-long debate with himself. At the end he decided, “God first and the world afterwards.” This became the governing principle of his life and from then on, he embarked on a ceaseless quest, which finally led him to Baba Sawan Singh, the great Saint of Beas.

During most of his professional life he worked with the Department of Military Accounts. He rose by sheer dint of merit and hard work to the position of Deputy Assistant Controller of Military Accounts.

When he retired in 1947, he proceeded to Beas to be with Baba Sawan Singh. His spiritual teacher, now in his 90th year, repeatedly suffered ill health, and there were many opportunities for personal service. Shortly thereafter, on April 2, 1948, Baba Sawan Singh left the earthly plane. He had already told Sant Kirpal Singh that it would be his responsibility to carry on the spiritual work.

Sant Kirpal Singh spent the next few months in Rishikesh in spiritual retreat and spent long hours in meditation. In December 1948 he moved to Delhi and began giving regular discourses. The year 1951 saw the construction and dedication of Sawan Ashram, which was to serve as the headquarters for Sant Kirpal Singh’s work.

He also travelled widely, visiting remote villages and towns in many states across northern and central India. In 1955, when Sant Kirpal Singh went on his first world tour, he visited Cairo, Geneva, Berlin, Bonn, London, and several cities in North America. He conducted open meditation sittings and even invited skeptics to attend them. “Seeing is believing,” he was fond of saying. Many scoffed at the notion of seeing Light and hearing Sound within, but stayed on to ask for initiation, and did have the inner experience.

Along with Muni Sushil Kumar, he called the First Conference of World Religions in 1957 at Delhi. When representatives of various faiths heard each other, they came to realize that the central ethical and spiritual teachings of one religion were not contrary to those of another. The conference led to the birth of the World Fellowship of Religions with Sant Kirpal Singh as its founder and president. He was to preside over three other World Religions Conferences held in 1960, 1965 and 1970, respectively. His contribution to promoting dialogue and understanding between leaders of various faiths cannot be overstated.

In 1963 and in 1972 Sant Kirpal Singh was to proceed on his second and third world tours. During the 1963 tour, besides intellectuals and religious heads, he met several world leaders. In Rome he had a meeting with Pop Paul VI. He had a long discussion with the Vatican Group and the Bishop in charge of the Church’s relationship with non-Christian religions.

The final phase of Sant Kirpal Singh’s life was taken up with the founding and construction of Manav Kendra or Humanity Centre in 1969 in the foothills of the Himalayas. He stressed that it was not enough to have simple goodwill between people of different faiths; we needed centres to generate a new vision of love and harmony between people as human beings and also between human beings and nature. At the new centre, Sant Kirpal Singh set up a school for children, a home for the old, and a hospital offering medical services in allopathy, homoeopathy, unani and ayurveda.

In addition to two million people from India, about six hundred delegates arrived from all parts of the globe. It was Sant Kirpal Singh’s last year with seekers and devotees on earth and he poured out his love with new intensity. “I am in the evening of my life,” he said, and urged them to make the best use of the time available through meditation. He was often in severe ill health, but he always bade those who would listen to “go jolly.” The visitors, discourses, interviews, initiations and unfailing letters from within India and abroad continued unabated.