Glimpses from the Master’s Life

by Bhadra Sena

Kirpal’s early life was full of miracles. While studying in the fourth class, He once went to His teacher in the classroom and asked for permission to go home because,

My maternal grandmother is dying.

The teacher was unconvinced and expressed surprise :

It is strange that sitting here You can see Your grandmother dying at home. You had better keep to Your lessons.

Soon a messenger came from Kirpal’s house to call Him to see His dying grandmother.

*****

When Kirpal was about twelve, He read a book on Ramanuja, an Indian saint. One incident in the book struck Him most. Immediately after His initiation, Ramanuja got on to a platform and collected some people around him.

Whatever knowledge I have received from my Master, I am going to divulge it to you!

He was warned that such an act would mean disregard of the Master’s instructions and would take him to hell.

I don’t mind going to hell if you all can be saved,

Ramanuja remarked.

After reading this story, Kirpal would often think that if ever He got the wealth of Spirituality, He too would distribute freely His Spiritual Treasures. Hazur (Baba Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj) found Kirpal Singh to be a spend-thrift in this respect and showered His bounties in abundance.

*****

As a boy, Kirpal was very studious. Even when He was in His ninth class, He had gone through all the books available in the school library. He invariably stood first in His class. One day the boy who used to stand second in the class did not prepare his lesson in advance as expected by the teacher, who naturally felt annoyed. The boy complained that it was his first fault, while Kirpal Singh had seldom cared to follow his instructions. The teacher told him that Kirpal knew much more than what was given in the books.

Kirpal’s vast study placed him far above His classmates. Once in an examination His teacher gave Him 54 marks out of 55 in history and gave 37 to the next best. The latter protested that he had answered all the questions accurately and reproduced verbatim whatever was given in the text.

How is it that I get only 37 marks, whereas Kirpal gets 54?

The teacher smiled and said:

It is true that you have given everything, but Kirpal has written much more. He has given the views of all the great historians as well. I wanted to give Him cent per cent marks, but could not do so in a subject like history.

*****

Kirpal was a very obedient child. But on two occasions He gently yet resolutely asserted Himself. He was in the habit of helping everyone He knew, regardless of their relations with His family.

Once His father called Him and said:

Pal (His nick-name), our friends will be Your friends and our foes will be Your foes.

But Pal, with cool deliberation, said:

Father, your friends will, of course, be my friends, but it is not necessary that your foes be my foes as your enmities may be due to some misunderstanding. Life is too short and I have not come to have enmities and hatreds. I have come to love all.

On another occasion, when in the Military Engineering Service, somebody offered Him illegal gratification to get some favour from Him.

Instead of quietly accepting the offer, He said:

Why this money, when I am paid for the job.

– It is customary, Sir,

was the reply.

He refused to receive the money and threw it away in the presence of all. When His father came to know of the incident, he tried to explain the impropriety of his act, but Kirpal would not listen to any such advice. He told His father that He would offer all His salary to Him, but he should not expect his son to stoop to any unfair means. During all His service, He remained true to His principles and never compromised with them.

*****

Kirpal Singh told His mother of her approaching death six months ahead and requested her to engage herself in the sweet remembrance of the Lord. His prophetic words came true and she actually passed away as He had predicted. Seventeen days before her death, He wrote her to get ready for the last journey. On getting the news of her illness, He requested His elder brother at Naushera, to proceed immediately to the home town so as to be of some service to her as He Himself would not be able to go. It so happened that His mother actually passed away within a couple of days of his brother’s arrival.

Similarly, He foretold His brother about the death of his sister-in-law. The brother was surprised at this as everything was normal at home. But strange as it may seem his sister-in-law suddenly developed some serious trouble and passed away.

*****

In 1912, Kirpal Singh happened to visit in His neighbourhood a young woman who was on her death-bed.

She suddenly declared:

All right, I am going.

And in a few moments she breathed her last. This incident touched him to the quick and he started ruminating:

What! a few minutes before she was talking like any of us. There must be some Power which is still in us but has gone out of her. What could that Power be?

On reaching the cremation ground, He saw the dead body of an old man on the pyre next to the one of the young lady. In an instant, it flashed on Him that death made no distinction between the young and the old. It was all a karmic play and the body had to be vacated one day. While still immersed in these grave thoughts, His eyes fell on an epitaph which read:

Beware ye that move. We too were like you once, enjoying life to the full. But, alas, now we are a handful of dust beneath this stone.

These three scenes coming one after the other in quick succession made a profound impression upon the young man. He started night-long vigils thinking over the enigmas of life – the Living Active Principle. How I worked? Whence It came? And how It departed? To find a solution to these problems, He turned to the scriptures and went to sages and saints. This put Him on a long trail in search of the solution of the problem of life and death, which He eventually did solve at the feet of the Great Master, Hazur Sawan Singh Ji Maharaj.

*****

Through purity of mind and sincere devotion, Kirpal Singh developed powers of transvision even when He was in His early twenties. He could also read other people’s minds. This knowledge interfered with His normal work and made life burdensome. He then prayed to God for two gifts: First, this Divine Gift should be kept in reserve so that He may pass His earthly life as an average man. Secondly, if anyone benefited through Him, He Himself should have no knowledge of it.

Kirpal Singh employed His leisure to serve others. He attended to patients in hospitals, helping them financially and serving them in every possible way. In 1919, after the first world war, an epidemic of influenza swept through the country. It took a heavy toll of life. People were so afraid of catching infection that they left even their kith and kin unattended. Disregarding any danger to Himself, Kirpal Singh organised a Social Service Corps to help the sufferers. Again, when bubonic plague broke out in Punjab He raised a band of selfless volunteers and fearlessly plunged into the service of the sick.

*****

Kirpal Singh was yet in His twenties and eked out a bare living when His ailing uncle came to stay with Him in Lahore. He put His uncle in the hospital. One day, while helping His uncle with a cup of milk, He saw an emaciated old man on a nearby bed. Kirpal Singh went to him and asked him if he needed any help. This brought tears of gratitude in the old man’s eyes. From that day onward, Kirpal Singh began to look after both the patients, buying them fruits and whatever else they wanted. Because of this extra expense He had to content Himself for some time with parched gram and plain water.

His uncle was surprised and said:

You are doing all You can for me because I am Your uncle. But how does this old man receive the same treatment from You as I do?

Kirpal Singh humbly replied:

The old man has as much right on me as you, Sir. In fact, the entire creation has the same right on me. I am for the creation and the creation for me. We are one and not two. I am for all and not for any individual.

Kirpal Singh was working as an Accounts Officer with the Sikh Regiment at Dera Ismail Khan (now in Pakistan) long before coming to His Master. A fierce-looking man – a personal bodyguard of the Commanding Officer – forcibly used to take away the meat cooked for the soldiers and none dared question him. Strangely enough, this man was very regular in cleaning Kirpal Singh’s apartment in His absence. One day Kirpal Singh happened to come back home early. He was surprised to find this man cleaning the house and asked him why he was taking so much trouble for Him.

With folded hands, the man replied:

Sir, whenever I see You, all my sins come before me and I begin to tremble from head to foot. I have committed innumerable crimes in my life and put many innocent persons to death. Is there any hope for a man like me?

Kirpal Singh consoled him by saying that Divine Benevolence is for even the worst of men, provided they sincerely repent for their past and are prepared to turn over a new leaf. The man was moved by the advice. He gave up his old ways and became a God-fearing man.

*****

Once, after He had been initiated, Kirpal Singh went to His village to see His ailing cousin, Ram Labhai. While He was still on His way, Ram Labhai told her parents that Bhapa Ji – as Kirpal Singh was called by youngsters at home – had come to visit her along with a venerable old man. She said Bhapa Ji had just gone out after introducing the old man.

Her father was surprised and asked her where her Bhapa Ji was?

Look, He is going there with the old man and was with me just now,

she said.

From that moment she started getting better. When Kirpal Singh arrived next evening, she asked Him:

You came here last night. Why did You leave me so soon?

Kirpal Singh replied:

It was not I but my Master Who visited you. Will you be able to recognise the stately old man if you were to see Him.

– Certainly,

she replied.

Two months later when Hazur was in Rawalpindi, Kirpal Singh came with Ram Labhai to see His Master. They saw Hazur from a distance. Pointing towards Hazur, Kirpal Singh asked the girl if she could recognise the old man.

She promptly replied:

This is the old man Who came along with You the other night.

It was a winter night. Hazur Sawan Singh Ji was resting in His bed. Kirpal Singh and Dr Julian Johnson, an American disciple, were with Him.

Dr Julian asked:

Should a disciple ask for any favours from his Master or not?’

– A sikh (disciple) always seeks one thing or the other from his Master.

Hazur replied and added,

When we come in this world as saviours we bring our own staff with us. When we accomplish our task at one place, we are asked to go to another place.

When Dera – Beas colony – was being built, Kirpal Singh also used to engage Himself in voluntary labour like so many others. Some people advised Him not to do physical labour as He had other important assignments to attend to.

Kirpal Singh told them:

I have a physical body and should serve physically. I have intellect and should serve intellectually. Since I am an embodied soul, I should also serve spiritually. To me all work is worship and a labour of Love, as I see the same Lord in all as in me.

Whenever learned visitors started an intellectual discussion with Hazur He would usually direct them to Kirpal Singh, saying:

If you want to understand Spirituality in a few words, come to me, but if you want to discuss and debate then go to him.

About Him, Hazur used to say:

Kirpal Singh has a peculiar knack of expounding the abstruse subject of Spirituality from various angles, before summing it up to present a complete picture. He will first explain how to disassemble the various parts of a gun and then again to assemble them into one piece.

*****

Under instructions and inspiration from Hazur, Kirpal Singh wrote in Punjabi a voluminous study on Science Spiritual, discussing the subject in all its aspects. Known as Gurumat Sidhant – in two books –, the treatise is a masterly exposition, in a lucid style, of the Path of the Masters.

When this monumental work was published, Hazur raising to His forehead, remarked:

Kirpal Singh, now there is hardly any need to send preachers to hold Satsangs. The book has all the merits of a scriptural text and its reading will have the effect of a Satsang.

Hazur was greatly touched when the chapter of bireh – pangs of separation – was read out to Him. He wanted the chapter to be re-read several times. Every time He heard it, tears glistened in His eyes. In a flash, it dawned on the author that He too one day would have to suffer the agony of parting from His beloved Master.

During His last physical illness, one night Hazur said:

A strong Sun has arisen. Can the people of Jullundur see It?

All those near Him thought Hazur was in a state of delirium. Dr Schmidt of Switzerland, a disciple and physician, who was attending upon Him, felt it was a case of uraemia.

When Kirpal Singh came, Hazur put the same question. Kirpal Singh replied:

Sir, not only the people of Jullundur but even the inhabitants of America and other far off places could see that Sun at this time of night, if Your Holiness were to open their Inner Vision.

Happy to hear this apt reply, Hazur said:

Kirpal Singh, you have given a correct answer.

*****

After Hazur had left for His heavenly home, Sant Kirpal Singh, His Spiritual Successor, retreated to the Himalayas to spend the rest of His days in solitary meditation.

Here His routine was to sit for meditation for 18 hours a day. He would generally sit on a rock in the mid-stream of the Ganges. One day news came that a flood was imminent. The water level was rising rapidly and soon crossed the danger-mark. His companions were naturally perturbed and in their anxiety to arouse Him from His meditation threw pebbles at Him from the river bank. Feeling helpless, they prayed to Hazur to come to their rescue. By this time, the water was touching His feet.

At last He opened His eyes and said:

Hae Data. – Oh, Benevolent One.

To their amazement, they saw the Master walk on the water towards them as if He was walking on land.

*****

During His lecture-tour in the USA, some scientists expressed a doubt in the potential efficacy of Sant Mat – the Path of the Masters.

The Master explained:

You have succeeded in generating energy and harnessing it in so many ways in the service of mankind. You are planning space-flights in order to discover the mysteries of the planets other than the earth. But you ought to know that behind all force and energy there is a Power known as consciousness that directs everything and keeps nature moving in its multifarious forms. Can you produce an ounce of this consciousness – the Life-Impulse vibrating in the universe?

Continuing He said:

The latest discovery of science is what we call atomic energy or energy generated by atomic-fission. What have you found on splitting an atom? Movement or motion in the electrons and neutrons and that motion, you will admit, is rhythmic and regular and not haphazard. The various constituents of an atom, as they move, produce a musical vibration and shine forth in lustre. This musical Light is the Power of God behind everything. Man has not sufficient knowledge of it, or else, he would not have unwittingly worked for his own destruction. This flaming Sound then is All-Consciousness, working in each one of us and can be contacted by the Grace of some really Competent Master Who, having revealed It within Himself, may be able to reveal It to others. Shabd or celestial music, which is supporting the entire universe, is in us and can be experienced through the Grace of a Perfect Living Master.