The True Integration of Mankind

– Manav Kendra and its relation to the mission of Kirpal Singh –

This article was prepared by the Editor, using various sources; including especially the small booklet ‘Manav Kendra: What it is,’ to the author of which grateful acknowledgement is made.

The Master designated 2^nd April 1971, the anniversary of Hazur Baba Sawan Singh’s final departure from the world, as True Integration of Mankind Day, thus directing attention to the meaning of Hazur’s life in this world, rather than the simple fact that it ended. Two Satsangs were held at this Bhandara, which for the first time took place at Manav Kendra, the Master’s undertaking in the Himalayan foothills. The guest speakers at the morning Satsang included Mr B.N. Parshad, the District Magistrate for Dehra Dun; and the afternoon Satsang was honoured by the presence of Kaka Sahib Kalelkar, the patron of Manav Kendra and a close friend and co-worker of the late Mahatma Gandhi.

Those who have been watching the Master’s activities over the years know that the true, real and complete integration of mankind is not only the central theme of His teaching, but is also the underlying explanation of all His outer activities. His writings and talks make clear that the terrible suffering of man, both collectively and individually, is due to his separation from his essential self and his source, which are one; and this involves the worship of his own ego and the consequent separation from the rest of life. In other words, we will learn to love our neighbour as ourself; but that we can see only when we go beyond our ego with all its fears and opinions, and see infinitely deeper than is presently possible. Those who are initiated know that the essence of the Master’s teaching is the showing of a beautifully practical way to accomplish just this: to give to those people who have had some glimpse of the problem and its solution the tools whereby they can make that solution a reality in their own life.

As the Kali Yuga moves inexorably onward, the age gets darker and darker; but at the same time, thanks to the Grace and Mercy of God, the way out is more accessible to more people than ever before. In order to bring into reality the tremendous work of putting True Seekers on the real Path back to their own True Self, and in accordance with the instructions of Baba Sawan Singh Ji, the Master founded, shortly after Hazur’s death in 1948, the Ruhani Satsang, the title – literally Spiritual Gathering – of which makes clear that it is not an organised religion at all, but a simple gathering together of all those who, regardless of race, religion, nationality, social status, or individual opinions on non-spiritual matters, are tired of the tyranny of their likes and dislikes, fears and wants, and with all their hearts desire to fulfil that for which they were born, become True Men and sit in the lap of God.

Three years later in 1951, the Master founded Sawan Ashram which, as everyone who has been there knows, functions as an intense focal point of Spiritual Power and as a genuine, fully effective esoteric school in which everything that happens, from the obviously deliberate to the seemingly accidental, from the clearly profound to the apparently trivial, is consciously calculated to bring about the maximum possible growth on the part of those who are there. The electric atmosphere and overflowing reservoir of Love at this Sacred Place cannot be described in words; and the Master has, in His infinite Mercy, allowed those western disciples who were in a position to profit by it to come from time to time and sit at His feet and thus accelerate their own growth.

In 1957, the infant World Fellowship of Religions, which had been founded by the Jain Holy Man, Muni Sushil Kumar Ji, invited the Master to be its first President; and in the years since He has devoted a great deal of His time and attention to this organisation, which enabled Him to attempt the huge task of bringing the major religions of the world more in line with the ideals and example of their founders, particularly with regard to the practice of Love and self-control and in laying emphasis on the essential part of their teachings – i.e., entering the Kingdom of God within – rather than on this or that peripheral aspect. Naturally, if this could be accomplished, and if the world religious leaders could fulfil their True Vocation in the spirit and power of their predecessors, the organised religions would be able to direct their attention and resources to solving the basic problems facing humanity: encouraging all children of God to understand the True Inner Meaning of their religion, alleviating suffering, and preventing war, rather than trying to preserve their own status and in fighting wars – may be with guns or with words – with one another.

To a certain extent, this effort was successful, especially in India, where perhaps more mutual cooperation and good will between religions was achieved than ever before. Certainly, anyone who attended any of the four World Religions Conferences sponsored by the World Fellowship of Religions and witnessed Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Parsee and Jain leaders marching together ‘all mixed up’ – as Master put it – and sitting together on the same platform, addressing huge and enthusiastic audiences made up of embodied souls from all religions and races, could not fail to be aware that a truly significant breakthrough was taking place.

But it was not enough.

Not until a significant number of people at large understand and see with their own eyes the fruits of what Master calls True Living will any significant change occur in the present direction of the world. And it is precisely to demonstrate to anybody with eyes to see what is possible when True Living is practised on a large scale, and to show the True Integration of mankind in action, that the Master has undertaken the establishment of Manav Kendra – the Centre for Man –, where man-making, man service and land service will be carried on a much larger scale than is possible at Sawan Ashram, and the world at large will see for itself what happens when people forget their fears and differences and live together as brothers and sisters in God, truly and completely integrated – with themselves and with each other.

The idea of Manav Kendra was discussed with the public for the first time at the last Kumbha Mela – religious festival on a gigantic scale, held every seven years in India – at Hardwar in 1968, where the camp of Ruhani Satsang and the quiet competence and power of the Master attracted the attention of a very large number of people, including many yogis, sanyasins, etc., who came up to hear the Master talk of the natural yoga and how it could be practised by householder or renunciate, Hindu or Muslim, if one had the active help and guidance of Someone Who had fully integrated Himself and attained the Ultimate Reality. The care and discipline with which the huge gatherings were served in the camp and outside and at common community meals impressed everyone. It was here that the idea first took shape of the possibility of developing, at first on a miniature scale, an ideal Spiritual Community or Centre, in which people would be united in Spiritual Oneness while remaining in their own distinctive social and religious folds.

Shortly thereafter came the National Integration Exhibition in the Ramlila Grounds in New Delhi in February 1969. This event coincided with the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations organised to honour the Master on the completion of seventy-five years of physical existence. Long before the actual celebrations, there began pouring in proposals, demands and appeals from all over to give a concrete shape to the decisions made at the Kumbha Mela in the previous year. In response, steps were taken to prepare skeleton plans, with the result, that a model of Vishva Mandir – a hall of Universal Worship was set up on the Exhibition grounds. The panels of this model were inscribed with extracts from the scriptures of all major religions, and with pictures of their founders. The model was in the shape of a nonagon, with nine outlets symbolic of the human body and a tenth through a steeple at the top. The Ruhani Satsang enclosure that housed this model was visited daily by a large number of people of all religious backgrounds, and the response was very encouraging.

In the following year the idea took concrete shape with the emergence of Manav Kendra Society as a registered body, under the patronage of Kaka Sahib Kalelkar, with the Master Kirpal Singh Ji as Chairman. The plans for the first Centre, to be located in the northern India, were worked out at Sawan Ashram, publicly inaugurated at the time of the Fourth World Religions Conference in February, 1970, and are now being carried out in Dehra Dun, where the Master is personally supervising the now partially completed construction. As the accompanying pictures show, a very great deal has been accomplished already on this first of five projected centres: one each in the north, south, east, west and centre of India.

To achieve the threefold aim of Manav Kendra – man-making, man service and land service –, its activities will be divided into several categories.

Vishva Mandir

The main function of Manav Kendra is, of course, man-making. This phrase, so characteristic of the Master, makes it compellingly clear that we are not yet really men; the possibility exists, no doubt, that we may become men, but until we are in complete control of our selves, and sufficiently in tune with our deepest nature to understand and spontaneously and joyfully live according to the basic and Universal Principle of Love, we are no more men than an acorn is an oak tree.

To bring home this Truth to us is, as Master says,

the portfolio of a Saint;

and this He does out of His compassion, based on His own certain knowledge of that we can be.

This main aspect of Manav Kendra is called Vishva Mandir, which means hall of Universal Worship. The halls themselves will be the earth below and the sky overhead; in this way, there will be room to carry on the work already begun at Sawan Ashram, on a much larger scale.

It is anticipated that libraries containing scriptures of all religions, and studies and biographies of the Great Spiritual Personalities of the world, will be a part of Vishva Mandir, so that anyone can see for himself that all religions and all Saints have taught the same Truth: the necessity for each one to go within himself and see God with his own Inner Eye, and ultimately become One with Him. Eventually systematic courses of study and a university of religions may developed, taught and administered, of course, from the perspective of fully developed consciousness.

Language Schools

The second aspect of Manav Kendra is man service. This is for two reasons:

1. Serving others is one of the most effective ways to bring about the condition of heart in which real growth can take place, and

2. if people are served correctly in an intelligent and conscious way, many of the obstacles lying in the way of their own growth may be removed.

In other words, as Master says,

a loving service adorns the server and the served alike.

This function of Manav Kendra is discharged in several different ways, one of which is language schools. Obviously, one of the main obstacles in the way of Universal Brotherhood and Peace is our inability to understand each other. If we cannot even understand the words that our brother is using, how can we go any deeper? This is especially true in India, where every province has its own language, and the national official language after 23 years of independence is still English – not native to anyone in the country – because it is the only language that is even partially understood in all parts of India. But it is just as much of an obstacle elsewhere, and the problems caused by our inability to communicate with each other are not separate from the problems caused by our inability to communicate with our selves.

It is hoped that as the doors to other peoples’ cultures and traditions are opened, and man becomes less provincial and narrow, that he will be able to see things more clearly from the point of view of his own highest good, and not be so easily misled by professional preachers and propagandists and people with vested interests.

Health Centres

Another important aspect of man service will be the free hospital and medical centres. Here those who have competence and ability in one of the various branches of the healing science will share that ability with their brothers and sisters in God, as an act of Love.

Because no system of medical science can claim perfection, and each one has undeniable advantages, it is hoped that qualified practitioners of all schools – Naturopathy, Ayurvedic and Unani, Allopathy and Homoeopathy – will volunteer for this opportunity to serve their brethren. It is heartening to note that already some young medical students have expressed their desire to serve in this way.

Homes for the Aged

One of the least attractive features of the deepening of the Kali Yuga is the growing callousness towards our brothers and sisters who are in the evening of their lives. With the cult of youth prevailing everywhere, and the rate of change increased almost beyond endurance, the elderly are the real ‘forgotten people’ of our era. In our zeal to prove how to up-to-date we are, we waste no time in letting them know that they are useless and irrelevant; and it is little wonder that people look forward with dread to what ought to be the most satisfying and peaceful years of their life. If those who still consider ourselves young will not love them for their sake, we might do so for our own; after all, we will be like that some day! And if we think that old people have nothing to offer, we might remember that while a long life is no guarantee of wisdom, yet there is no substitute for experience; and it is a foolish generation indeed that refuses to learn from those who have gone before it.

The Father Homes, or Homes for the Aged, at Manav Kendra will thus serve a two-fold purpose: to provide homes for those retired children of God who are unwanted or unhappy elsewhere, and perhaps more important, to give them a significant role to play in the various supervisory capacities connected with the Centre.

Lest anyone think that older people have lost the capacity to change or learn new things, let us remember that Guru Amar Das, Who became a Great Saint, was not even initiated until He was 70 years old!

As Master says,

Man learns and unlearns all through life.

Land Service

The final aspect of Manav Kendra, land service, will find expression in the various agricultural activities planned for the Centre. The Master says that each of us owes a debt to the Earth, which has supported and maintained us since our birth, and therefore we must serve the land as best as we possibly can. The beauty of it is, of course, that by serving the land in this way, we are also serving man.

Among the various types of farming will be included gardens and orchards – fruit trees have already been planted –, cattle breeding, and dairy farming, to help make India’s wealth of cattle more productive and to provide a plentiful supply of pure milk and dairy products; since health is more dependent on pure and wholesome food than on chemicals, inorganic substances, or artificial preparations.

*****

As all readers of ‘Sat Sandesh’ know, the Master has devoted an overwhelming large percentage of His time and attention to Manav Kendra in recent months, and as a consequence a very great deal has already been done: levelling the ground, building the roads, planting trees, erecting the water tower, and, most recently completed, the construction and filling of the big lake or Sarovar which is the central feature of the land-scaping. Work has also begun on the buildings, and a few of them are completed. All of this work has been done voluntarily and joyfully, as loving service; and the Master Himself has been the supreme example, inspiring and giving strength to all the worker to do as He is doing. He sees to each minute detail in the execution of the work, directs every operation, and serves all the devotees with food, both physical and spiritual. He has been working daily from 8 in the morning till 10 at night, and then going home to give darshan to the waiting western disciples and to attend to His stacks of correspondence.

Thus we see that even in its building Manav Kendra serves as a model of what is possible for human beings to achieve when they are given right guidance and manage to forget their egos for a while.

Pictorial Report