Baba Avtar Singh Ji (1899 - 1969 )

   Author:Dinesh
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Childhood Days

Baba Avtar Singh Ji was born in a small
village named Latifal in Jhelum District ( now
in Pakistan ) on December 31 , 1899 in the
family of Shri Mukha Singh Ji and Smt.
Narayani Devi Ji. He was being brought up
with due affection and indulgence, but when
he was just 6 years, his father died after
brief illness.
This untimely loss was a big jolt to the
family. Then the responsibility of looking
after the family gravitated to the shoulders
of his mother Narayani. The little boy Avtar
was entrusted to the care of Shri Nand Lal , a
local priest, for education as there was no
school in the village . In a short span of time
he was able to study scriptures . As he grew ,
Avtar proved to be extraordinarily intelligent .
Family hardships made Avtar a very strong
and determined person . When he was just 12 ,
his maternal uncle Shri Narain Singh took
him to Rawalpindi . In Rawalpindi , Avtar
worked first at a hotel and then as a porter
at railway station . There , he incidentally
came in contact with Seth Sawan Mal.
Impressed by his honesty , integrity and hard
work , Seth Sawan Mal employed Avtar in his
bakery and eventually he made him a partner
and handed over the whole unit to him. This
was a step that marked the beginning of
Avtar's life of determination and firm faith in
goodness.

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The Holy Meeting

On 25 May 1929 came the turning point in
the life of Baba Avtar Singh, when he met his
guru Baba Buta Singh in Peshawar. Ecstasy
took hold of him and he was all praise for
the Master and Nirankar, the Formless God
all around. He surrendered himself
completely to Baba Buta Singh Ji and
announced that hereafter his life would
follow the way as Baba Buta Singh Ji would
lead.
He declared that he had found his destiny at
the holy feet of Baba Buta Singh Ji . The latter
was also happy because he found in Baba
Avtar Singh Ji the kind of disciple he had
been looking for , a person who would
surrender his body , mind and material assets
at the altar of divinity and be prepared to
take the spiritual light to the masses and
share the eternal bliss with those who were
otherwise fumbling in the darkness of
ignorance.
From that day both Baba Buta Singh Ji and
Baba Avtar Singh Ji worked together . The
movement gathered momentum gradually. As
expected, they faced a lot of opposition from
the orthodox elements, but this failed to
deter them from the path of truth . The two
were together for about 14 years. On many
occasions, Baba Avtar Singh Ji 's loyalty ,
sincerity , devotion and dedication towards
his True Master and the Almighty was put to
test. Every time , he proved up to the mark
and won praise from the True Master .

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Expansion

Baba Avtar Singh Ji succeeded Baba Buta
Singh Ji and preached the divine message
during the period from 1943 to 1962 . He
was all out for the uplift of mankind through
dissemination of the divine word . He faced
opposition from different fronts in carrying
out his missionary obligations , but he
remained moulded and welded to the Truth.
He appeased the flood of opposition with his
deep spirit of humility and love . He
possessed wonderful skill to convince his
critics, provided they chose to listen to him.
There are many instances where critics , after
listening to Baba Ji , joined the Mission and
dedicated their lives to the propagation of its
message.
Following the partition of India in 1947 ,
Baba Avtar Singh Ji had to shift from
Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan ) to Paharganj ,
Delhi (India ) . Devotees migrating from
Pakistan also maintained their contact with
Baba Ji and sought rehabilitation in and
around Delhi . In order to meet the
requirements of the children of the devotees
and others , Baba Avtar Singh Ji opened Sant
Nirankari School in Paharganj , (which is now
a Senior Secondary School ) . Subsequently , he
also established Sant Nirankari Colony in
North Delhi and shifted the Headquarters of
the Mission there. Santokh Sarovar ( now
called Nirankari Sarovar ) was also developed
near the Colony .
The ideology of the Mission was easy to
understand and follow in practical day- to-day
life . It attracted people from all castes and
communities. The Mission prescribed no
cumbersome rituals or costly ceremonies and
liberated people from all kind of taboos .
Then, it loved all and hated none . The masses
that had just experienced the havoc that
communalism and religious intolerance could
play with the mankind , gone through the
misery before Partition and suffered from
the agony even thereafter . They had not only
seen the disease of casteism in its full swing,
but felt the sting also, welcomed the Mission
where all of them were treated as equally
respected and dignified members of one
human society. They found here what they
really needed —the Mission under the
spiritual leadership of Baba Avtar Singh Ji ,
was providing spiritual balm to heal their
worldly wounds, the inner strength to bear
the sorrow and the morale boosting to
continue their journey of life .
The orthodox elements continued to harass
Baba Avtar Singh . One day, while a
congregation was going on at the residence
of Baba Avtar Singh Ji , some people came and
started shouting slogans against him. When
they continued for some time and did not
disperse, some of the disciples asked for
Baba Ji ’s permission to go and teach them a
lesson. Instead Baba Ji asked some disciples
to go and offer them water. The
demonstrators felt very happy . But when
they came to know that the water was being
offered on behalf of Baba Avtar Singh Ji , they
felt ashamed at their mistake and realized
how He possessed divine qualities of
compassion, love for all and forgiveness.

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Organisational Set - up

To give an organisational outfit to the
expanding Mission, Baba Avtar Singh Ji
founded Sant Nirankari Mandal in 1948 and
got it registered with Headquarters at Delhi .
Establishing branches in various cities with
Pramukhs- incharge also came in the priority
agenda of the Master for holding regular
congregations and taking forward the
message of the Mission . For this very
purpose, Sant Nirankari Sewa Dal also came
into being in 1956 with Chacha Pratap Singh
as its Head .
Publication wing was set up for books and
periodicals. Bringing various books
containing philosophy of the Mission were
attempted by missionary scholars with deep
inspiration from the Master . The Avtar Bani ,
considered the essence of the Nirankari
Ideology , was published in 1957 .
Devotee Once Again – A rare example
One of the unique things related to Baba
Avtar Singh Ji is that during his life time
itself he took a decision to revert from the
Satguru to an ordinary devotee . The Annual
Nirankari Sant Samagam which opened on
November 5 , 1963 was, of course , the first
occasion when devotees from all over saw
Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji as the Spiritual
Head of the Mission. With this, the Satguru
stood manifested in Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji .
As a devotee, Baba Avtar Singh Ji became an
example to others. He showed full reverence
to the Satguru of the time , Baba Gurbachan
Singh Ji .
In 1969 Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji and
Rajmata Kulwant Kaur Ji left for tour to U .K .
The tour had, however, to be cut short
because of sudden deterioration in the health
of Baba Avtar Singh Ji who breathed his last
on September 17 , 1969 i. e. , after a few days
of their return .

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Last Journey

Going by worldly norms , having been the
spiritual head of the Mission for about 20
years, many devotees insisted that Baba Avtar
Singh Ji be given a grand funeral with sandal
wood etc .
But Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji explained that a
dead body is just a dead body whether it
belonged to an ordinary person , an
intellectual, or even a holy man . So Baba
Avtar Singh Ji was given a simple funeral at
the electric crematorium in Delhi .

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Author:Dinesh
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