ANU(ChandigarhCityNews)
Sant Nirankari Mission:
The Sant Nirankari Mission, the world-wide spiritual movement as we see today is the result of a conscious evolution right from day one. It is an eloquent testimony to glorious contribution made one after the other by its spiritual mentors – Baba Buta Singh Ji, Shahenshah Baba Avtar Singh Ji, Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji, Baba Hardev Singh Ji and currently by Nrankari SavinderHardevJiMaharaj.
In the history of this evolution of the Mission, the marvellous contribution made by Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji has its own place – unique, practical and ever-lasting. No wonder his vision of the Mission’s future, the base he provided for organizational structure and the means he adopted to introduce the Mission into the socio-cultural life of the devotees continue to guide us all even today.
Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji found the spiritual philosophy of the Mission handed down to him by Shahenshah Baba Avtar Singh Ji as complete. So, he did not try to amend the same by any addition or deletion. The first Mussoorie Conference held on July 17-18, 1965 affirmed the same and served as a land mark in the history of the Mission to resolve to take it to the masses in a well-organized and decentralized manner. The country was divided into four zoneswith special emphasis on the coverage of rural areas. Construction of SatsangBhawans was adopted as a planned effort to meet the requirements of the branches on the basis of the number of followers they have.
When Shahenshah Baba Avtar Singh Ji breather his last, devotees wanted to organise a dignified funeral with Sandalwood, etc. to show respect for him as their former Spiritual Master and express their gratitude to him for his great contribution to the Mission, but Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji preferred a simple cremation at Electric Crematorium, Nigam Bodh Ghat. He said that a dead body is dead body whether it belongs to a great master or an ordinary person. And this became a tradition that was followed by the Mission in his own case in 1980 and in the case of Baba Hardev Singh Ji in 2016.
After this, Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji took some new initiatives to take the Mission closer to the day-to-day life of its followers. He, however, took two precautions – one to avoid contradicting the values the Mission had already adopted since the days of his predecessors and second, to avoid any clash or conflict with the world outside. So, whatever he thought was kept confined to socio-cultural life of the devotees of the Mission and no attempt was made to suggest the same to others. Let them look at us and follow if they like – this was the approach.
In this way, when we look at the Mission today, we cannot avoid appreciating the pioneering role that Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji played in various aspects. He created such institutions and laid such traditions that are relevant even today for taking the Mission forward both as a spiritual movement and a forum to serve community. We can easily realize the way he visualized this evolution process which was carried forward by Baba Hardev Singh Ji and is now being followed by Satguru Mata SavinderHardevJiMaharaj.
