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• Personal Growth

July 2016

We have been graced with a status higher than other creatures, and we must value that. We must adorn our lives with grace and charm, and spread love everywhere. Won’t we then have a world brimming with love and joy, shorn of all the pain and suffering caused by hate and violence?”

These were the words of the late Baba Hardev Singh, the head of Sant Nirankari Mission, when I had interviewed him for Life Positive’s Guru special anniversary issue last year. The news of his sudden death came as a blow to us at LP as well as to thousands of his followers scattered all across the globe. He passed away at the age of 62, in a fatal car accident near Montreal in Canada, on May 13. Revered by devotees all over the world, Baba Hardev Singh took the Sant Nirankari movement started in 1929 by Baba Buta Singh, to greater heights with around 2000 mission centers across the globe. Mostly clad in white, Babaji or Santji, as he was lovingly addressed, preached the philosophy of universal brotherhood and peace, with a soft and tranquil countenance. “After God-realisation, one knows that the world is one family and a common thread of divinity passes through each life form on earth. It is then a prerogative to undertake such actions that serve to respect that divine spark, and based on that build up the universal fraternity. This is the vision that drives the lives of all the Nirankaris, including myself,” he had said. With the belief that social development is also needed along with spiritual development to make the world a better place to live, Baba Hardev Singh initiated many programmes through various Sant Nirankari mandals across the country for providing education, healthcare, and basic medicinal facilities. Baba Hardev Singh was the fourth and the longest serving chief of the Nirankari mission. As per Sant Nirankari movement’s belief in the significance of a living satguru, his widow Gurumata Savinder Kaur has been anointed as the fifth guru and the mission head of the sect.