History |
Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev Ji (1957-2018)
Her Holiness Satguru
Mata Savinder Hardev Ji, succeeded Baba Hardev
Singh Ji Maharaj as the Spiritual Head of the
Sant Nirankari Mission following his sudden
merger into the Almighty Nirankar in a car crash
in Canada on May 13, 2016. No doubt Satguru
manifested in Her Holiness right from that
moment, Sadh Sangat could see her identified
with the same at a brief ceremony in Ground No.
8 in Delhi on May 17, at about 11.00 pm. Rev
H.S. Upashak Ji, General Secretary of the
Mission in UK made the announcement, the
President of the Sant Nirankari Mandal Rev. JRD
‘Satyarthi’ Ji presented the White Scarf
(Dupatta), the symbol of Satguru’s spiritual
powers, and Holy Sister Niranjan Ji welcomed her
with a garland of flowers. Thousands of devotees
who had assembled for Baba Ji’s Antim Darshan
hailed Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev Ji with loud
acclamation (Jai Ghosh).
Satguru Mata Savinder
Hardev Ji was born on January 12, 1957 in the
family of Shri Manmohan Singh Ji and Mata Amrit
Kaur Ji residing at Rohtak Road in Delhi. Later,
the family shifted to Yamuna Nagar. The child
Savinder was, however, adopted and brought up by
Shri Gurmukh Singh Ji and Madan Mata Ji
belonging to Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. They
had no child of their own. The two families were
related to each other as Shri Manmohan Singh Ji
was the son of Madan Mata Ji’s brother Shri
Manohar Singh Ji. Since both the families were
closely associated with the Sant Nirankari
Mission, they sought the blessings of the then
Head of the Mission, Shahenshah Baba Avtar Singh
Ji, which made this emotional arrangement a
divine destiny for the child Savinder.
Savinder Ji’s primary
education took place in Farrukhabad. Thereafter,
in 1966 she was sent to an Irish institution,
the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Waverly,
Mussoorie from where she passed the Indian
School Certificate Examination (Senior
Cambridge, equivalent to Senior Secondary), in
1973.
At school, Savinder Ji
was a brilliant student. She scored more than 90
per cent marks in every examination. At senior
secondary level, besides English Language and
Literature, the subjects she studied included
History, Geography, Hindi and Human and Social
Biology. Her school teachers - Ms. P. Dias and
Mrs. Beena Bhardwaj recall the days of her
childhood and say that she was a very
intelligent and hard working student and won the
hearts of all the nuns and teachers because of
her polite and respectful behaviour.
For higher education,
Savinder Ji joined the Daulat Ram College in
Delhi. She was, however, married to Baba Hardev
Singh Ji at a simple ceremony, on the eve of the
28th Annual Nirankari Sant Samagam in Delhi on
November 14, 1975. In this way, she became a
part of the holy family of Baba Gurbachan Singh
Ji and Nirankari Rajmata Kulwant Kaur Ji as
their gracious daughter-in-law. They took the
young couple with them on their month long world
salvation tour in December, 1975, which covered
UK, Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium and
Austria. Again in 1976, Savinder Ji and Baba
Hardev Singh Ji accompanied Baba Gurbachan Singh
Ji and Rajmata Ji on a two month world salvation
tour that took them to Kuwait, Iraq, Thailand,
Hong Kong, Canada, USA, Austria and UK. These
two tours were a great source of learning how to
serve the True Master who was also her
father-in-law and Rajmata Ji became her role
model for this. She also learnt how to look
after the VIPs and saints coming to seek
blessings from Satguru.
When Baba Hardev Singh
Ji took over the responsibility as the Spiritual
Head of the Sant Nirankari Mission in 1980,
Savinder Ji started being addressed by Nirankari
world as Pujya Mata Savinder Ji. She shared the
dais with Baba Ji and Rajmata Ji and blessed the
devotees who paid their obeisance at her holy
feet as well. She moved shoulder to shoulder
with Baba Ji during all his salvation tours in
India and abroad and participated in every
congregation and Samagam addressed by him. She
took full care of Baba Ji’s personal needs.
Whenever some people came to Baba Ji for
blessings, she would be there to shower the
motherly affection. She looked after the
visitors as any devoted housewife would do in
the case of close relations and important
guests.
Her Holiness Mata
Savinder Ji always regarded Baba Hardev Singh Ji
Maharaj as Satguru first. All other relations
would come later. They had three daughters Samta
Ji, Renuka Ji and Sudiksha Ji, but her love and
care for them never came in the way to serve the
Mission along with Baba Ji. Besides every nook
and corner of the country, Baba Ji’s salvation
tours took her around the world. In India she
travelled through difficult terrains and dined
and stayed at small houses of devotees in remote
areas.
Besides those
mentioned earlier, the other countries Mata Ji
visited along with Baba Ji, and many of them
repeatedly, include: Germany, Denmark, Spain,
Sweden, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia,
Bahrain, Oman, Holland, Portugal, Nigeria,
Kenya, Uganda, Doha Qatar, China, Indonesia,
Ireland and Greece, While travelling abroad, Her
Holiness not only shared the sacred dais with
Baba Ji but also the Honours and Awards he
received from different organizations and
institutions. At times she was honoured
separately also. For example, she was greeted as
Ambassador for Peace by the Universal Peace
Federation, North America and the
Inter-religious and International Federation for
World Peace.
Her Holiness Mata
Savinder Hardev Ji has always been kind to
Sewadars. She bestowed her motherly love and
care not only on Sewadars but their families
also. She blessed the brides and bridegrooms at
mass-marriages so that they find all that’s
needed to make their married life happy,
prosperous and blissful.
Her Holiness has
always encouraged the devotees towards service
of humanity by participating in the same
herself. Often she donated her blood at the
Blood Donation Camp in Delhi on April 24
organized on Manav Ekta Divas to commemorate the
supreme sacrifice of Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji and
hundreds of devotees who laid down their lives
while crusading for truth, love, tolerance and
unity.
On June 5, 2009, the
International Environment Day, Mata Ji led a
special cleanliness drive in Mussoorie where
Safai Karamcharis (scavengers) of the Municipal
Corporation had gone on strike. In December the
same year, she visited the Tihar Jail in Delhi
and distributed gifts among women and children.
She showed such gestures towards them later on
also on several occasions. On October 26, 2014,
Mata Ji joined the Run for Oneness from National
Stadium to Connaught Place in Delhi which served
as a great source of inspiration for thousands
of men and women participating in the event.
Satguru Mata Savinder
Hardev Ji was always an important source of
inspiration for the younger generation. She had
her own pleasant way to attract them towards the
Mission and persuade them to take part in
various activities, rising above all kinds of
worldly considerations normally baffling the
modern youth.
In this way, when
called upon to lead the Sant Nirankari Mission,
as its Spiritual Head, Her Holiness Mata
Savinder Hardev Ji had the advantage of
understanding its needs thoroughly. She pledged
on the very first day to take the Mission to the
heights where Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj
wanted to see. She knew every Pracharak and
Prabandhak in India and abroad personally. She
asked them to strengthen their mutual love and
cooperation and help her in this pious
endeavour. Just like Baba Hardev Singh Ji
treated the assassination of Baba Gurbachan
Singh Ji in 1980 as the will of God, she also
treated the tragic separation of Baba Hardev
Singh Ji Maharaj in physical form as a divine
destiny and exhorted every devotee to keep on
marching with the same enthusiasm and
steadfastness and take this light of spiritual
knowledge to every nook and corner of the world
and remove the darkness of ignorance.
On her own part, Her
Holiness tried in every way to maintain the
tempo that Mission had attained under the
guidance of Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj.
Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev Ji did not allow
her deteriorating health to cause any hurdle in
her way. She undertook long hectic salvation
tours along with other saints from Delhi
involving long and continuous travelling by
road. These tours covered Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha,
Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana.
The countries outside
India visited by Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev Ji
Maharaj included Nepal, UAE, UK, Canada and USA.
During the two years
Her Holiness led the Mission as its spiritual
head, she organised all the Samagams in Delhi as
in the past. During 2016, the Mukti Parv Samagam
was held as usual on August 15. This time,
however, the day was prominently dedicated to
Baba Hardev Singh Ji. The 69th Annual Nirankari
Sant Samagam was held in November, which was
also dedicated to the life and teachings of Baba
Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj.
In January 2017, the
Bhakti Parv Samagam was held at Sant Nirankari
Spiritual Complex, Samalkha. The Guru Puja Diwas
Samagam was organised in Delhi and all over the
country on February 23, 2017. Similarly, the
Manav Ekta Diwas was celebrated on April 24.
Samarpan Diwas Samagam was organised for the
first time on May 13, 2017, the day being the
first Death Anniversary of Baba Hardev Singh Ji
Maharaj.
Mukti Parv Samagam was
also held on its usual date that is August 15.
The Annual Sant
Samagam – 2017 was again held in Delhi from
November 18 to 20 in the same ground opposite
Sarovar Complex. While the devotees came with
their usual enthusiasm, the land, however, got
quite squeezed due to large-scale construction
work going on some of the grounds that were
earlier used for Samagam. Satguru Mata Savinder
Hardev Ji, therefore, announced that the next
Samagam would be held at our own land, the Sant
Nirankari Spiritual Complex, Samalkha in
Haryana.
The State-level and
Regional-level Samagams organised under the
benign guidance of Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev
Ji Maharaj included 3-day Maharashtra’s Annual
Samagam in January and a Regional-level Samagam
for West Bengal Orissa and North-East States on
February 25-26, 2017. The Samagam was held in
Kolkata on Mission’s own land first time.
The Bhakti Parv
Samagam in January, 2018 was organised in
Samalkha. Satguru Mata Ji availed the occasion
for the inauguration of a large-scale
development of the Spiritual Complex so that the
Annual Sant Samagam in November could be held on
this vast land belonging to the Mission. The
programme was attended by a large number of
devotees from Delhi, Greater Delhi and almost
all parts of Haryana. Several sains came from
some other States also.
Guru Puja Diwas 2018
was celebrated on February 23. The Sant
Nirankari Charitable Foundation organized a mega
cleanliness drive in 635 Government Hospitals in
275 cities across the county. More than 3.00
lakh volunteers from the Foundation, Sewadal and
other devotees of the Sant Nirankari Mission
participated in the drive.
As regards Manav Ekta
Diwas, it was celebrated throughout India on
April 24, 2018 with blood donation camps at 83
places across the country on the same day.
Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev Ji Maharaj,
however, addressed the Samagam in San Francisco,
USA on April 22.
Earlier, Satguru Mata
Ji addressed the Maharashtra Samagam in Mumbai
from January 26 to 28, the Sate-level Samagam of
Uttar Pradesh on March 10-11, 2018 in Varanasi
and the Regional Samagam of West Bengal, Odisha
and NE States organized in Siliguri on March
24-25, 2018. The Uttar Pradesh Samagam was held
after a gap of five years.
Satguru Mata Ji who
had left Delhi on April 1, 2018 returned to
Headquarters on May 3, 2018. The salvation tour
covered UK, Canada and USA. In the meantime the
health of Her Holiness had deteriorated further.
In Delhi also she spent most of the time in
Hospital. In view of this Satguru Mata Ji
declared her youngest daughter Sudiksha Ji as
the Spiritual Head of the Sant Nirakari Mission
in her place from July 16, 2018. The formal
ceremony was, however, held on July 17 at
Samagam Ground No.8 in Delhi. The congregation
was attended by members of the Central Planning
and Advisory Board, Executive Committee, Sewadal
Adhikaris and several Zonal Incharges as well as
thousands of devotees not only from Delhi and
Greater Delhi but other parts of the country
also.
As Satguru Mata
Savinder Hardev Ji Maharaj arrived at the dais,
she was welcomed on behalf of all the followers
of the Mission with a bouquet by her Private
Secretary Shri Sandeep Gulati Ji. Thereafter,
Satguru Mata Ji applied traditional sacred mark
(Tilak) on the forehead of Sudiksha Ji, offered
the sacred seat and put the white scarf
(Dupatta), a symbol of Nirankari Satguru’s
spiritual powers, round her neck with the help
of a devotee.
Thereafter, Rev Gobind
Singh Ji, President, Sant Nirankari Mandal, Rev
K.R. Chadha Ji, Chairman, Central Planning and
Advisory Board, Rev V.D. Nagpal Ji, General
Secretary of the Mandal, several other senior
saints connected with Prachar and Parbandh of
the Mission and Members of the holy family
welcomed Rev Sudiksha Ji as Satguru with
garlands on behalf of the entire Nirankari
world.
Blessing the
congregation, Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev Ji
Maharaj said that there is much that Baba Ji
wanted to achieve but we could not accomplish
the same. I pray to God that now you are all
able to complete those tasks under the guidance
of Sudiksha Ji.
Thereafter Mata
Savinder Hardev Ji Mahraj received treatment at
home, while Satguru Mata Sudiksha Ji and other
members of the holy family remained at her
service. She, however, breathed her last at
about 5.15 pm on August 5, 2018.
Rev Mata Ji’s body was
placed for Antim Darshan by devotees in Ground
No.8, Burari Road from 9.00 p.m. the same day.
The Antim Darshan programme continued day and
night till August 7, 2018. Lakhs of Nirankari
devotees from India and abroad continued coming
for Antim Darshan of Rev Mata Savinder Hardev Ji
Maharaj.
Besides all the
members of the Central Planning and Advisory
Board and Executive Committee of the Sant
Nirankari Mandal, members of the holy family
were also attending the devotees. Satguru Mata
Sudiksha Ji Maharaj also spent some time
blessing the devotees coming for Antim Darshan
of Mata Savinder Hardev Ji Maharaj.
Among representatives
of other religious and social organizations, a
delegation from Sant Kirpal Ashram also came and
paid their respects.
On August 8, 2018, a
cascade of devotees flooded Ground No.8 to
participate in during the last ceremonies of
Mata Savinder Hardev Ji. Hands joined in prayers
as lakhs of devotees rendered their heartfelt
reverence to Mata Ji while bidding a final adieu
to her in physical form.
The holy family and
members of the Central Planning and Advisory
Board and Executive Committee of the Sant
Nirankari Mandal paid the last tribute to Mata
Savinder Hardev Ji. Satguru Mata Sudiksha Ji and
two other daughters of Mata Savinder Hardev Ji
presented shawls as their last respect to Mata
Ji. Other members of the holy family also
presented shawls. President Sant Nirankari
Mandal, Shri Gobind Singh Ji along with senior
dignitaries including Pracharaks and Prabandhaks
from India and abroad, too, presented shawls and
bouquets of flowers as a token of respect.
The last journey began
from Ground No. 8 at 9:30 am and reached the CNG
Crematorium, Nigam Bodh Ghat at around 1pm. Mata
Ji was taken in an open vehicle bedecked with
flowers to Nigam Bodh Ghat with Satguru Mata
Sudiksha Ji and her two holy sisters along with
other family members seated by the side of the
body.
In continuation with
Sant Nirankari Mission’s tradition, the 10 km
procession was led by Sewadal members from India
and abroad followed by senior Pracharaks and
Prabandaks from across the world. Devotees in
large number were seen along the roads on the
entire route.
The last ceremonies
were performed by Hardik Ji, son of Mata Ji’s
daughter Samta Ji, in the presence of Satguru
Mata Sudiksha Ji and other family members in the
cremation hall.
Dr. Harsh Vardhan,
Union Minister for Science & Technology and
Environment paid his last respect at Nigam Bodh
Ghat.
To take inspiration
from the life and teachings of Mata Savinder
Hardev Ji, a special congregation was held in
Ground No. 8 the same day in the evening. It was
presided over by Satguru Mata Sudiksha Ji.
Addressing the
congregation described as Prerna Diwas, Satguru
Mata Sudiksha Ji Maharaj said that Mata Savinder
Hardev Ji was not only the mother of her three
children but the entire Sadh Sangat. She
showered her love and affection on every devotee
equally, particularly when she was Spiritual
Head of the Mission.
Satguru Mata Sudiksha
Ji said that to get emotional on such an
occasion was but natural. No wonder several
devotees were seen with tears in their eyes.
Even I had a deep emotional outburst within, but
when I saw many of the devotees with wet eyes
but a smile at their face, it showed that they
had complete faith in God and trusted His will.
This encouraged me too not to be emotional.
In fact, Mata Sudiksha
Ji said, Mata Savinder Hardev Ji too always
taught us right since our childhood to stay
connected with God in every situation saying
that He will certainly look after us and solve
our problems. Even Avtar Bani says that to obey
the will of God is the best ornament of the life
of saints.
Mata Sudiksha Ji
further said that from worldly point of view
anybody who loses both his father and mother is
called an orphan. But here Satguru has given us
God as Father and Sadh Sangat as the Mother.
Hence, we can never be orphans, she said.
During the
congregation that lasted for more than 7 hours,
several senior Pracharaks and Prabandhaks from
across the world paid their tributes to Mata
Savinder Hardev Ji and said that she inspired us
to spread the message of this Mission of love,
peace, tolerance and brotherhood not only
through her holy discourses but while living the
same also. No doubt, she did not make long
speeches but each and every word was useful to
improve our life and be a source of inspiration
for others. Tributes were also paid by several
members of the holy family and their relatives.
A short poetic symposium was also a part of the
congregation.
Among important
dignitaries who came during the congregation and
paid their respects included Shri Satyendra
Kumar Jain, Minister for Health, Government of
Delhi, Shri Manoj Tiwari, Member of Parliament
and Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, former Chief
Minister of Haryana.