After passing through Muzaffarnagar and blessing Nirankari devotees of surrounding areas on his way Gurudev reached Delhi where the organizers were busy preparing for Mukti Parav (the Spiritual Liberation Day).  It was going to be held at Santokh Sarovar.    Sewa Dal and other devotees from Delhi as well as surrounding areas were busy clearing and decorating the land around Santokh Sarovar.  Gurudev mostly stayed in Delhi during those days and blessed the Sangats with his holy presence at the grounds.  Rev. Sawinder Ji, the esteemed spouse of Baba Ji also gave a lot of co-operation for the Sewa - for hours she would work with her own hands along with the rest of the Sangats.   Nirankari Rajmata Kulwant Kaur Ji too would reach the grounds often and encourage the Sangats.  During these days, however, Gurudev went on a spiritual tour to Himachal Pradesh.  He addressed several thickly attended congregations in those hilly areas.  The Nirankari devotees of Himachal Pradesh were overwhelmingly pleased to have Baba Ji’s holy presence amongst them.

During the days when Gurudev Hardev was in Delhi, one day I saw the Chief Editor of 'Sant Nirankari', Shri 'Nirmal' Joshiji going towards Baba Ji's office with a note-book in his hands.  Joshiji had a versatile personality.  He was a great philosopher, a logical thinker as also a popular speaker.  In literary field he was called the Secretary of the Lord (Khuda Ka Munshi).  Joshiji told me that he wanted information on some basic matters concerning the Mission from Gurudev.

I too wanted to listen to the conversation between the 'Lord' and 'His Secretary'.  So I picked up my diary, reached Gurudev's room and seated myself in a corner after paying my obeisance.   There was dim light in the room.  Right in front was Gurudev sitting with his familiar smile.   Joshiji was squatted in front with a note-book and pencil in his hands and a mischievous smile concealing his earnestness.  The conversation which followed was on the following lines:

Joshi Ji:          Baba Ji!  In the last year and a half, you went on two or three nation-wide tours for the purpose of spiritual awakening.  The Sangat belonging to which place impressed you the most? 

Gurudev:        Sangat is only Sangat and Sangats of all the places are good.  Otherwise, wherever I went, I found the number of Sangats to be increasing.

Joshi Ji:          Baba Ji!  The number of Punjabi devotees must be definitely more in the Sangats of all the places?

Gurudev:        It might have been like that earlier, but these days one finds a maximum number of local Mahapurushas at every place.  I was in Maharashtra a few days ago.  There were only two or three Punjabi Mahapurushas who had accompanied me from Delhi; rest were all local Maharashtrian Mahapurushas.  The same is the case with the rest of the places.  As you know, most of the Pracharaks of our Mission are also local residents now.  A large number of Maharashtrians, Gujaratis, Bengalis, Sindhis and Mahapurushas from the South are propagating the Mission in their regions in their own languages.

Joshi Ji:          I still feel that our Mission has been propagated the maximum in Punjab as compared to other states.

Gurudev:        It is but natural.   As you are aware of the fact, that Baba Buta Singh Ji started this message of Truth from Peshawar (now Pakistan).  His disciples too belonged to that area.  After the partition of the country, Baba Avtar Singh Ji came to Delhi and laid the foundation of the Mission in Delhi.  Other Mahapurushas too, who migrated with him, started living in and around Delhi.   Some of them settled in a few places in Punjab and started the Sangats there.  In the beginning, Baba Ji too would visit those places only.  That is why the spread of the Mission was more in Delhi and Punjab initially.  But slowly and gradually the Mission spread to other parts of the country.  Today the Sangat of every State appears to be like that of Punjab only.      

Joshi Ji:         Baba Ji!  Is the lineage of Gurus hereditary in your opinion?

Gurudev:        In my opinion it is not necessary to always happen like that.  If it were like that, then right from the beginning, the lineage of Gurus would have belonged to one family only, but it is not like that.  Actually, whichever body is used as a medium by God-Nirankar to manifest the Truth, is given the name 'Guru' by people.  Quite naturally, that person would be somebody's father, son or relative from the worldly point of view.  By coincidence he can happen to be the father, son or relative of the earlier Guru also.

Joshi Ji:          Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji introduced a lot of organizational changes.  He formed a 51-Member Working Committee, a 13-Member Executive Committee instead of seven members and also formed many Zonal Committees and Boards.  Do you also intend making some changes in the organization?  Do you want to show a new path to the Mission?

Gurudev:        Nirankari Mission is a spiritual Mission.  There are not many paths in spirituality; it has only one path - to reveal the Truth.  The path was the same in olden times and would remain the same even in future.  There is no question of any change in the same.  As far as the organisation is concerned, changes do keep occurring according to the need of time and situation.  There is nothing exceptional in the same.  If certain changes are needed to improve the organisation, they must be undertaken because the intention behind them is to sincerely make the organisation more efficient and not to introduce new rules only.

Joshi Ji:          Some people have a misconception that Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji used to take interest in politics whereas you do not seem to be nurturing any such interests.

Gurudev:        It is erronous to say that Baba Gurbachan Singh JI showed interest or took part in politics.  Yes, it is true that as the number of Nirankari Sangats kept increasing, a large number of politicians too started visiting him.  Such people always pay a visit to various saints to seek their blessings.  In the same manner they used to visit Baba Ji too.  Satguru's door is open for everyone.  Baba Ji used to bless every visitor and every one benefited according to his/her faith.  But it is not right to form a judgment on either Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji’s or for that matter, my interest in politics simply on the basis of whether or not the politicians have been visiting us.   The truth is that neither did Nirankari Mission have any interest in politics in the past nor does it have now.  Our aim is only to propagate the Truth.

Joshi Ji:          The homes of the Mahapurushas should be ideal homes - living examples of love and peace.  But the homes of many of our Mahapurushas do not seem to be like that.  What is the reason for that?

Gurudev:        Our family life is connected with the society and the world, which have their own norms of conduct.  Whenever one fails to obey these norms, one faces problems.

Joshi Ji:          What are those norms of conduct, Baba Ji?

Gurudev:        Like, everybody should be treated with respect at home.  Every relationship has its own place as well as importance, whether it is that of a mother or mother-in-law, sister or sister-in-law, father or father-in-law.  Whenever any member of a household crosses the perimeter of his/her code of conduct, there would naturally be turmoil in the house.  Another thing which is essential in family-life is that all the family members should understand each other's nature properly and then deal accordingly.    They should respect each other's interests.  Instead of asserting rights, they should concentrate more on performing their duties. 

Mahapurushas should not at all be having any tension in their homes as they treat everybody as their own; no one is a stranger to them.  Love, humility, tolerance are their natural virtues.  Even if there is a difference of opinion because of some misunderstanding in their homes, it gets solved very quickly because of their large heartedness.   The differences of opinion of Mahapurushas are momentary and are as short-lived as a line drawn on water; Mahapurushas do not stay clung to petty disagreements which take place at home.  If there is a perpetual fight in somebody's house, then, I feel, that family has alienated itself from God-knowledge and that they have no fear of the Guru in their hearts; because there is no chance for the ego, adamancy, selfishness, envy etc. to stay as long as God-knowledge is there.

Joshi Ji:          Baba Ji!  You say that we should not expose evil.  If we do not do so, how will we eradicate the same?

Gurudev:        It is not necessary to expose evil to remove it.  If we want to remove some filth lying somewhere, we have two means of doing so - either we remove it by pouring water on it or we cover it with some mud and then pick it up and throw it away.   I personally feel that the second method is more practical because when we throw water on filth, the surrounding area gets filled with stench for sometime, whereas with the other method we can not only remove the filth but would also succeed in not causing any stench.  Our aim is to remove the evil and not to malign the evil-doer.

Joshi Ji:          There are many Mahapurushas in the Sangat who are much maligned by people on account of what they used to be (a thief or a pick-pocket) prior to God-knowledge.

Gurudev:        This is the misfortune of our society that it neither forgives nor gives a chance to repent.  To err is human. If we do not give a man the chance to repent, how would he improve?  For example, does a thief who has already been punished by law, not have a right to be forgiven?    It is not right to further humiliate him by calling him a thief.  Saints forgive such a person and give him a chance to improve whereas the people of the world convert him into an even worse criminal by repeatedly calling him a thief.  You should not go by the word of other people.  You should judge for yourself if the Mahapurushas who are being slandered thus have not become true saints?  Have they not transformed themselves completely?  During the course of Satsang, you must have often heard such Mahapurushas admit their past actions and repent publicly.  It is only because of this rightful handling by the saints that Balmiki could become a 'Maharishi' and Kauda Rakshasa’s life could be transformed.

Joshi Ji:          What is your opinion about such a Mahapurusha whose deeds do not change for betterment after God-knowledge, who carries on performing the same actions that he did prior to God-knowledge?

Gurudev:        If someone does not change even after coming in contact with Mahapurushas, then that person can not be called God-realised or a Mahapurusha.  Such people cannot stay for long in Satsang too.

Anticipating Joshi Ji's next question, I looked at him but he was already picking up his note-book and thanking Gurudev for sparing so much of his precious time.   Both of us paid our obeisance to Gurudev and got up to leave.  On coming out, we saw the volunteers of Sewa Dal busy with the preparations for Mukti Parv.

This time, Mukti Parv was commemorated at Santokh Sarovar.  Thousands of devotees from Delhi  and adjoining areas took part in the programme.  The ideal lives of all those Mahapurushas who had spent their whole life in the spread of the Mission's message were eulogized by lyricists, poets and speaker Mahapurushas.  Describing the sentiments behind the celebration of Mukti Parv, Gurudev stated in his discourse: 

"This day has been named ‘Mukti Parv’ so that all those Mahapurushas can be remembered who imbibed Truth in their own hearts, stayed firm on it till the last breath of their lives and did not hesitate to make any sacrifice for the same."

Throwing light on the way a devotee should lead his life, Gurudev stated:

"A Gurmukh is humble at heart and has an abiding faith in the Formless, Guru and Sadh Sangat.  Saints do not feel proud of even the fact that they are impressive speakers, poets or lyricists; rather they consider everything to be a gift of God.  They feel that it is God who is making them speak, write or sing.   They are also aware of the fact that the voice that they are using for the purpose of speaking or singing is a gift of God.    If God had not gifted them with the voice, how could they have spoken or sung?"

Alerting the devotees about the errors made unknowingly, Gurudev stated:

"If a Gurmukh is humble at heart, does not pay attention to the errors made by others and deals sweetly with everyone, then only can he please his Master.  Often it is said that one should not lend one's ears to the slandering of the Guru.  There would not be many who would actually slander the Guru.  But there are other ways through which one can malign one's Guru.  The ones who disrespect fellow-Gursikhs are actually disrespecting their Guru only."

Expounding the secret behind the honour and glory in spiritual life, Guredev stated:

"Gurmukhs always talk about the virtues of others.  That is why their lives too, start permeating with virtues.    For example, to remove a heap of dirt, if we start spreading it, then the stench which had been covered so far would start emanating. Similarly, the one who always looks at the faults of others, and looks for a chance to expose them, is always lacking in his own life also.  But a 'Gurmukh' always acknowledges the virtues of others from the bottom of his heart.  And the more he reveals the virtues of others and glorifies them, the more be himself is upheld by the Almighty and his fame too starts spreading."

The silent revolution which Satgurudev brought about in a short span of two and a quarter years, is a live example of his spiritual personality.   The credit for the peaceful conduct of Nirankari saints and the fearless manner in which the Pracharaks remained busy in spreading the message of the Mission despite unfavourable circumstances, goes to the life-inspiring teachings, divine guidance and genius of Gurudev. The fast increasing propagation of Nirankari Mission and the tolerance of Nirankari Mahapurushas is an outcome of Baba Ji's regular spiritual tours as also his own practical life.

The Mission to spread God-knowledge, which was started on April 27, 1980, is gaining momentum by the day.  The sacred flow of Gurudev's teachings has been continuing ever since. The never-ending campaign of spiritual tours has been continuing and will continue in the future also.

The fast changing circumstances of today are a clear indication that very soon this spiritual revolution would take the whole world into its fold.   The spread of Truth and unity would establish universal brotherhood ending hatred, animosity, envy, pride etc. and bring about the kingdom of love, co-operation, compassion and humility.  As a result, the whole world would transform into one common human family.

These tours of Gurudev for the purpose of the spiritual awakening of mankind will carry on like this, the man as well as society will keep on receiving the required guidance from Gurudev's teachings and the grateful human society would also keep on describing its experiences and glorifying Gurudev.

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