Report of Manav Ekta Diwas, March 2013
Written by
Aman Sareen
Like every year, the Phoenix sadh sangat celebrated Manav Ekta Diwas (Human Unity Day) enthusiastically, participating in various activities including devotional songs and speeches. The young saints sang devotional songs and presented charts where they expressed their thoughts on Oneness.
On Saturday, April 27, 2013 saints gathered at a local blood bank and donated their blood, based on Babaji's message that blood should flow in veins and not in drains.
During the congregation on Sunday, April 28, 2013 various saints shared their thoughts and talked about Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji's life and teachings. They said:
Baba Gurbachan Singh ji said we are all children of God. If we agree that there is one God, then we will realize that we are brothers and sisters and will live peacefully. If we remove conflict from each other we can live peacefully. Baba Gurbachan Singh ji lived and died for the benefit of human society. He inculcated the spirit of peaceful coexistence through love, tolerance and harmony.
Baba Gurbachan Singh ji's life was a living example of a divine being. His life was a demonstration to us on how to live a life of devotion. He believed in human unity. He worked tirelessly to spread the message of human unity and universal brotherhood throughout the world. Baba Gurbachan Singh ji once said:
"Those whom we are yet to meet are our potential friends."
The water reaches it's final destination, the ocean, only if it flows through the river. Otherwise it will not reach it's destination and will also create floods and destroy property and cause inconvenience to people. Similarly, we will reach our destination if our life is lead within the norms of spiritual guidance and the principles of the Sant Nirankari Mission. We should help each other. We should work together to make this human unity a global reality.
Youths prepared posters, sang songs and shared their thoughts on this occasion.
We also had the pleasure of the company of Mr. Wilford Taylor from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He talked about the teaching of Jesus Christ and how they relate to peaceful coexistence that the Sant Nirankari Mission is also teaching. Mr. Taylor said we need to be one and united. Peace needs to at the personal level, only then the world can be peaceful. Jesus taught us to have love for one another, peace in our hearts, peace in our homes & peace in our communities. He taught us if someone slaps us on our one cheek, we should forward our other cheek instead of slapping them in return. Jesus said love your enemies, for they are the children of our father who is in heaven. He said Love thy neighbor, and not to judge others. He taught love, peace, unity; the goals we have not yet met. These are the goals of H. H. Baba Hardev Singh ji as well and we need to work together to meet these goals.
A discourse from H. H. Babaji was displayed on the large screen which the saints enjoyed. He said:
We are gathered on the occasion of Manav Ekta Diwas paying tributes to lives of people who sacrificed their life for the betterment of mankind. They dedicated themselves to humanity and laid down their lives for it. When we look back at Baba Gurbachan Singh ji's life, every step he took was equal to miles and aimed to keep humanity alive within us, to remove illusions and darkness.
Baba Gurbachan Singh ji fulfilled his responsibilities as a disciple and as an obedient son. He led a beautiful life. He portrayed a dignified status for women in society. Raj Mata ji contributed a lot towards this movement and even today is working towards it. Babaji strengthened the mission and due to his foresight laid a strong foundation for the mission.
Baba Buta Singh ji faced enemies single handedly as he knew truth was on his side. Baba Avtar Singh ji got divine knowledge from him and pledged to spread the message of truth. Later Baba Gurbachan Singh ji took this light into several countries of the world. He accelerated the speed for the spread of the Mission for 17 years, took many significant steps for the welfare of society, to bring enlightenment to humans, to remove social exploitation, remove show-off of dowry from marriage ceremonies, to rise above castism and establish relations. He strengthened the feeling of patriotism. He converted the barren land around Sarovar into greenery that we see and enjoy today. Just like how he astonished everyone by cultivating a barren land with sub-soil salty water, he eradicated barrenness from our minds and raised consciousness towards fulfilling our responsibilities. He spread the message of truth even when there were threats for his life.
Those who are ignorant have not realized God and are confined to rituals; those are far from truth and lost in myths of delusions. Such people have always tortured saints and sages. We heard how Jesus Christ was crucified by misguided people, similarly Guru Nanak ji was labeled as gone astray by people who themselves were lost. Darkness of ignorance in this world has always been there. It's a difficult task to bring the people out from such darkness and this difficult task lies on the hands of these saints and sages. They sacrificed a lot to help mankind come out of ignorance and attain truth.
Just like Baba Gurbachan Singh ji dedicated his life, Chacha Pratap Singh ji also dedicated to selfless service. He loved to obey the Satguru. He took the initiative to form the Sewa Dal. Even though he was the head, he personally did all the things that anyone else in the Sewa Dal would perform.
Atrocities were committed on devotees who were showering love to humanity and working toward human unity. Today we pay respect to these devotees who sacrificed their life to bring love amongst people so they don't hate each other, so they don't mistreat each other, so they are well-wisher for each other.
In all ages, prophets contributed to establish human unity. But man doesn't move in this direction with ease. Their conditions are like animals who don't want to come out of filth. These people are wasting their precious human birth. Saints want to free man from this filth and delusions. They feel why should the soul of these people continue to suffer from transmigration due to ignorance. They want humans to attain eternity, to have man act like humans.
A sandalwood tree does not lose its calmness and fragrance even though it's wrapped with poisonous snakes. Similarly saints don't lose their saintly attributes even when people hate them and commit atrocities on them. The saints maintain their sympathy towards humanity, they shower love to extinguish the fire of hatred. They don't hate anyone, even their enemies. They even pray and seek the welfare of their enemies.
On Manav Ekta Diwas, the teachings of saints, Gurus and prophets are remembered. We pay respect to these saints only if our life is based on their teachings, mere praising them or reciting their teachings is not sufficient. We should ask ourselves if we value the blood that was shed. We should pay our tributes through our conduct, giving up ego and hatred.
Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji talked about abstaining from the use of intoxicants in the Mussoorie Conference. There is need to analyze and introspect ourselves to learn if we are valuing their contributions and sacrifice. When we talk about growing the mission, what is meant is to grow devotion and how we show love and respect amongst each other and not just merely grow the mission in number of people.
Oneness is given so much importance. Oneness has to start from within us, within our home, within the mission. When we talk about universal brotherhood, we are part of that and this is not applicable to only others. Baba Gurbachan Singh ji said: Religion unites and not divides. Let us spread love and strengthen humanity.
May everybody move forward in this path. If we mould our thoughts according to the directions of the True Master, we find unity, peace and strength. Otherwise we have shortcomings, differences and distances. We have to fill our minds and hearts with the love that these saints bestowed upon us. May we keep distributing this love to everyone.