Jaimal Singh

Infobox ReligiousBio
background = #FFA500
name = Baba Jaimal Singh


religion =
alias =
location = Punjab
Title = Sant Satguru
Period = 1878 - 1903
Predecessor =
Successor = Baba Sawan Singh
ordination =
post =
date of birth = July, 1839
place of birth = Gurdaspur, Punjab
date of death = Dec 29, 1903
place of death = Punjab India
website =

Jaimal Singh (1839 - 1903), also known as "Babaji Maharaj," was the first Satguru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB) until his death in 1903. ref|Origin Baba Sawan Singh succeeded him as the second RSSB Satguru.

Baba Jaimal Singh ji was born in village Lath Ghuman near Batala, Distt. Gurdaspur, Punjab, India, in July, 1839. His father was Sardar Jodh Singh ji and mother was Sardarni Daya Kaur ji. She was a dvotee of Bhakt Naamdev ji, and Baba ji started visiting him at the age of four.

At the age of five he started his education with Baba Khem Singh ji, a Vedanti sage. Within two years he became a good reader of Guru Granth Sahib and read Dasam Granth also.

At the age of 12-13 years he again started studying Guru Granth Sahib at home and came to the realization that this holy book rejects Pranayama, Vairagya, Hatha yoga, Japa, places of pilgrimage, fasting and rituals as means to finding the absolute God described by Nanak and the other sikh gurus. He reached the conclusion that to find God, he must first find a perfect Master, a Satguru who practices "Anhad Shabad", the meditation on the inner sound principle. He started the search for a Perfect Master as per the description in the Guru Granth Sahib, undergoing a long and arduous journey around northern India from age fifteen to seventeen. Finally, in Swamiji Shiv Dayal Singh of Agra, he found his Satguru and was initiated by him 1856.

Swamiji ordered Baba Jaimal Singh ji to start initiating "true seekers" in Punjab in Oct 1877. Swamiji advised him not to interfere with the religious choice of a devotee, and to "steer clear of sects and creeds."

During his service in the Army, Baba Jaimal Singh ji met Baba Bagga Singh ji (the first Satguru of Dera Tarn Taran) in Multan (now in Pakistan).

Baba Jaimal Singh ji retired from the Army on June 7, 1889 and started living in his village, and later built a hut in village Bal Saran at the bank of river Beas, Punjab, India, and started living there. Slowly, a number of devotees increased and one of his devotees donated three beeghas of land for the colony known as the 'Dera' and Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

Once he went to Mari Pahar, a city in H.P., where he initiated Babu Sawan Singh ji the second Satguru of dera Beas.

Baba Jaimal Singh spent his whole life in the service of Dera Beas and its devotees. He left his mortal body on Dec 29, 1903.

Teachings

Jaimal Singh's teachings were the same as those of his master, who taught of the fundamental unity of all religions and the need for a living spiritual guide adept in the practise of the Naam or inner sound principle. Having practised many different "sadhans" during his youth, Jaimal Singh was able to describe the merits and shortcomings of the various yogic methods in relation to Surat Shabd Yoga, the path which he learned from his master.

Some excerpts from his teachings: [

"Suffering and troubles are blessings in disguise, for they areordained by the Lord. If our benefit lies in pain, He sends pain; ifin pleasure, He sends pleasure. Pleasures and pains are tests of ourstrength, and if one does not waver or deflect, then the Almightyblesses such souls with Naam (or Shabd)."

"What the Lord considers best, He is doing. Do not bring yourselfinto the picture. Live by the words of the Master, and continueperforming your earthly duties. When the fruit is ripe, it will fallof its own accord without injury to itself or the bearing branch. Butif we pluck the unripe fruit forcibly from off the tree, the branch isinjured and the raw fruit shrivels and is of little use. Meeting acompetent Master is the fulfillment of human birth: this is the fruitof life. To live by His commandments insures its proper nurture.Daily Simran and Bhajan, to the maximum possible, are the best foodand nourishment, and mergence with Shabd is its ripening and fallingoff."

]

References

Singh, Kirpal, "A Great Saint: Baba Jaimal Singh, His Life and Teachings," (Ruhani Satsang Books, 1987) ISBN 0-942735-27-7

1 Taken from "Spiritual Letters", published by Radha Soami Satsang Beas and quoted by Kirpal Singh.

ee also

* Baba Sawan Singh
* Radha Soami Satsang Beas
* Soami Shiv Dayal Singh

External links

* [http://www.rssb.org/ Radha Soami Satsang Beas]
* [http://www.aors-dbbs.org/enter/satgurus/baba_jaimal_singh_ji.htm Baba Jaimal Singh Ji]
* [http://santmat-meditation.net/saints/jaimal.html Jaimal Singh]