Shri 108 Sant Sarwan Dass Ji Sant Sarwan Dass Ji was born on 15th February 1895 in the family of Baba Pipal Dass Ji and Mata Sobha wanti Ji at Gill Patti Bhatinda. After the joti jot smaye of Baba Pipal Dass Ji, Sant Sarwan Dass Ji took over the Dera. He held the sangat in high esteem. He himself was a highly disciplined saint. Since the days of Baba Pipal Dass Ji, he used to come out of the village to a distant quiet place and meditated there for most of times. He attained divine enlightenment. He had padam(flower type of symbol) in his right foot. It signified his predetermined divinity. He built a Kutia of mud and sarkanda on one kanal land donated byOne Shri Hazara Singh of village Bal. At this place an elegant mandir stands erected . He moulded his life to three norms SEWA-SATSANG-SIMRAN. He became famous and an example for others for noble values. He treated patients with free Ayurvedic medicines and divine blessings. Also he used to teach children. He strongly preached education among children in including girls. He liberally donated funds for schools, technical schools, colleges. There was one raised platform in front of the kutia on which Maharaj Ji always meditated and held satsang. In course of time, Sant Hari Dass Ji joined the Dera. Later Sant Garib Dass Ji and Sant Niranjan Dass Ji dedicated themselves to the Dera and joined Sant Sarwan Dass Ji. They all joined for Sewa of the Sangat under the guidance of Sant Sarwan Dass Ji. The writer has been fortunate enough to be close to Sant Sarwan Dass. He used to spend his night at his place at in village Bal. He always got up at 3.00 am. After bath he would sit in Samadhi. At the dawn of the day, he would go out for a long walk. Then he would come to Dera and give ayurvedic medicines to the patients, redressed individual problems of the devotees. Discussion on divinity were held with the saints and scholars. As soon on he was free from these engagements, he would start satsang. Then he would ask one or the other saint or any devotee from those present to recite Amrit Bani. This continued up to lunch. After lunch all devotees were requested to go to their homes. Maharaj Ji took rest for some time. He would again start religious discourses in the after-noon. A little after sun set, Maharaj Ji daily went to spend his night at the village Dera. There again satsang was held Many devotees from the Village Bal used to attend night satsang. After ardas at about 10 pm, Maharaj Ji would allow them to go to their homes. This was the daily routine. Many devotees and saints used to recite sacred bani exhorting us to worship God and to do noble deeds. Many sang soul touching songs in me- lodious tunes conveying the message of Bhakti. There used to be calm and serene atmosphere. Indeed, Sant Sarwan Dass Ji became successful in creating a cult among the devotees to do good, to educate their Children, to work hard, to spread love and affection, to make life meaningful, to do noble deeds, to be pious, to be an ideal and worthy person and above all to always remember God. He vehemently preached against ritu-als and superstitions. Following the foot prints of Guru Ravidass Ji, he laid stress on equality, fraternity, dignity, brotherhood. He was very practical. He asked his followers to discard tradi- tional customs and beliefs which are inimical to the growth of human beings. Sant Sarwan Dass Ji was highly distressed when he ever heard of oppression of the weak. He shouldered the cause of the poor and the down-trodden and dedicated his life to the welfare of humanity. He wanted their unity and that inspired them to struggle for regaining their human rights and dignity. ``Dera Ravidassia da`` 2 Frbruary 1964 AD. He Give the name Village Bal Dera. He respected saints who visited the Dera and used to exchange views on the spirituality with them. Whenever he found time he tried to meet spiritually en- lightened souls Sant Sarwan Dass Ji was always concerned with So-cial well- being. When in 1932 Poona Pact was implemented by dint of hard work of Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, the fast unto death of Shri Mangoo Ram Magowalia was discontinued by serving juice at the sacred hands of Sant Sarwan Dass Ji, During his visit to Delhi in 1948 at the request of Giani Bishna Ram, Shri Faquir Singh, Shri Swaran Singh, Shri Niranjan Singh Hothi, Shri Puran Singh of Beas Pind, Shri Bhagat Singh and Shri Nama Ram Dihana, and Sant Sarwan Dass Ji used to deliver religious discourses daily at the residence of devotees. During his stay at Delhi, he alongwith Giani Bishna Ram, went to meet Dr.B.R. Ambedkar, the prophet of humanity. Dr. Sahib showed great respect to Sant Sarwan Dass Ji & was very much im-pressed by Sant Sarwan Dass Ji’s glowing personality and views. In 1952 Dr. Ambedkar visited Punjab. Sant Sarwan Dass Ji could not meet him personally due to some reasons but wrote a very impressive letter. To quote : Dr. Sahib, you are a great son of community. March ahead for welfare of community & success will touch you feet and people will feel proud of you. In 1970, a big conference was held at Dera Ballan for all-round development of dalits in which about 20,000 people participated from Punjab, Himachal, Haryana and J & K. In those says there were stray incidents of opression and insulting the poor on the pretext of the religion, religions books, religious place, bani, Bhagat, Guru and the like. He was a great visionary saint. As if he had a premonition of fu-ture course of incidents, he held the opinion that Ravidassias should have their own supreme place of worship- the Ultimate Place of Pilgrimage. They will get emancipated when the Bani of Shri Guru Ravidass ji gets compiled to guide them. He shared his views with other leading contemporary saints, scholars, intelligentsia, dignitaries. All supported his opinion. But they extended moral support only. The onus to build a temple on the birth place of Guru Ravidass Ji fell on Sant Sarwan Dass Ji alone. He traced the birth place of Satguru Ravidass Ji at Seer Govardhanpur, Varanasi. The construction of 7-storey grand temple was completed during his life-time itself. His dream was fulfilled. Shri Guru Ravidass Janam Asthan Mandir, Seer Govardhanpur, Varanasi is the supreme gift he has given to the humanity. Today pilgrims from the world over visit this holy temple and seek blessings of Satguru Ravidass Maharaj Ji. Sant Sarwan Dass Ji fell ill. In the last satsang he held on 11th June 1972, he asked to recite Juggan de jug beet jaange Tainu milni na manas dehi Juggan de jug beet jaange After the satsang he was taken to American Hospital at Ludhiana where he left for his heavenly abode on 11th June 1972 at about 12 p.m. Huge number of followers from far and near attended his cremation on 13-6-1972 in the premesis of the Dera. His body was placed in pyre. It was lit by Sant Hari Dass Ji and Sant Garib Dass Ji. After a short while when the flames engulfed the pyre, a sudden three four feet high gush of stream of blood flowed from his body out of the pyre. It was an unprecedented phenomenon. Probably, he conveyed a message for us all for sacrifice for the poor people.
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 13:30:47 +0000