Sawan Singh: Difference between revisions

{{short description|The second Satguru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas}}

| name             = Baba Sawan Singh

| honorific-prefix = Hazur Maharaj

| image           = RS sawan.jpg

| religion         = [[Sant Mat]], [[Radha Soami]]

| nationality     = [[Indian people|Indian]]

| citizenship     = British subject

| birth_date       = 20 July 1858

| birth_place     = Jatana, Ludhiana, [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]], Indian Empire

(Ancestral village : Mehma Singh Wala, Ludhiana, Punjab)  

| death_date       = {{death date and age|df=y|1948|4|2|1858|7|20}}

| death_place     = Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, [[Beas City|Beās]], [[Punjab Province (British India)|Pañjāb]], Indian Empire

| alma_mater       = [[Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee|Thomason College of Civil Engineering]]

| occupation       = civil engineer, Military Engineering Service

| institute       = [[Radha Soami Satsang Beas]]

| period           = 1903–48

| predecessor     = Baba [[Jaimal Singh]]

| successor       = Sardar Bahadur Maharaj [[Jagat Singh (Sant)|Jagat Singh]]

| post             = [[Satguru]]

| known_for       = Developed Dera Baba Jaimal Singh colony

| influences       = Baba [[Jaimal Singh]]

| influenced       = Sardar Bahadur Maharaj [[Jagat Singh (Sant)|Jagat Singh]], Maharaj [[Charan Singh (Sant)|Charan Singh]],  [[Julian Johnson]]

| background       = #FFC569

'''Hazur Maharaj Baba Sawan Singh''' (1858-1948), also known as "The Great Master" or ''Bade Maharaj Ji'', was an [[Indian people|Indian]] Saint or ''Sant''. He was the second [[Satguru]] of [[Radha Soami Satsang Beas]] (RSSB) from the death of Baba [[Jaimal Singh]] in 1903 until his own death on 2 April 1948.<ref>Sondhi, S. L. (Ed.) (1981). ''Radha Soami Satsang Beas: Origin and Growth''. Dera Baba Jaimal Singh: [[Radha Soami Satsang Beas]].</ref>

Although he did not refer to himself with these, the following appellations and honorifics have been used to refer to Baba Sawan Singh:

*the Great Master

Baba Sawan Singh Grewal was born into a Grewal [[Jat people|Jat]] [[Sikh]] family in the village of Mehma Singh Wala, District Ludhiana, in pre-partition Punjab. His father was Subedar Major Kabal Singh Grewal and his mother was Jiwani Kaur. He was married to Kishan Kaur and together they had three children. He passed engineering at [[Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee|Thomason College of Civil Engineering]], Roorkee and later joined the Military Engineering Service.

Baba Sawan Singh retired on government pension in 1911 to Dera Baba Jaimal Singh (Beas), the "camp of Baba Jaimal Singh" where Baba Jaimal Singh had settled in 1891. During his ministry the Dera expanded greatly, with houses for both permanent residents and guests, a library and a Satsang Hall. Sawan Singh sheltered victims of the communal holocaust of the [[Partition of India]]. His following included Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and for the first time, thousands from abroad. He had initiates from America, England, Switzerland, Germany, most notable of whom being the Americans physician-surgeon Dr. [[Julian Johnson]] and chiropractic-osteopath Dr. [[Randolph Stone]] and the Swiss physician-homeopath Dr. Pierre Schmidt.

* Seth [[Shiv Dayal Singh]]

* Sardar Bahadur Maharaj [[Jagat Singh (Sant)|Jagat Singh]]

* [[Charan Singh (Sant)|Maharaj Charan Singh]]

* [[Sant Kirpal Singh Ji Maharaj|Kirpal Singh]]

*Maharaj Charaṇ Singh, ''Spiritual Heritage''.