Ma­nav Ken­dra, sit­u­at­ed ­near Deh­ra ­Dun at ­the foot­hills of ­the Him­a­laya, ­was ­meant as a ­Man-Mak­ing Cen­tre, in­clud­ing sev­er­al fa­ci­lites serv­ing ­the ­poor ­and ­the ­needy. There ex­ists a Sar­o­var, a li­brary ­for a com­par­a­tive ­study of ­all re­lig­ions, a hos­pi­tal ­for ­the ­needy ­and ­sick, a ­fathers' ­home ­for ­the ­old ­and poor, a ­school, a com­mon kitch­en, ­and a beau­ti­ful ­open ­stage ­for Sat­sang.

When Manav Kendra was under construction a newspaper reporter came to ask Sant Kirpal Singh questions for a report. Among other questions, he asked Sant Kirpal Singh, "What is Your budget?" Sant Kirpal Singh replied, "God is my budget – and I'm spending like wildfire."

 

 

Selecting the place

When the time of Manav Kendra came, it was not fully decided about the site. Some people said, "Master, this is a beautiful place", others said, "No, Master, that site is more beautiful." Others said, "Master, I have seen one place, you would like it." Then we went there. Master said, "I send two persons from me and they have to select the place." So Master gave us His car and the driver. He said, "You two go alone there and see all places they tell about, the driver knows them all."


The driver took us to the three places, and when we came back, Master asked, "Which place have you selected?" We said, "Master, we have not selected any place. We have seen that You are the one who has to select it. Nobody can do that." Master said, "After all, what did you experience?" We answered, "Master, we went to every site, and it was very hot weather. But when we went to that place (where now Manav Kendra is situated), immediately it started raining there. So we think that Baba Sawan Singh was there." Master said, "He was there. Do you know whose place it was? It was from Guru Gobind Singh. He stayed there for one night."

Harbhajan Singh

 

 

Seva at Manav Kendra

Those who are selected to work in His Mission are selected by His grace. It is not everybody who is selected to work in His Mission or who are brought into closer contact with Him, He places that person in a position where he can serve God directly, either at His home or in His Mission. This is His grace, so only he can serve God or the God-in-man whom God Himself wishes.


It is all His grace that induces one to come nearer to Him. Those who have been selected for that purpose are most fortunate. Sometimes we are selected for a certain purpose and we think that we are the master of the service that is given to us. The little ego within us naturally asserts. This is not service.
The service of the Master is to carry out the work as the Master wishes it. That alone can be called a service with which the Master is pleased, all others not. There should be selfless service always. So those who have been selected for the service of the Master, in one way or the other, to carry on His work here or anywhere under His direct supervision, are most fortunate.


If we want to serve God or the God-in-man, it can be done only through His grace and if He wishes it. Nobody else can do it. If one has been selected to work for the Master, it is God's grace. When you are selected for one purpose, then do it joyously, quietly, lovingly, selflessly. Thank God that you have been selected for that job, that you have been included in the arrangement to carry on His work. It is His grace.


You should be true to the Master within you. When you see that He is within you, you will be afraid to do anything wrong, which is against His wishes, whether you are in His presence or in His absence. If you carry on in that way, you will be thinking of the Master and the result will be, "As you think, so you become". By and by you will find that "It is He who is working in me and not I". Saint Paul said that "It is I, not now I, it is Christ who lives in me". This is the ultimate goal. So those who are selected to carry on the work of the service under the Master have God's grace upon them. They should be thankful that they have been given that  service. Any service done at the will and pleasure of the Master, in which there is no self assertion, bears forth ample fruit. When you give service to such a God-in-man, naturally you will be compensated. What compensation will He give you? He will first free you from the world and then unite you with God forever.

Sant Kirpal Singh

 

Once in Dehra Dun, Master got one playground from the school for Satsang. There the food was served on big leaves of trees, which in India are used as plates if there is a big rush of people. Sometimes these leaves are leaking or fall to the ground, and it is very slippery. About 1000 people took the food but very few persons took away those leaves so that all were lying there.


Master got up at two o' clock. Though we both were knowing that Master would come up, we never knew that Master was to go on this playground. Master went straightway there and then started to pick up all these scattered leaves. We said, "Master, it is not Your duty." Master replied, "When no one is reponsible, at least I am responsible. Tomorrow the children will come, and if any child will fall and get some fracture, the discredit goes to the Master or to whom?" I said, "Yes, the discredit then goes to You, but we will do that job." So we started with it. This is responsibility. Master was waiting who would become responsible. Since no one felt responsible, Master had to come there.

Harbhajan Singh

 

When Master wanted to start with Manav Kendra, He said, "First people from Amritsar and Chandigarh will come and  start the work there, and thereafter other people from all over India will follow."

So first of all, right in the beginning, we had to go to Manav Kendra. When we reached there and I had just started to work, Master gave out the message, "Send the Doctor back to me!" When I came there, Master said, "Keep sitting here." So I was sitting for a while, but then Master lay down and I saw that Master was taking rest now. Therefore I again went back to work. After some time I returned to Master and He said, "I told you to sit here, why did you go there?" I answered, "Master, there is so much work to be done."

Then I went there again and started once more to work, but my heart was palpitating so much as if it would go out of my body. The pulse was so fast that I could not stand on my legs. It was a very hot day. I went back to Master. He was sitting on the chair, while I was lying on the grass. It took only maybe five to ten minutes till my condition became normal again.

Then Master said, "My orders are more important than duties. If I say something, you should obey." I said, "Master, I only knew that there is very much work and I must do it." Master said, "I am sick, you know?" I answered, "Yes." – "Your duty is only to sit by me and talk with me. Many doctors come but I will not take any medicine unless you recommend it. So this is also a very big work. Therefore, when you come, you should only stay with me. You have nothing to do there." I did not think that it was not my duty to work there, I thought I must do it with my own hands.


So duty is of different essence. Even this was a duty – to remain with Master and watch everything. Some people used to stress Master. Some doctors told Him, "Master, I have brought a very good medicine, You must take this medicine." So I was also very careful about all that. I never knew why Master said that, but there was an essence in it, and so I used to stay with Him. Later on I simply had to stay with Master and was only doing little work which Master wanted me to do. Maybe I brought some books for the Master or some water, or did something else for Him, many such types of work. But at the time of Master most of the work was only with Master.

Harbhajan Singh

 

Under His protection

The days before the war between India and Pakistan started, we were also in Dehra Dun. There the selfless service was going on. When Master wanted to go to Delhi, all of the Sangat said that there was a danger and that they had left their children at home and we should get leave from the Master and also return home since we did not know when Master would come back.


I requested the Master, "Master, can there also be some problem in Amritsar, because Amritsar is the city which is close to the Pakistan border?" Master said, "Yes, there will be big bombs." I said, "Master, we are not afraid of the bombs. We are the disciples of a great Master." Master said, "Nothing will happen, don't worry."


Then all people wanted to ask Master when the war would start there. India is having some thousand kilometres border with Pakistan. But it  had not yet started there, it was in Kashmir.


Master said, "It is His will. The armies do not fight  before it is decided on the higher planes, only thereafter the war can start. And it also stops with His wish. When the two forces, positive and negative power decide, and if there is no option, then it starts."


Then I asked, "Master, people want to ask, when it will be?" We never asked such a thing from the Master. Master said, "You should sit in meditation and ask that Power, He will tell you the very exact time and also the time when it will finish." It was very loveable from Master's side. I said, "Master, simply give us roughly some date, so that we can go there." Master said that the Masterpower inside could exactly give the date and the time when this war would start. When my wife was sitting in meditation, the Masterpower told within that it could break out between the second and the third December. When we were back to Amritsar, Master said within, "In the evening it will start at half past six." Exactly at that time the first bomb exploded. Then the Masterpower told us, "It will last only eight days, not more." He also gave the date and the time when it would stop.


When the bombs were exploding there, this whole area was vacated. But I declared in the Satsang, "There is no need to leave home. Nothing will happen. Only take protective measures, outer protection is also a must." So from our whole village nobody went (there were four villages which altogether formed one village). But in the morning many people used to visit our house, and I asked, "Why do you come to our house?" They said, "We simply come to see if you are there. If you leave the village, then we also will leave." I said, "Why are you so confident about us?" They said, "Your Master is very competent. Whatever you tell that always becomes true." I said, "This is why I always tell the words of the Master and never tell anything from my own side."


So during this whole time people experienced the Master, they saw the Master while in meditation, how He was controlling the whole situation on the border, and there used to be much smoke or this or that.


Master physically was sick during that time, His throat was fully choked and He always used to take gargles with some liquid. One person was in Delhi, which is nearly six hundred kilometres away from the border, and told that Master said there, "It is so much smoke, it is suffocating, I feel choking."
So it means, this whole burden of the earth, the whole sin of the world, that is carried away by the Grace of the Master.

Harbhajan Singh

Sarovar at Manav Kendra
Sant Kirpal Singh's residence at Manav Kendra
Sant Kirpal Singh working at Manav Kendra, 1970

Read more:
Sant Kirpal Singh –
The true service of God or God-in-man

Sant-Kirpal-Singh-Manav-Kendra
Sant Kirpal Singh distributing chapaties to workers at Manav Kendra
Sant Kirpal Singh distributing chapaties to workers at Manav Kendra
Sant-Kirpal-Singh-Manav-Kendra

Disciples who have faith in their Master can go through many dangerous experiences and will be astonished how they are saved and protected. These things are daily occurrences.

Sant Kirpal Singh

More:
Harbhajan Singh - "Master is our saviour and protector"

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