Saiyid Kasran – The Master’s Birthplace
- Sant Kirpal
Singh -
“Some years ago, I went to my home in Sayyad
Kasran …
I held a Satsang, taking a hymn from the Gurubani: "I am
attached to things that I see. How can I find thee, O Lord?”
Sant Kirpal Singh
1894 Kirpal Singh was born on February 6, 1894, in a rural setting in Saiyid Kasran, district Rawalpindi, Punjab (then in British India,
now in Pakistan), to Sardar
Hukam Singh and Gulab Devi, as the youngest brother of three. His eldest
brother was Prem Singh, and His elder brother Jodh Singh. He was brought up in
a Sikh household, and was educated at the Edwardes
Church Mission
High School in Peshawar.
1924 “I was the first man in my village to be initiated,
and it started some trouble. I was called to the temple there and I tried to
explain to them, finally saying, ‘All right, there is a difference; why
not take a few men, say four or five, and we will go and talk together heart to
heart – you may choose the most learned men.’ A number of people
took a vow to kill me as a result; they fixed a meeting place, choosing the
time at ten o’clock at night, with the purpose of killing me as I walked
through the village to the appointed place. But when the hour came and I walked
to the meeting place, they did meet me on the way but had no courage to attack
me. Some months after this incident, the ringleader of this plot came to Lahore and I met him one
day in the street. I at once invited him to my home, telling him, ‘Come,
dear friend, have your food with me today.’ When we reached my house, he
sat down and cried. Naturally, I asked him what was wrong, and he replied,
‘You knew I was the one who led that plot to kill you, and yet you have
welcomed me to your home.’ He was quite overcome.”
Sant
Kirpal Singh
1930ies Once
Hazur went to Sayyad Kasran, the village of Sant Kirpal Singh. After the Satsang,
the headmaster of the local school stood up and said, “Sir, so far as you
initiate the deserving ones into the esoteric mysteries of the beyond, it is
all right. But when you initiate even the undeserving for the mere asking, it
seems rather queer and improper.” Hazur replied, “Brother, if you
talk of the deserving candidates, I can teil you in confidence that even I was
not deserving when Babaji bestowed on me the riches of Naam.” And then
added, “If a wealthy person would like to share his riches with his poor
brethren, why should anybody grudge it.”
Once, Hazur went to the village
of Sayyad
Kasran for a Satsang. There was a huge gathering.
The Akalis likewise held a big diwan (meeting), in opposition to Hazur’s
mission. After the Satsangs, both in the morning and evening, people would
partake from the Langar – a sort of free community kitchen. On
that day, at about 2 in the afternoon, when the langar had finished
serving the Satsangis, some hundreds of Akalis came and asked for food, simply
to embarrass the organisers. They were in no mood to wait and asked to be
served food immediately. When S. Kirpal Singh was informed of the situation, he
hastened to the langar, and finding that there was hardly anything left
ordered that a fresh meal be prepared. The Akalis, however, insisted on
immediate service. At this juncture Hazur himself came to the langar and
asked, “Kirpal Singh, why don’t you serve food to these people,
when there is enough of it for the purpose. Take the basket of chapatis, cover
it with a cloth and begin serving them – and do likewise with the
vegetables.” No sooner said than done. The chapatis and the vegetables
were accordingly served and to the amazement of those serving the food and
those partaking of it, there was no dearth and the Akalis had their fill.
Saiyid Kasran
The village is located on the Potohar (Potwar)
Plateau, 40 km (25 m) south of Rawalpindi and
some 30 km (19 m) north of the famous Salt
Range, a series of hills and low
mountains between the valleys of the Indus and Jhelum
rivers.
Saiyid
Kasran (marked with → on big map) actually consists of two parts: Saiyid
(or: Syed; earlier: Sayyad, Sayyed) and Kasran (or: Kasrān), 2 km (1,3 m)
apart from each other. The Saiyid Kasran Railway Station (now closed) used to
be located 3 km (2 m) north of Saiyid on the Mandra-Chakwal railway track of
the North Western Railway (see Rawalpindi District maps).
Maps
Saiyid Kasran 2007 (Punjab, Pakistan,
150 kb)
Rawalpindi District 1955 (US army map service, 880 kb)
Picture
Gallery
Click on thumbnails to enlarge
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Mandra-Chakwal
Railway 1922
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Salt Range mountains
near Saiyid Kasran
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