PRESENT HEAD OF THE DERA
The present Head of the Dera is Sant Makhan Singh Ji coming from the agricultural family in rural Punjab . He was born to S. Bahadur Singh Ji and Mata Chand Kaur Ji. In his childhood, he came into contact with Sant Ishar Singh Ji Nanaksar wale, who used to do Kirtan and Katha in the village Gurudwara. The boy was so influenced by Sant Ishar Singh Ji that he surrendered himself for his services and since then he considers him spiritual father. Sant Ji taught him Gurbani path. At the age of 14, he left his studies and engaged himself in agricultural activities to support his family and to help his elder brother for completing his studies and settling in life. But Sant Ishar Singh’s teaching had lit the spiritual fire in him.
Sant Makhan Singh’s spiritual journey began in 1975 when he decided to leave the present world of pain and suffering. He had two options at his disposal-one to seek the ultimate bliss through spiritualism and the other to put a full stop to misery by committing suicide. Unable to decide which was the better option, He started roaming in the countryside. Finally, he arrived at the Ashram of Sant Balwant Singh situated at Tanda Urmur, Hoshiarpur. Here Sant Balwant Singh advised him to check out the spiritual path first before resorting to extreme step. His words were – “In the second you would be blessed with the vision of ultimate truth. Through this experience, you bring benefit to the world.” During the span of six months spent there Baba Ji recited the whole Guru Granth Sahib for Twenty-four times which is regarded a significant achievement in Sikh Panth.
The personal benefit of this achievement was that the whole of the Granth Sahib was committed to his memory. This led to his appointment as Granthi at village Lakko Gaddowal, Jalandhar where he served for one year. After that he again left the place in search of ultimate truth and his ultimate field of activity. In this period he read many books written by foreign as well as Indian writers. The literature of Russian and German writers greatly impressed him. The literature of Indian writers e.g. S. Nanak Singh, S. Jaswant Singh Kanwal, S. Narinder Singh, Dr. Taran Singh, Dr. Rattan Singh Jaggi, Dr Dilip Kaur Tiwana, Amrita Pritam changed his view point and now service of the humanity was the main mission of his life. These wanderings took him to Peelibheet- which was backward area in Uttar Pradesh at that time, inhabited by backward classes such as Jaats, Mehtar, Banjara, Satnami, Lubana, Sickligar etc. Using the native Hindi for propagation of his message he reminded them that they have their origins in Sikh religion and advised them to re-adopt their original religion. Due to his preaching, about four thousand persons belonging to these castes reconverted to Sikhism. They were taught to recite Sukhmani Sahib. There was a traditional enmity in between Majha and Malwa communities of the area. He used his good offices to create amity between them and as a result, they started marrying into each other’s castes. In 1978, a Gurudwara called Nanaksar Malpuri was established in Kabirganj, Distt. Peelibheet, on a piece of land donated by the local people. In the religious discourses there a special emphasis was laid on giving up drinking. In 1980, he established Bhai Kanhaiya Ji Gurmat Sangeet Vidyala, which is a residential institution. At present, the institution provides free boarding and lodging facilities to about forty students. He also started two schools- one, Shri Guru Nanak Vidyala (a high school affiliated with U.P. School Board) at Dawoodpur Lakhimpur Kheri, and the other, Mata Tripta Silai Kendra, a tailoring institute at Lucknow Lucknow Amritsar Amritsar , he became a sevadar of Sant Kirpal Singh ji who was the Mahant of Dera Bhai Sant Amir Singh Ji, Bazaar Sattowala, Katra Karam Singh, and Amritsar 1983, a Dastarbandi ceremony was performed which declared him to be the Heir apparent to the seat of Mahant at the Dera. When Mahant Kirpal Singh Ji left for his heavenly adobe in May 1984, Sewa Panthi Addan Shabi Sabha (Regd) held a meeting in which he was unanimously declared the Mahant of the Dera. Since then, he is the head of the Taksal and the Dera.
