Devi Sahab
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Baba Devi Sahab (Hindi: बाबा देवी साहब ) (1841–1919) was one of the most eminent sants in the tradition of Santmat. He spread Santmat far & wide throughout North India and Pakistan. It is said that his parents had been childless for a long time and that it was due to blessings of the legendary sage Sant Tulsi Sahab of Hathras, U.P., India that Baba Devi Sahab was born.[1] When Baba Devi Sahab was nearly four years of age Sant Tulsi Sahab visited his house again. He put his hand of blessing on the head of Baba Devi Sahab and prophesied that he would one day turn into a great sant molding significantly the lives of countless people spiritually. Some sources also mention that Sant Tulsi Sahab had also stated while touching Baba Devi Sahab's head that he had initiated the latter that way into Santmat's way of meditation, and as such Sant Tulsi Sahab is treated to be the Guru of Baba Devi Sahab.However, there is no documented evidence of Sant Tulsi Sahab being the Guru of Baba Devi Sahab in the formal sense. Baba Devi Sahab has not in any of his works or discourses mentioned anything about who was his Guru, nor do we find this mentioned in any of the literature of his most eminent successor Maharshi Mehi Paramhans. Nonetheless, although nothing can be said concretely regarding whether Sant Tulsi Sahab was formally the Guru of Baba Devi Sahab or not, it is undisputed that Baba Devi Sahab and his family had special blessings of Sant Tulsi Sahab. Besides, the order in which portrait photographs are found to be arrayed in a number of Ashrams of Santmat clearly show the lineage running from Sant Tulsi Sahab to Baba Devi Sahab to Maharshi Mehi Paramhans to Maharshi Santsevi Paramhans and as such there appears to be some credibility in the claims of Sant Tulsi Sahab as the Guru of Baba Devi Sahab.
Baba Devi Sahab lived a simple life as a postal clerk while practicing his spiritual discipline. He voluntarily retired early and lived his latter years in Moradabad in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He was a kind teacher and had a large following. Baba Devi Sahab says:
'''“You may remain Hindu, Muslim, Christian or a follower of any other religion. But while living the pleasures and pains of human life do not live even a single day without inner meditation.”'[2]
Baba Devi Sahab preached the oneness of God that indwells each & every being. That one only God, he taught, can be realised within by every human being regardless of one's caste, creed, region or religion by practicing inner meditation - meditation on inner light and meditation on inner sound also known as surat shabd yoga - learnt from a true adept or sadguru. While some other lineages of Santmat in due course of time took on different names relating to their founders or some other suitable terms like Kabir Panth, Dariya Panth, Radhasoami etc., Baba Devi Sahab preferred to continue with the more general and generic term Santmat. [3]
Baba Devi Sahab gave a clear exposition of the inner cosmology based on his own experiences of inner meditation. In the Preface to the Ghat Ramayan (Ghat Ramayan' is the name of a book popularly believed to have been authored by Sant Tulsi Sahab of Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, India. Baba Devi Sahab got the hand-written manuscript of Sant Tulsi Sahab of Hathras printed at Hathras itself in the year of 1896) of Sant Tulsi Sahab of Hathras, he has presented a precise chart of the fourteen inner planes. [4]
Baba Devi Sahab preached that it was by no other means save inner meditation which consisted mainly of the Yoga of Inner Light and the Yoga of Inner Sound that one could attain complete liberation from the shackles of transmigration. He said,
"There are only two, NOT MANY, means for practice (of meditation) among sants – one is `drishti' (sight or vision) and the other is `shabd' (sound or word)."[5]
He would preach that selfless pure love, 'ishq' or 'bhakti' towards the God is of utmost importance. He remarked in one of his discourses delivered at Karachi, Pakistan,
"Therefore, we should understand that bhakti or love is the life or soul of the entire world; it is responsible for the existence of everything from the tiny atom to all the bodies and masses." [6]
He cautioned people to very carefully and meticulously guard against the vices of jealousy and vainglory as these defile our mind.
Baba Devi Sahab, who was the contemporary of Sant Radhaswami and Sant Rai Saligram Singh Ji, had several disciples including Shri Nandan Das, but Maharshi Mehi Paramhans proved himself to be his most prominent disciple and the worthiest successor who organised the lineage of Santmat in a much more systematic way and took it to the dizziest of heights of fame & glory spreading its fragrance even overseas to countries like the USA, the UK, the erstwhile USSR, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Nepal etc.
Very little of what Baba Devi Sahab said is available in written form and the poems composed by him are still rarer to find. Given below is English translation of one such poem taken from the book "Satsang Bhajanaavali" compiled & edited by Swami Achyutanand ji. Swami Achyutanand ji is probably the eldest living direct disciple of Maharshi Mehi, still very actively involved in the noble mission of propagation of Santmat even at his ripe age of about 84 years. He was the founder editor of the spiritual monthly "Shanti Sandesh" started by Maharshi Mehi. He has authored a number of books on Santmat and different aspects of inner meditation and is currently the editor of the spiritual quarterly "Adhyatma Prakash" (Light of Spirituality) published from Maharshi Santsevi Dhyanayogasharam, Agarpara, Kolkata, India. In this poem Baba Devi Sahab says,
"Our Lord resides in all (of us). He, our Lord, is so wonderful that though He pervades everything, (and yet) He is separate from, and transcends everything. It is not possible to see Him (in His true form) without meeting, and learning the right secrets from an (accomplished) Guru. Blessed and adorable is he within whose body He reveals Himself (i.e. he who can see His true form within himself/ his body). He is sans any form, colour and shape, (and so) Vedas sing "neti neti" (meaning, `nothing in this creation is like, or resembles Him') in His praise. I wonder, says Baba Devi Sahab, how and in how many ways to describe Him, for He (God) is ineffable and much beyond the faculties of speaking & listening[7]
References
- ^ http://www.sadgurumehi.com/satsangSudha/babaDevi/babaDeviLife.html
- ^ http://thewayofsages.com
- ^ http://santmat.tumblr.com/post/10023343825/essential-teachings-of-baba-devi-sahab-of
- ^ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sant_santati/message/613
- ^ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sant_santati/message/966
- ^ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sant_santati/message/245
- ^ Swami Achyutanand Ji, Bhajanavali (a book of spiritual poems by various sants), Shanti Sandesh Press, Bhagalpur
- Paramhans, Maharshi Santsevi (2000). "Baba Devi Sahab Ke Sansmaran" (first ed.). Bhagalpur, India: Akhil Bharatiya Santmat-Satsang Prakashan.
- Paramhans, Maharshi Mehi. Satyadev. "Satsang Yoga" (third ed.). Bhagalpur, India: Akhil Bharatiya Santmat-Satsang Prakashan.