Sant Nirankari Mission

The Sant Nirankari Mission had its formal beginning on May 25, 1929, the day when Avtar Singh met Buta Singh. Avtar Singh joined Buta Singh in taking this mission to the masses.[3][4] In 1943, Baba Buta Singh passed on his position to Baba Avtar Singh.[5] Avtar Singh moved to Delhi after partition, getting his group registered as the "Sant Nirankaris" in 1948. He would be succeeded by Gurbachan Singh in 1962.

The Sant Nirankaris had clashed by orthodox Sikhs since the 1950s, with tensions increasing due to some of Gurbachan Singh's religious actions, culminating in the 1978 Sikh-Nirankari clashes and further incidents.[6][7][8][9] Gurbachan Singh would by assassinated in 1980.[10] Naturally, everyone lamented and condemned this act and their patience and tolerance was under severe stress.

In 2016, Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev Ji, succeeded Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj as the Spiritual Head of the Mission.[11] In 2018, she declared Mata Sudiksha Savinder Hardev Ji as the spiritual leader, days before she succumbed to her deteriorating health.[12]

The Sant Nirankari Mission aims at self-realization through God-realization.[17] Human being has been described as superior to all other species created by God. It is the human being alone who has been bestowed with intellect that enables him to distinguish between the eternal Truth and the transient existence, reality and non-reality, desirable and the undesirable. For this, however, one must be familiar with what is true, real and desirable.

Ordinarily we find everything surrounding us, occurring in day-to-day life and everything we do as true, real and a matter of fact. But looking at all this carefully, we shall find that these realities are not ever-lasting or eternally constant. They change with the change of time, place and person. What we need, therefore, is the Ultimate Truth, the Ultimate Reality, infinite and eternal, beyond time, beyond birth and death, beyond places – the same everywhere, and beyond all identities – the same for everyone, irrespective of one's caste, colour, race, religion or nationality etc.[18]

And this Ultimate Truth, Ultimate Reality; this supreme, eternal and infinite entity is God. In His formless existence, it is He who was there when nothing existed, He is there when everything exists and He shall be there when there will be nothing – animate or inanimate. Hence the principal aim of human life is to know this formless, attribute-less omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent God.[19] This is what we are living for. Once it is accomplished and God gets associated with our thoughts, words and actions, we know what is true, real and desirable.

Therefore, one must link the mind with God all the time at all places and in all circumstances. This makes life meaningful, joyous, and content. This leads to a state of complete harmony and makes life happy here and earns the bliss that is eternal, hereafter.[20] The devotees of the Mission practice spirituality through regular congregations held at various centres of the Mission. An annual congregation called Sant Nirankari Samagam is also held at Sant Nirankari Spiritual Complex, Samalkha[21] where lakhs of devotees gather to share their thoughts on spirituality.

The Avtar Bani outlines the key philosophy of the Sant Nirankari Mission. Named after its author, Nirankari Baba Avtar Singh Ji,[SNM 2] it was first published under the title of 'Avtar Bani' in 1957. Its complete version was, however, published in 1965 as 'Sampuran Avtar Bani'. Originally written in 376 Punjabi verses, with some stanzas were in Urdu and Sindhi, Sampuran Avtar Bani explains the message of the Mission in all its aspects. Even though not worshipped as a holy religious book, every devotee values it for its practical and easy-to-understand messages. Sampuran Avtar Bani has already been published in Gurumukhi, Devnagari, Urdu and Roman scripts. It has also been translated and published in and published in English (prose) and, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Nepali, Marathi, Garhwali, Haryanavi, Sindhi and Telugu (all verses).

The Sampuran Hardev Bani, authored by Baba Hardev Singh Ji, was published in 2017. Written in Hindi, the Sampuran Hardev Bani contains 301 verses.

The Nirankari Museum was inaugurated by fourth satguru of the Mission, Baba Hardev Singh Ji, on 22 February 2005. The museum is located within the Sant Nirankari Sarovar Complex in New Delhi. It depicts the history and key teachings of the Mission through audio-visuals and pictures.[22][23]

The Nirankari Sant Samagam,[24] which is a term used to describe a large scale spiritual gathering, is held on over 1400 acres of Sant Nirankari Spiritual Complex land at Samalkha, Haryana, India. It is one of the highlights in the annual diary of every member of the Mission where they congregate once a year in perfect harmony and with great enthusiasm. The Samagam is truly and unique occasion where people from various cultures, faiths, backgrounds and walks of life get together and join in prayer and remembrance of one Formless God who is known as Nirankar.

There are 1,000's of Sevadal units (Selfless Volunteers) from all over the world who engage in selfless service at this occasion and work tirelessly throughout the course of the year in order to manage the noble work of the Mission.

This further promotes the feeling of community contribution and service by engaging youth and the elders alike.

The mission has been contributing to social welfare and community development through its social welfare department, as also through Sant Nirankari Charitable Foundation (SNCF).[25] The underlying principle here is to heal, enrich and empower the world, by serving with humility.

The Mission operates many schools, colleges and other educational institutions in various cities of India. Along with this, vocational institutes for youth have been set-up for up-skilling. Youth empowerment and women empowerment programs are also organized regularly.

In the realm of health, the mission has organized various health check-up camps, eye check-up camps and has rendered medical assistance to disabled and elderly. Blood Donation camps[26] have been organized for almost about 3 decades now and this journey is on-going. Even during the extremely trying times of COVID-19 pandemic;[27][28] the mission organized many safe and well-controlled blood donation camps in various parts of India.

The devotees of the Mission are also involved in tree plantation drives and cleanliness drives along with providing relief and rehabilitation to natural calamity affected brothers and sisters. All these efforts of selfless service are done by the volunteers of the Mission, who form a disciplined group in the form of Sant Nirankari Sewadal (SNSD), established in 1956.

The Mission is also coming up with Sant Nirankari Health City (SNHC),[29] a huge super specialty hospital in North Delhi, India to cater to the comprehensive wellness and health of the community.[30]

• Official website
• Foundation website