A PIONEER OF SEWA DAL:

There would hardly be any person in the Nirankari world who might have not heard about the fearless saint, Partap Singh.  On the other hand, there is hardly a person who knows much about his life before he joined the Sant Nirankari Mission.  Very few people know that he belonged to a Sindhi family. He had never talked to anybody about his childhood: Where was he born?  Who were his parents?   To all such questions he had always one answer that Satguru was his mother and Satguru was his father and that he were born in his lap.

However, Partap Singh was born in Nawab Ganj (now in Pakistan) in 1927.  His  childhood name was Atma Ram.  He studied up to Intermediate.  He was keen to study further, but because of his strong passion to serve the country, he joined the activists’ movement of Rashtriya Swaym Sewak Sangh. As the time passed, he turned towards spirituality.  He started visiting Gurdwara and was renamed as Partap Singh.   He got married and had a daughter, but soon thereafter he lost his wife. 

In 1951, there was a Nirankari Sant Samagam in Ahmedabad (Gujarat).  Some communal elements wanted to create trouble.  Shri Partap Singh who was to arrange loudspeaker etc. in the Samagam came to know about this.  He, however, did not like such a mischievious interference in other people’s affairs.  Therefore, instead of joining the violent mob, he preferred to contact Baba Avtar Singh Ji to know the truth.     

Accordingly, Partap Singh met Baba Avtar Singh Ji and was much impressed by the Truth he preached.  He did not lose any time and realized the Truth from Baba Ji.  He also realized that all the propaganda of the opponents was false and without any basis and that they were only harassing the Nirankari saints without any reason. 

By nature, Partap Singh was a man of courage.  He was also known for the spirit of service for others.  Naturally, he was quite outspoken and straightforward also. Above all, he was a man of action and did not like to defer a thing once he determined to accomplish it.  Now, with the realization of Truth he became absolutely fearless, but with a change.  Hereafter, all his energy would be spent only on positive, constructive and welfare activities.  So, he threw himself in the service of the Master and the Mission.  He dedicated all his life to this noble cause. 

When he joined the Mission, Partap Singh came with a motherless daughter only. Now he married Surinder Kaur and thus his family life also took a happy turn.  His spirit of service to others got its expression through Sewa Dal, which can easily be described as his gift to the Mission.

It was on a humble persuasion from Partap Singh that Baba Avtar Singh Ji blessed the formation of the Sant Nirankari Sewa Dal in 1956.  The President of the Sant Nirankari Mandal, Pardhan Labh Singh Ji was made its ‘Dalpati’.  Partap Singh along with other volunteers worked under the guidance of Pardhan Labh Singh Ji and made arrangement for various congregations. Thus Partap Singh was among the founder members of the Sant Nirankari Sewa Dal.  With the blessings of Satguru, he also introduced the Sewa Dal uniforms, one for men and the other for women.

Subsequently, the Sant Nirankari Sewa Dal received a formal set up in which Partap Singh was made its Mukhya Shikshak (Chief Instructor) while Shri B.S. Nirman was nominated as Mukhya Sanchalak and Shri Gopal Singh Premi as Up-Mukhya-Sanchalak.  Partap Singh, even though the Chief Instructor, preferred to work shoulder to shoulder with the volunteers rather than commanding them.  No wonder, the volunteers too considered him as their colleague rather than boss.  In fact, they loved to call him Chacha (uncle) rather than their chief.  That is why he was known as Chacha Partap Singh. 

During the days of Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji, who became the spiritual Head of the Mission in December 1962, Partap Singh always used to accompany the Satguru.  He was present at every function and congregation attended by Baba Ji.  He was widely known as Baba Ji’s bodyguard.  However, he earned his livelihood through the sale and service of loudspeakers.  He was an efficient electrician. 

Partap Singh had full an unflinching faith in the Satguru.  It was his conviction that in the service of the Satguru the disciple is not the doer but only a means and that the Satguru could get his work done at any time and through anyone.  So, whenever Baba Ji gave him any directive or there was any occasion for service, Partap Singh would carry out the directions of the Satguru without losing any time in any argument whatsoever.   He used to say that Satguru’s job had already been done and that he was only to get the credit.  This is the inspiration he gave to his colleagues also.

Only that devotee is great whose services are praised by the Satguru.  Even on this touchstone Partap Singh occupied a distinguished place among devotees.  Baba Avtar Singh Ji as also Satguru Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji praised his services on many occasions in the course of their public discourses.  In the historic Mussoorie Conference in 1973, Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji praised him as an outstanding Sewadar in the service of the Mission with an unparalleled spirit of service and sacrifice.  The Satguru and the saints always praised his service and held him in high respect which he always took in humility.  He never made a mention of any service he had ever rendered to the Mission.  On the other hand, whenever any saint talked about his services, he always took it as a benediction and gift from the Satguru. 

Partap Singh had faith in practical service and not in any show business.  He took every chance of service as a blessing of God and would not miss it.  Even the devoted social workers shirk the nearness of the patients suffering from contagious diseases.  But this great servant of the Mission, whenever got any information about any saint suffering from such a disease, he was the first to visit him and serve him in every way, got him admitted in the hospital or attended to him in the Nirankari Bhavan. 

One can judge Partap Singh’s spirit of service and his readiness to serve from a well-known incident.  The scavengers stuck work in the Nirankari Colony.  There being no flush system, the night soil spread an unbearable smell in the colony.  It was a serious nuisance for everyone but no one knew how to get rid of it.  One morning, people saw a sweeper with covered face cleaning every house.  Even on enquiry she would not disclose her identity to anyone.  She was cleaning the dry latrines silently without uttering a word.  After sometime when the cleaning operation was completed, it was disclosed that the sweepress was none else than the great saint of the Mission, Partap Singh.  When Baba Avtar Singh Ji was told about it, he profusely blessed this distinguished disciple.

Partap Singh was fearless but he was against violence.  He was expert in security tactics.  He never initiated any attack but he would always defend the congregation with superb ability if there was any mischief by others.  His security tactics and the presence of mind always saved the saints from any attack by communal fanatics in all situations but without any violence.  He dealt with all such untoward situations quality but with alertness.  One of the secrets of his success was that he never lost his presence of mind even in the most trying situations.  All of us had seen his capability of saving the situation at Hansi in 1967 and Amritsar in 1978.  To save the congregation from the ghastly attack of a mob armed with lethal weapons, was the miracle that could be performed only by the fearless saint Partap Singh.  Pleased with his services, if someone blessed him with long life, he would remark that he never wished to live a moment after Baba Ji, and so he asked them to pray for the long life of Baba Ji.

As a matter of coincidence both Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji and brave Partap Singh fell to the bullets of some orthodox extremist elements on the same day, at the same time at the same place on April 24, 1980, Partap Singh was in the vehicle that escorted Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji’s car.  On reaching the Bhavan, as he came forward to open the door of Baba Ji’s car, the murderers, who were hiding themselves, fired at him as well as Baba Ji.  Thus ended the long journey of both the Guru and the disciple together.

No doubt the fearless saint, a unique devotee, selfless servant of the Mission, brave Partap Singh is not with us physically, yet his practical life service and devotion will always be a source of inspiration for generation to come.