Bhai Jeevan Singh jee is one the Panth's jewels who is the image of humility and saintliness. Bhai Sahib's life has been devoted to the sevaa of the Panth and humanity. He has served as the Head Granthi at Takhat Sri Patna Sahib and has done keertan sevaa with the Akhand Kirtani Jatha for about 40 years. Since 1977 Bhai Sahib has toured different countries to spread Gurmat (the Guru's teachings) and has inspired countless to become the Sikhs of the Guru through his exemplary character and behaviour. For the last couple of years, with old age and ill-health, Bhai Sahib has not been able travel and is very frail. Sadly, I have never had the opportunity to have Sangat with Bhai Sahib jee, however Guru jee blessed me with Bhai Sahib's darshan last February in India at their home in Amritsar. Due to Bhai Sahib's health at the time he was unable to move around or talk. Waheguru. May Guru jee keep such Gursikhs in Chardi Kalaa and may we all become inspired to improve our own jeevan (spiritual life) with Guru Sahib's kirpaa.
Bhai Sahib Randheer Singh jee doing keertan alongside Bhai Jeevan Singh jee in 1953 at Model Town, Ludhiana.SOME INSPIRATIONAL ACCOUNTS FROM
BHAI JEEVAN SINGH JEE'S LIFE(Collected from Gursikhs and from the Internet)Meetings with Giani Baba Kartar Singh Jee (Bhindran Wale)
Bhai Jeevan Singh jee used to be invited by Giani Baba Kartar Singh jee Bhindran Wale to do Keertan at Mehtaa. It has been said that Baba jee would wait at the train station for Bhai Sahib and the Akhand Kirtani Jatha Singhs to come. When Bhai Sahib jee used to get off the train Baba jee would rush to the train to greet Bhai Sahib. When they would meet they would embrace one another with so much pyaar. Baba jee held Bhai Sahib jee in great regard. Baba jee himself would serve Bhai Jeevan Singh jee langar with his own hands. Whenever Bhai Jeevan Singh jee would enter the Diwaan where Baba Kartar Singh jee would be doing Kathaa, Baba jee would stop the Kathaa and say request Gurmukh pyaare Bhai Jeevan Singh jee to do keertan for the Sangat.
Bhai Sahib and Amrit-VelaaThere was a young Singh in England who had taken Amrit for about a year. His Amrit-velaa (habit to wake up early) started getting slack. He used to do Amrit-velaa with Gursikhs regularly at a Gursikh's house but he gradually stopped attending daily. One day, early in the morning at Amrit-velaa, the Singh was asleep and hadn't woken up for Amrit-velaa. His father was at work on the night shift and his mother was up doing her paath when suddenly the phone rang. Bhai Jeevan Singh jee said,
"Is bhaji there?" The Aunty jee replied,
"No, he is working on a night shift." Bhai Sahib said,
"No, I am not talking about Pita jee. Is Bhaji there." (Bhai Sahib always makes himself out to be the youngest, such is his humility). The Aunty jee rushed up to wake up the young Singh and tell him to answer the phone. The Singh shared the Guru's Fateh over the phone with Bhai Sahib and then Bhai Sahib said,
"Bhai ji, you haven't done kirpaa (mercy) on me today, it is Amrit-vela, and you forgot to wake me." There was a silence. The Singh felt so embarrassed for missing Amrit-vela. The Aunty jee and son looked at one another wondering how Bhai Sahib living in Canada knew that he had missed Amritvela that day.
Accepting Akaal Purakh's WillBhai Sahib visited a family in England in the late 1980s and stayed at the house for Akhand Paath sevaa. Bhai Sahib listened the Paath for many hours and corrected the Paathis (readers) when they made a grammatical or pronunciation error. Seven or eight years later Bhai Sahib came back to England and was invited to the same family. Several years earlier the Singh whose house it was had passed away. When Bhai Sahib jee asked the lady about her husband she became emotional and as soon as this happened Bhai Sahib jee went upstairs in Sri Guru Granth Sahib jee's room and stayed there. He never came down and after a good 4-5 hours the bibi asked her daughter to ask Bhai Sahib jee to come down. The girl went upstairs and found Bhai Sahib jee sitting in smaadhee (meditative pose). She asked them to come downstairs, to which Bhai Sahib replied that she should tell her mum that he will only come downstairs after her mum accepts the Bhaana (Will) of Akaal Purakh and not to become emotional about her husband. The Bibi agreed and Bhai Sahib jee came down and later did keertan at the house.
Bumping into a MonaOne evening, the Gursikhs had just finished doing kirtan at Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Slough (England). A Singh phoned and said that had booked kirtan in Hounslow, and that the Gursikhs should come straight away. Bhai Jeevan Singh jee said,
"Lets go quickly, we should always be on time". As Bhai Jeevan Singh jee, his singhni (wife), and two other Singhs walked downstairs into the shoes section, a mona (man with hair cut) was walking in to the Gurdwara. Accidentally, he bumped into Bhai sahib. He said
"sorry," and looked into Bhai sahib's face. Those who know Bhai sahib know how enigmatic his smile is, and how his face always shines. Bhai sahib said to him,
"I came here especially to see you, I have something for you." Bhai sahib then took off his dastaar (turban) and handed it to the youth. The mona youth could not believe his eyes; Bhai sahib said these words to him with so much honesty, pyaar (lovingness) and humility that from that day on the boy kept his kesh and came into Sikhi.
Bhai Sahib at World Sikh SamellenIn 1995 Professor Manjit Singh, the then Jathedaar of Sri Akaal Takhat Sahib called a World Sikh Samellan (conference). Every Gurdwara, Sikh organization and jatha (group) from around the world was invited and many days were spent discussing Panthic (Sikh national) issues affecting Sikhs. Thousands of Sikhs gathered, including all the big leaders and personalities within the Panth. Many people such as political leaders were centred on themselves and wanted special treatment, but everyone was treated equally. No dignitary received special attention. However for some reason the Panj Jathedars of the five Takhats sat on a sofa in the complex where this was happening. As the A-Z of Sikh leadership sat in the sangat on the floor, a simple Gursikh walked into the complex building. He walked in humbly, did matha tekh, and went to sit in the sangat. However straight away, the Jathedaars got up and ran over to him, and said to him, he must sit on the sofa. Totally embarrassed he refused. But they brought him over and sat him on the sofa. He sat uncomfortably because he was not one for that kind of attention. That Gursikh was Bhai Jeevan Singh jee. It goes to show how highly Bhai sahib, his jeevan, his seva, and his nimarta is respected in the Panth, that only he was singled out for such attention. It is the virtues of Guru, such pure humility, that pulls at peoples hearts.
Great humility
A Muslim man passed by Bhai Sahib somewhere and he stopped and looked at Bhai Sahib's face. The man goes up to Bhai Jeevan Singh jee and says
"I can see 'Allah Da Noor' (the Light of God) in you". Bhai Sahib folded his hands and humbly said,
"O great man! Can you please give me your wonderful eyes with which you see such wonderful things." Another time, there was Sangat sitting in Canada and someone approached Bhai Sahib with a question in front of others. He said,
"Bhai Sahib, you tell us - as you have met God." Bhai Sahib replied with a humble and astonished
"Achaa? (O really?)" and walked away.
Despite ill-health
Bhai Jeevan Singh jee now lives 5-10 minutes away from Sri Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. Bhai Sahib would occasionally go and do keertan seva there whenever it was his turn/duty. One day his wife locked the door of his room to make sure he didn't go to do keertan seva that day because Bhai Sahib was very sick and she knew that Bhai Sahib would still want to go to Sri Darbaar Sahib. When his wife turned on the television she saw Bhai Sahib doing keertan (I think it was Asa Di Vaar keertan). She brought someone else to the television and showed them and they said it's probably a recording. Still in doubt they opened the locked room and went in and found that the window was wide open and Bhai Jeevan Singh jee no where to be found. He had jumped out of the window somehow and went to do keertan seva even though he was really sick. This was the dedication of a beloved Gursikh for his Guru.
Video of Bhai Jeevan Singh Jee doing Keertan at Bay Area (California) Local Rainsbaee August 1989:
Dhan Guru, Dhan Guru Ke Pyaare.
Reverend Charles Freer Andrew was a young Christian Anglican Priest from England during the British Raaj who was dear friend of the Sikhs. He had come to India as a priest, and later became a teacher, writer, journalist, translator, columnist, newspaper-correspondent, editor, educationalist, labour leader, mediator, activist, spokesman, and leader.
Reverend Andrews became the conscience of the British Raaj, questioning every tactic and strategy and demanding that all parties walk the straight line and do the right thing. He soon made enemies that wanted to stop his work. The British authorities found him to be a thorn in their side - an Englishman constantly questioning their motives and their methods. Some saw him as betraying his land of birth, even the very Faith he had been sent to preach. It didn't help when he offered to resign from his Church and priesthood. On the other hand, many Indians worried if he was a British spy.
Andrews began by attacking the very methods of Christian proselytization in India - and don't forget that he was a priest sent to India to help convert the masses! He questioned the Western and Eurocentric view of Christianity, and demanded that it embrace humanity, not just what he himself referred to as the "white races". It didn't take long before he went further and introduced the revolutionary idea that all Indians were to be treated as equals with the rest of the citizens of the Empire! He argued they were British subjects. He began to publicly sell the idea that the only way Indians would ever achieve equality would be through complete independence from Britain.
It was a sight which I never wish to see again, a sight incredible to an Englishman. There were four Akali Sikhs with black turbans facing a band of about two dozen policemen, including two English officers. They had walked slowly up to the line of police just before I had arrived and they were standing silently in front of them at about a yard’s distance. They were perfectly still and did not move further forward. Their hands were placed together in prayer and it was clear that they were praying. Then, without the slightest provocation on their part, an Englishman lunged forward the head of his lathi [staff] which was bound with brass. He lunged it forward in such a way that his fist which held the staff struck the Akali Sikhs, who were praying, just at the collar bone with great force. It looked the most cowardly blow as I saw it struck and I had the greatest difficulty in keeping myself under control... The blow which I saw was sufficient to throw the Akali Sikh and send him to the ground. He rolled over and slowly got up and at once faced the same punishment again. Time after time, one of the four who had gone forward was laid prostrate by repeated blows, now from English officers and now from the police who were under their control.... The brutality and inhumanity of the whole scene was indescribably increased by the fact that the men who were praying to God had already taken a vow that they would remain silent and peaceful in word and deed. The Akali Sikhs who had taken this vow, both at the Golden Temple and before starting and also at the shrine of Guru-ka-Bagh were...largely from the army. They had served in many campaigns in Flanders, in France, in Mesopotamia and in East Africa. Some of them at the risk of their own safety must have saved the lives of Englishmen who had been wounded. Now they were falling to the ground at the hands of the English officials serving in the same government which they themselves had served. ...I saw no act, or look of defiance. It was a true martyrdom, a true act of faith...
There has been something far greater in this event than a mere dispute about land and property. It has gone far beyond the technical questions of legal possession or distraint. A new heroism, learnt through suffering, has arisen in the land. A new lesson in moral warfare has been taught to the world.... It reminded me of the shadow of the Cross. ....It was very rarely that I witnessed any Akali Singh, who went forward to suffer, flinch from a blow when it was struck. Apart from the instinctive and slight shrinking back, there was nothing, so far as I can remember, that could be called a deliberate avoidance of the blows struck. The blows were received one by one without resistance and without a sign of fear.
... A new heroism, learnt through suffering, has arisen in the land. A new lesson in moral warfare has been taught to the world... It was very rarely that I witnessed any Akali Sikh, who went forward to suffer, flinch from a blow when it was struck. Apart from the instinctive and involuntary reaction of the muscles that has the appearance of a slight shrinking back, there was nothing, so far as I can remember that could be called a deliberate avoidance of the blow struck. The blows were received one by one without resistance and without a sign of fear." Andrews, C.F., Manchester Guardian, February 15 and February 24, 1924.
