Baba Jaimal Singh

Baba Jaimal Singh
Religion	Sikhism
Other names	Baba Ji Maharaj
Personal
Born	July, 1839 (Ghoman) Gurdaspur, Punjab, British India
Died	Dec 29, 1903 Punjab, British India
Religious career
Based in	Punjab
Title	Sant Satguru
Period in office	1884–1903
Predecessor	Shiv Dayal Singh
Successor	Baba Sawan Singh
Website	Official Website

Baba Jaimal Singh (1839–1903), popularly called "Baba Ji Maharaj", was a Punjabi who became a disciple of Soami Shiv Dayal (the Sant Mat saint of Agra and founder of the Radha Soami spiritual movement). He served as a soldier (sepoy) in the British Indian Army attaining the rank of Havildar. After retirement he settled in a desolate and isolated spot outside the town of Beas (in undivided Punjab, now east Punjab) and became a spiritual teacher. The place came to be called Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, and is now the world centre of the Radha Soami Satsang Beas organization.

Baba Jaimal Singh was the first chief of Radha Soami Satsang Beas until his death in 1903. Baba Jaimal Singh granted his Will to Baba Sawan Singh and ordered him to succeed as the second RSSB Chief.

Jaimal Singh was born July 1839 in the village of Lath Ghuman (Ghoman), near Batala, District Gurdaspur, undivided Puñjab, undivided India. His parents were Jodh Singh, a farmer, and Daya Kaur. His mother Daya Kaur was a devotee of Bhagat Namdev, and from the age of four Jaimal started visiting the local shrine dedicated to the memory of Namdev.

At the age of five Jaimal started his education with Baba Khem Singh, a Vedanti sage. Within two years Jaimal had become a good reader of the Guru Granth Sahib and also read the Dasam Granth.

At the ages of 12–13, he understood that the Guru Granth Sahib rejected Pranayama, Hatha yoga, Japa, places of pilgrimage, fasting and rituals as means to finding The One God described by Guru Nanak. Jaimal came to the conclusion that he had to find a master who practiced the meditation on the Anhad Shabad, the Inner Sound.

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Wikipedia