Sant Thakar Singh

Sant Thakar Singh (26 March 1929 – 6 March 2005) was a spiritual teacher in the Sant Mat lineage of hindu religious leaders.

Initiated by Sant Kirpal Singh in 1965, he began work as a Satguru himself in 1976, following the death of Kirpal Singh. Thakar Singh distributed what he paraphrased from Kirpal Singh as, "a practical form of spirituality which is not connected to any particular religion, sect, or thought."

While he was born into Sikhism, and wore the traditional Sikh garb all his life, he gave up its traditional outer practices soon after initiation and devoted himself wholly to the hindu spiritual practices known as Surat Shabd Yoga and Naam. Continuing Kirpal Singh's emphasis on the unity of all religions, Thakar Singh frequently referred to the Bible when addressing Westerners, the Adi Granth, Ramayana and other Indian scriptures in India, and the Qur'an when addressing Muslim people. He gave thousands of talks in his 30 years as a Master, his message being one of transcendence of the material and devotion to God, the "unchangeable permanence behind all things".

The documentation on Sant Thakar Singh's life is mainly limited to the few details he communicated about himself during his talks and public appearances. A biography composed of stories about the Master was collected by Wendy Heid in 1994, and it touches the central points from the perspective of the inner, spiritual aspirations. It has few points of contact with concrete people, places, or times. Sant Thakar Singh corrected and edited this work, however, and it was subsequently reprinted in 2000 and again in 2005, so the facts presented are probably authentic. There are also some biographical materials made available by his organisation Know Thyself As Soul, International, although they have few details or specifics and again focus in the main on the inner life.

Thakar's daily routine during his period of discipleship is described in a talk he gave at the Bhandara (death anniversary) of Sant Kirpal Singh on 21 August 2003:

I had already got my general schedule that I used to get up at about maybe two or three early in the morning and was taking a bath. After that, at about four, there were some services and performances in the holy temple of Sikhism. I used to go there, and some classical music was going on over there from that holy scripture, Adi Granth, from four to seven. I used to attend to that, and after seven I used to come back home and was taking my breakfast. Then I was going on my duty as a civil engineer in the government and then was going on all day over there. I was coming back, and in the evening after taking food, then some people were there who were coming to me and we were about five or seven persons to have some music, what you call classical music. I was teaching (it) to them and was also teaching them the Adi Granth, what is the meaning of it, (so) that they may go through the meaning of it really, not only relating. This work was going on two hours, and then I was just going to bed or doing some other work which was there. This was my general routine, just as general...

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