Sawan Singh


Sawan Singh, also known as "The Great Master" or Bade Maharaji, was an Indian Saint or Sant. He was the second Satguru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas from the death of Baba Jaimal Singh in 1903 until his own death on 2 April 1948.
Before he died, he appointed Sardar Bahadur Jagat Singh as his spiritual successor.

Honorifics

Although he did not refer to himself with these, the following appellations and honorifics have been used to refer to Sawan Singh:
Sawan Singh Grewal was born into a Grewal Jat Sikh family in the village of Mehma Singh Wala, District Ludhiana, in pre-partition Punjab. His father was Subedar Major Kabul Singh Grewal and his mother was Jiwani. He was married to Kishan Kaur and together they had three children. He passed engineering at Thomason College of Civil Engineering, Roorkee and later joined the Military Engineering Service.
He studied scriptures of various religions but retained a strong connection with the Gurbani of the Sikh religion.
He had contact with a mystic of Peshawar named Baba Kahan who he hoped to get initiation from but was refused:
Later when Sawan Singh was stationed at Murree, he met Baba Jaimal Singh, who said to his companion that he had come to initiate Sawan. After much philosophical debate, discussion and several conferences with Jaimal Singh, Sawan Singh became thoroughly convinced and received initiation from Jaimal Singh into the practice of surat shabd yoga on the 15th day of October, 1894.
Sawan Singh retired on government pension in 1911 to Dera Baba Jaimal Singh, the "camp of Baba Jaimal Singh" where Jaimal Singh had settled in 1891. During his ministry the Dera expanded greatly, with houses for both permanent residents and guests, a library and a Satsang Hall. Sawan Singh sheltered victims of the communal holocaust of the Partition of India. His following included Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, and for the first time, thousands from abroad. He had initiates from America, England, Switzerland, Germany, most notable of whom being the Americans physician-surgeon Dr. Julian Johnson and chiropractic-osteopath Dr. Randolph Stone and the Swiss physician-homeopath Dr. Pierre Schmidt.