Thakar Singh

Thakar Singh (26 March 1929 – 6 March 2005) was a spiritual teacher in the contemporary Sant Mat (Radha Soami) lineage of Sikh religious leaders. Initiated by 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 Sant Mat 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".

Biography
The documentation on 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. Thakar Singh corrected and edited this work. 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.

Devotional work
Thakar began to work in the capacity of a preacher, and to hold Satsang (spiritual gatherings) in his home and elsewhere. This was a logical continuation of the devotional music classes and study classes of the Adi Granth he had been giving privately for many years; the only difference was that instead of preaching against the physical master, he now explained the Guru Granth Sahib in the light of his inner experiences. Kirpal Singh visited Thakar's city by invitation and visited his home in this time frame (exact date and location in the Punjab unknown, but near to Amritsar):

"Today I will tell you about a time when I was living in a small town in India with a population of about 25,000. I had been posted in the (government) service there for four or five years, and I asked my Master to come to that town to give a satsang. I was well known in that area and, although I was the only initiate of my Master, I had some influence with the many aspirants and seekers after truth, and I knew they would come to listen to him..."

Each Sunday on his day off, Thakar would travel from one town to another to give satsang. Sometimes he would visit as many as four towns in one day. He also increased his meditation time on work days to four, five, and then six hours. In 1970, Kirpal Singh issued an invitation to all of his initiates in the form of a circular letter inviting anyone who wanted to have special instruction on how to give satsang to come to Delhi and receive personal lessons. Thakar applied for a four-month leave of absence from his work and began this intensive meditation retreat in the presence of the master with four other aspirants. The retreat consisted of 12 to 14 hours of meditation daily as the main regimen.

Thakar returned to work after four months and continued his practices. When Kirpal Singh died in 1974, Thakar applied for a long leave of absence and went into intensive meditation for up to 16 hours a day for an extended period. Afterwards he did not return to work but kept extending his leave, taking unpaid leave or making other arrangements until he retired early, at the age of 47.

Guruship
Kirpal Singh did not publicly name a successor, and after his death in 1974, a number of proposed successors appeared including Darshan Singh (Kirpal Singh's physical son), Ajaib Singh, Soami Divyanand, and others. Thakar Singh began work in the role of Guru at Sawan Asham in Delhi on 7 February 1976. Within four months he travelled to Germany and then later that year to Mexico. In 1979 he visited the United States for the first time. His first American representative was named Bernadine Chard. In 1987 he visited Canada.

Thakar Singh's mission grew steadily over time and he was responsible for a number of innovations and records. He was the first Sant Mat Master to visit Africa, making a five-month tour through the continent and visiting twelve countries, from October to February 1989. He also visited the Far East for the first time that year, going to South Korea, The Philippine Islands, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Taiwan during a three-month tour. He visited New Zealand on the same tour. Eventually he would reach all the continents with the exception of Antarctica and as many as forty countries. He moved his national headquarters to Nawan Nagar, near the foothills of Himalayas. In April 1992, Thakar Singh went into seclusion about 25 kilometres away in Sai. He did not travel for some years except for brief visits, maintaining an intensive meditation schedule and very simple lifestyle. This regime continued for the rest of the Master's life. He visited the United States for the last time in the summer of 2003. At the end of his life he spoke of having initiated over two million souls.

Illness and death
Thakar Singh died on 6 March 2005 in Nawan Nagar, India, at the age of 76; however, he had been ill for the entire previous year when he underwent open heart surgery in February 2004.