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Mahatma Mangat Ram Ji: A Man of God

Gurudev Mangat Ram ji                               (Nov.24, 1903 - Feb.4, 1954) India is, and has been a land of saints since the beginning of history. Gurudev Mangat Ram ji stands in this great tradition connecting the past with our present and with the future of mankind. He was the most profound advocate of the path of spiritual progress which leads to self-realization. The very path was not propagated by Sh. Mangat Ram ji but by a number of spiritual teachers like Vasisht and Patanjali in the ancient times and saints like Kabir, Dadu, Guru Nanak in the medieval times. Sh. Mangat Ram ji was born in a pious family in village Gangothian Brahman of Rawalpindi (Pakistan) on 24th November 1903. He lived a life of immaculate purity. Prayers and meditation were the reigning passion of him, right from the tender age of 3 to 4 year. The quest of Eternal Truth or the Supreme Being went on increasing with years. No comfort and no pleasure of the world lured this young seeker from the path of intense love of God. His remembrance, His worship, His devotion, His meditation, His vision, His glory, His grace and His service alone counted Young Mangat and nothing else. In the age of thirteen he realized self. He lived a life of deep meditation, austerity and inward solitude. This twentieth century saint, through his deep insight, revived the ancient “Samata” spirit of Upnishads. His philosophy, the vision of life, was shaped through the divine inspiration he derived from mining ancient wisdom. Like Kabir or Guru Nanak Mangat Ram ji has bequeathed to the people, a rich treasure of God-inspired Vani in simple, lucid, current Hindi-Urdu language. The verses complied in a book called Granth Shri Samata Parkash which covers about 1500 pages. To the seekers of truth the book provides a clear cut guidance concerning the path of yoga, knowledge, detachment, selfless-service, right-conduct, right-association, the glory of God, supreme joy of Samata and several related topics. In addition, his utterances have been collected and published in Shri Samata Vilas (Prose) and this book has been translated in English. Shri Samata Vilas contains the saint’s exposition on the various facets of Dharma, Current beliefs,rituals and means of upliftment of individual and society.

In his books, he basically laid down five cardinal principles which can help mankind to achieve self-realization. These are: Simplicity, Truth, Selfless-service, Right-association and Meditation. And as criteria for holy men, he referred to five virtues, namely: Desirelessness, Humility, Detachment, Equanimity and Dedication. All these virtues adorned every bit of the life of this great saint. According to this great saint God is the core of Universe. He is the life of Universe. He is Eternal and free from joy and sorrows. From Him has emerged all creation and in Him it abides. With in all beings He is present. He is complete with supreme might. He is Peerless and Incomparable. He (though present in all beings) is totally unaffected by the desire evil of desire or anger. Without Him there is nothing and yet He is free from any attachment. One, who realizes Him, merges in Him fully. By realizing Him, all worldly desires vanish and one attains contentment. Without Him nothing has ever existed nor will ever exist. Vedas, Upnishadas, Koran, Bible, and all holy books describe His glory and yet He is indescribable. Sh. Mangat Ram ji always advocated reverence towards prophets, gurus and saints of all religions. At one place in Shri Samata Parkash this point is specially stressed. He points out that it is the glory and light of the Supreme Being which is manifested itself through the perfect souls and their teachings. Revelation of the Creator corresponded to the mode of love adopted by men of God who achieved freedom and became liberators for the people. They laid down principles with due regard to their environment of time and place. There is no difference in the substance of their teaching. He believes that Ram Rajya is possible only when there is moderation in desire (for the comforts of life). In other words, there should be restraint from the life of ostentation and luxury. People should be free from superstitions and their faith should be firm in the Supreme-Self. There should be mutual affection among those serving the State (rulers and bureaucracy) and the people. Those serving the country should be impartial, free from greed and persons of high characters. Education should promote values. There should be strict control on drugs (narcotics) etc. and harmful articles of consumption. All business should operate within certain norms and constraints of time. There should be separate schools for boys and girls. To stress the same point, he says that the imparting of education should be accompanied by character building. Everyone should get that type of education for which he is best fitted. The rising wealth of state should be used more and more for the spread of education. All people should have the opportunity and assistance to rise to their constructive capability. Righteous principles i.e. simplicity, truth, selfless-service, equality and love towards others should be propagated to the maximum extents. Those serving the state should have a high sense of responsibility and dedication to public duty. On analyzing the outcome of luxurious and materialistic life, the saint comes to the conclusion that it is vanity and ego in man which compels him to make such discoveries so as to establish supremacy by one stronger over the weaker or one such country over the other and so on. Even if man extends his knowledge to such extent that he may fully establish control over the natural celestial powers such as the sun, the moon, the air and water etc. It is impossible to get rid of the inner turmoil and turbulence from within the human mind. He, therefore, opines that all right thinking men and statesmen of the world to start the search for truth instead of their probe in matter. He believes that the cause of concern for humanity today is not the achievement of scientific knowledge or inventions but it is the devilish mentality of human mind which is responsible for utilizing these for destructive purposes. Mahatma Mangat Ram ji left this mortal world on Feb.4th 1954. His last message was “the mission of this body has been completed. Every seeker will find his answers in the books (Shri Samata Parkash and Shri Samata Vilas).”His teachings will keep on enlightening humanity till eternity.