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Bhagat
Puran Singh
Bhagat Puran
Singh ji in undoubtly the single Sikh Hero of this
century who worked totally selflessly all his life to
provide the last hope to the mentally and terminally
ill patients. Whenever he use to see a deserted dead
body (human or animal) immediately he would prepare (by
his own hand) a grave and him human/animal a deserving
respect of death. He was to Sikhism, what Mother Teresa
is to Catholicism. Against the backdrop of violence and
poverty in 1947 he established a premier institute
which takes care of sick, disabled and forlorn persons.
Whatever money and financial resources he could
gathered he used it to establish this institute. It is
also believed that he was almost nominated to receive
Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 but by not giving him prize
it was the loss of sick and disabled persons as well as
nobel Prize committee. His life story is a saga of
grit, determination, faith in the almighty and unending
love for the suffering humanity. A very brief sketch of
Bhagat Ji's life is given below
Bhagat Puran
Singh, born at Rajewal, Distt. Ludhiana on June 4
1904., at the house of Chaudhari Chibu Mal and Mehtab
Kaur. In an interview to Patwant Singh Bhagat Puran
Singh discloses how he became a Sikh ,in his early life
he use to travel a lot from village to village and
would stay at a Hindu Temple. One day when he was
staying at a Temple Brahmins told him to clean the
temple and then when he was done they sat in front of
him and ate the food without offering him.,
Incidentally next time he had to stay at a Gurdwara and
Bhai ji of Gurdwara not only gave him good food but
also a cot and a glass of milk afterwards., without
asking for any sewa for Gurdwara. After this Bhagat
Puran Singh didn't even thought twice and became a
Khalsa.
He set out in
life for the service of the suffering humanity- the
greatest religion. He founded Pingalwara in 1947 with a
few discarded patients. He was also a writer as well as
publisher and an environmentalist. Pingalwara is a very
big home of human service. Bhagat Ji's contribution in
spreading awareness about the global dangers of
environment pollution, increasing soil erosion etc are
also commendable. His dedication was awarded with heaps
of honours by many quarters. Prestigious among these
was the Padamshri award in 1979, which he surrendered
in the wake of the army attack on the Golden Temple in
1984. He left for his heavenly abode on August 5, 1992.
We request you to kindly display the attached appeal at
the maximum number of places so that the Sadh Sangat is
made aware of the efforts being put up by this Society.
Our Web site is presently under construction.
Here are some
of the quotes of Bhagat Puran Singh ji
Dignity in
death is a birthright of each living thing.
All Punjabi should at least sow a tree of "Bohar", "Pippal"
and "Neem". These trees are essential to our eco
system.
At this time Pingalwara is run by Dr Inder Jit Kaur,
she is also President of All India Pingalwara
Charitable Society(Regd).
Any visitor to
the city of Amritsar who keeps his eyes open, cannot
fail to notice black wooden boxes, bearing crude
writings in white in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English,
placed in crossings and public thoroughfares, reminding
him of the duty he owes to his brethren, the sick and
suffering, the aged and the infirm. At some places he
may come across large wooden black-boards bearing
extensive writings of a similar type seeking to strike
a sympathetic chord in him or containing a homily on
civics and morality, religion and philosophy. If he
were to pause and read, he would surely find that these
are the insignia of Pingalwara - a unique institution
founded by an equally unique person.
He is a tall,
shabbily dressed man, who may be found tramping with
his wooden sandals or riding a rickshaw, along with an
invalid. He always carries a brass bell hanging by his
side and announcing his rrival. This man, you may call
him a superman, even an angel, goes by the name of
Bhagat Puran Singh. He was born and brought up in a
Hindu family of village Rajewal (Rahnon) in Ludhiana
district but he found greater solace and inspiration in
the teachings of the Sikh Gurus, when, in spite of his
intense passion for learning, poverty forced him to
discontinue his studies in the tenth class of a high
school. So he adapted his erstwhile worldly dreams, for
their fulfillment, to a nobler atmosphere of spirit
that the Gurdwara Dehra Sahib of Guru Arjan Dev and
Shahid Ganj of Bhai Mani Singh, the princes among the
martyrs, provided him at Lahore. He, therefore, lost no
time in taking a vow of celibacy dedicating his life to
the service of suffering humanity. He started at Lahore
his career of social and humanitarian activities.
This was in
the year 1924 when Puran Singh was hardly a youth of
19. Since then he has been indefatigably carrying on
his altruistic activities, day and night in scorching
heat and biting cold, in rains and under dust storms,
undeterred by adversities, undaunted by criticism, and
unruffled by the obstacles that crop up on the path of
social service. His enthusiasm knows no bounds and his
determination remains unshaken. Friend of the forlorn,
helper of the helpless, a ready nurse for a patient of
any disease however loathsome, infectious, unmindful of
his personal health; safety or convenience, making not
the slightest distinction on the basis of caste, creed
or community regarding the person in need of his
service; this single man has, by his example and
precept, inspired many and with their co-operation has,
in a short space of nine years, built from a scratch
what may justly claim to be an institution.
You may not
know Bhagat Ji, but if he were to come to sense you as
a man who can assist him in furtherance of his noble
cause, even to a small extent, he is sure to find you
out, and may even urge you to help and contribute to
his cause. To the writer he became known in about the
year 1940 when he walked barefooted and half naked on
the roads of Lahore, usually with a cripple boy as his
sacred load on his back and picking up all things like
the stone, metal pieces, banana peels, nails,
horse-shoes and brick bats that my interfere with the
convenience and safety of vehicles and public. His
humanitarian activities justified the renewal of his
acquaintance and casual visits of the writer to the
place of his activities.
Though unable
to have academic education within the four walls of a
regular educational institution, Bhagat Puran Singh, on
account of his inborn zeal, has by constant personal
effort, acquired a vast amount of knowledge on various
topics and in the words of Principal TejaSingh "has
reached the highest level of thought through
practically associating himself with the realities of
life". This passion of learning he manifested very
early and is associated with an equally great
enthusiasm to spread light of knowledge among others.
He has, therefore, accumulated a large collection of
books and old copies of several journals. The number of
books and journals is evidently sufficient for running
a small library and a reading room.
In the main
ward is housed another section of the publications, and
printing press which has to its credit not less than
sixty books, booklets, pamphlets, posters and placards.
Looking at the wide range of the subject of his
publication, it can be said without exaggeration that
his printing department is verily a transmitting
station of valuable information for the guidance and
reconstruction of man and society.
Original in
its concept, the institution represent a natural
outcome of an irresistible urge of Bhagatji to do his
best for the poor and helpless patients, who cannot
gain admission into the hospitals. Such an idea could,
as a matter of fact, take its birth in the mind of a
poor man only and not a rich man, because the approach
of each, to such a social problem, is radically
different. A rich person always thinks in terms of
endowing money and running his Own independent
hospital, self contained in every respect. He thinks of
providing his own doctors, his own equipment with
medical or surgical apparatus, an aspect of the
hospital, which is very costly as it eats a lion's
share of the hospital's maintenance funds. This is all
very well in a place, where there is no hospital. But
in a central city like Amritsar, where a highly
equipped hospital exists, what is needed by the common
man, is not another equally self contained hospital,
but greater boarding facilities, so that he may be able
to avail himself of the outdoor treatment provided by
the central (standard) hospital. The question of
opening another hospital at one place arises only when
the existing facilities for outdoor treatment are
exhausted, since extension of outdoor facilities in a
well-equipped hospital costs only a fraction of the
outlay necessary for an additional hospital. This,
according to Bhagatji, is the raison-de-etre of
Pingalwara and a suggestion for the consideration of
rich persons, interested in founding hospitals for
public good.
Another
contention of Bhagatji is that howsoever rich a man may
be and howsoever great his endowment, in the matter of
establishing or running a hospital, he cannot compete
with or equal the collective effort of society. Puran
Singh's resourcelessness had led him to the finding of
a solution that has surpassed that of the wealthiest
man with his big endowment. In his resourcelessness he
could not think of any big endowment of money but the
aforesaid two ideas, which are greater than big
endowments.
Enlarge
The problem of
sickness in our country is awfully large. The helpless
and the homeless patient dying on the roadside is a
very common sight with us. In the city of Amritsar, by
no means wealthier than other cities of India, rather
smaller in size than many of them, not even the seat of
government, the problem of the helpless patients
continued to persist for a long time before the
partition of the country. Though very rich and noted
for their philanthropy, the people of this city could
not dream of the miserable plight of such persons as
are now looked after in the Pingalwara. With our
people, so poor is the notion of human dignity that the
spectacle of a helpless patient dying on the road-side,
unattended and uncared for, is taken as the inevitable
fate of a human being.
As a man of
deep religious feelings and convictions Bhagat Puran
Singh has solved this question by invoking and
canalising the religious sentiments field hitherto
neglected even by notable men of all religions. He has
thus thrown a challenge to the religious people, to
take up earnestly this great neglected cause. This
negligence goes to mar the dignity of man and degrades
our nation in the eyes of other advanced people. Here
is a call not only to the normal ritual, charity to
divert its flow but also to the daily charity in petty
sums of an anna or two. (five paise coin or ten paise
coin).
Shree Acharya
Vinoba Bhave said the other day that the Indian temples
played a very significant part in the social and
cultural life of India. This Pingalwara is a temple of
God without any idol or a representative religious
symbol of God installed in it. The only symbol of God
in the Pingalwara is the destitute bodily helpless man.
The aim and chief function of the Pingalwara is the
care of the physically helpless people, whether in the
grip of infirmity or old age or afflicted with
sickness. But in view of its educational activity, the
institution is also a social laboratory wherein the
solution of many a social problem is not only
discovered but from where it is also broadcast with an
effective and original method of publicity. As such,
this kind of temple represents a great effort of
intelligent humanitarianism and is destined to play its
own role in the cultural history of the country.
It is
unfortunate that the word Pingalwara coined by Bhagat
Ji, does not fully convey the scope of its various
activities and, for some people, creates a queer
impression, such as that of a leper asylum' but the
word is gaining a household currency in Northern India.
The appalling shortage of beds in the hospitals is
resulting in pushing a constantly increasing number of
patients to the Pingalwara which in Northern India, is
now shouldering a central burden and as such is
entitled to obtain help from all persons in the region.
However, further to enlist the sympathy of the public a
good deal of publicity work has to be done in the
territory. For this, more funds are required since the
income, though apparently large, is not keeping pace
even with basic expense of Pingalwara and the
inevitable gap not only keeps the standard of service
in the institution too low but also leaves little
margin for further developmental work, including
publicity, for which Bhagat Ji has to make special
efforts to secure funds from persons interested in this
sort of work.
Puran Singh's
Pingalwara is truly a nucleus of a great humanitarian
movement. In the words of Principal Teja Singh it is
"an island of Gandhism in the midst of clamorous
politics and show."
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