Dharam Singh Nihang Singh at Sikharthee Sammelan, Sirhind
Dharam Singh Nihang Singh was born on the 15th of February 1936, to
Bhagwan Singh and Harnam Kaur, in the village named Manupur-Goslan
situated in Khanna, Punjab. Dharam Singh had his basic education at
Khanna, and matriculated from ASI School, Khanna in 1954. He did his
Intermediate in 1956 with Hindi as his major. Much like most kids those
days, he used to come to the city from his village to attend college.
His older fraternal uncle (Taya) Nagahiya Singh was baptized in 1941, and renamed as Gyan Singh Nihang. His first cousin, Tara Singh Nihang was baptized in 1946. His elder fraternal uncle (Chacha), Amar Singh Nihang, was also baptized sometime before 1947 and was the Jathedar of Buddha Dal, Samrala Circle. Among others, Nihang Dharam Singh used to have veechar on Banis in Dass Granthi with his coeval nephew, who too was baptized in 1945.
In 1960, Dharam Singh began to participate in Jorh Melas and use to
attend congregations with Buddha Dal. In 1962, He attended Hola Mohalla
function at Anandpur Sahib, where he got enrolled as a Nihang in Budha
Dal after reciting Akhand path of Dasam Granth. His motivation to join
as a Nihang came from the verse:
ਅਕਾਸ਼ ਬਾਣੀ ਬਾਚਿ ਦੱਤ ਪ੍ਰਤਿ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਹੀਣ ਮੁਕਤ ਨਹੀ ਹੋਤ ਦੱਤ ॥
ਤੁਹਿ ਕਹੋ ਬਾਤ ਸੁਨਿ ਬਿਮਲ ਮੱਤ ॥
(Dasam Granth, 1235)
He worked as a Secretary (Likhari) in the Budha Dal and used to manage
ledgers and other paper work, being among the most formally educated in
the Dal during that time.
In 1965, He participated in Pothi Mangal and Path Antar Masla conventions along with Buddha Dalrepresentations, and suggested that Ik oankar Satgur Prasaad (in Aad Granth) should appear before theRaag/Shabad heading of all Baanis. He also participated in many discussions on the issue of Paath Antar. Debate among scholars around certain verses of Gurbani such as,
ਸੋ ਕੂਟਨੁ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਬਹੁ ਪਾਵੈ ॥੧॥
(Aadi Granth, 872)
motivated Dharam Singh to understand the difference between Kachi Baani
and Pakki Baani . Led by the guidance of Gurbani verses such as,
ਏਨਾ ਅਖਰਾ ਮਹਿ ਜੋ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਬੂਝੈ ਤਿਸੁ ਸਿਰਿ ਲੇਖੁ ਨ ਹੋਈ ॥੨॥
(Aadi Granth, 432)
ਬਿਦਿਆ ਸੋਧੈ ਤਤੁ ਲਹੈ ਰਾਮ ਨਾਮ ਲਿਵ ਲਾਇ ॥
(Aadi Granth, 938)
he concluded that Gurbani is self-contained and that it provides its own
explanations by itself. That the exposition of Gurbani can only be
conducted best taking the ‘formless being’ as focal point, and not like
the way the subject has been treated in the previous teekas.
Dharam Singh Nihang Singh at BMZ (Cabinet Level Ministry), Germany
In 1994, Sachkhoj Academy came into being and Gurmat classes were
started at Khanna every morning from 5:30 AM - 8:30 AM. The number of
students gradually rose to 30. Iqbal Singh Missionary requested Nihang
Singh to writeteeka of Japuji Sahib. Dharam Singh wrote a book titled
Naad Ved Vichar for the same. Iqbal Singh presented theteeka to
Missionary College and asked them to go through it, but the management
at Missionary College preferred to subscribe to the more prevalent Bhai
Sahib Singh’s teeka.
In 1998, Harbhajan Singh Yogi came to a conference at Jawaddi and had a thorough discussion with Dharam Singh on the topic of ‘Mind’. At the conference, the photo of human brain was displayed with the caption ‘Mind’. Dharam Singh asked him the difference between mind and brain, for which H. S. Yogi had no answer. Baba ji explained to them that mind is Jyot saroop (hence formless) and brain is Jadd vastu (physical entity).
These discussions motivated Dharam Singh to write a second advanced level book in 1999, which was a steek of Sidh Gosti highlighting the differences between Gurmat and Jog Matt.
In 2001, he wrote about 24 articles on various topics of Gurmat for
Gurmat Parkash, published by SGPC. In 2004, rebuttals were written
against Kala Afghana’s scandalous articles on Dasam Granth and Amrit.
Some person (anonymous) read these articles and contactedDharam Singh, requesting him to record all Gurmat Gyan in the form of tapes/CD's. After his insistence,an Audio Cassette Recorder was purchased and Gurmat discussions were recorded during every SundayDiwan.
In 2008, Sachkhoj Academy marked its entry on the internet for the first
time through Youtube. All Gurmat discussion videos were uploaded
online. In 2009, Japji Sahib, Asa Ki Vaar, Baavan Akhree, Dasam Granth,
and other kathas were completed.
Gurjeet Singh (now one of the student of the academy), first got in touch with Dharam Singh through another person name Upinder Singh Australia, and had discussion with him in 2010. Gurjeet Singh was very impressed particularly with the explanation of,
ਘੜੀਆ ਸਭੇ ਗੋਪੀਆ ਪਹਰ ਕੰਨ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਗੋਪਾਲ ॥
(Aadi Granth, 465)
and had a 2 hour discussion with Dharam Singh.
He volunteered to record all new discussions on phone from Australia,
and those recordings are now part of the library of Sachkhoj Academy.
Those are casual conversations unlike certain recordings done live at
the Academy itself, and are therefore low in audio quality, but serve
their purpose to clarify many fundamentals of Gurmat.
Content Taken From: mwww.dasamgranth.in
