Concluding Event of the World Conference on Unity of Man

1 – 11 December 2008, Kirpal Sagar

In December 2008 people from all over the world met again for a Conference in Kirpal Sagar to emphasize the concern of the World Conference on Unity of Man 2007. Leaders of different religions from Northern India who had also partaken in the main Conference attended again.

This Conference – although on a smaller scale than last year – was not less impressing. It took place in the 'Kirpal Bhawan', the big hall for lectures, and also offered a great variety of events.

The programme started on December 1with the opening of the free Medical Camp. About 200 people from the surrounding area had been checked medically. An eye doctor carried out exams and performed 35 cataract-operations.

In the Kirpal Sagar College of Education (Teachers Training College) lectures took place on the occasion of the World Aids Day covering the subject.

On December 5, the annual National Volleyball Tournament was opened by Mrs Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, SSP, Nawanshar. As every year, athletes and spectators showed much enthusiasm. Volleyball teams of various school from the North of India took part in it. The presentation of the prizes, as well as the closing performance of gymnastics and dances, was honoured by the presence of a special guest, Mr Harish Dhanda, Chief Parliamentary Secretary of Punjab, whose address to the audience expressed his deep impression of Kirpal Sagar.

On December 8, wedding ceremonies for needy couples had been organized by Unity of Man. 23 bridal couples arrived in Kirpal Sagar. Their marriage ceremonies were celebrated according to their own religions and rites. 21 couples belonged to the Sikh religion, one couple married according to Hindu rites, and one more couple – that of Christian religion – married in the Christian way. The wedding ceremonies - one after the other - took place in a big tent in the presence of the guests and were performed by the respective priests. Afterwards Mrs Surinder Kaur, President of Unity of Man,  presented the marriage certificates to the couples and a set of household items donated by Unity of Man. A banquet concluded the wedding celebration ceremonies.

In the evenings varied culture programmes delighted the audience. On December 7, actors from an Amritsar theatre group performed an exceptional play with scenes of the life of Guru Tegh Bahadur (9th Master of the Sikhs, martyred 1675). On December 8 and 9, various music groups presented songs with religious texts from Hindu and Sufi traditions.

In the morning of December 9, an exhibition about the historical background of Kirpal Sagar was opened at the farm by Mrs Surinder Kaur. It vividly describes the route of spirituality in recent times, from Agra back to Punjab, on the basis of Baba Jaimal Singh's (1838-1903) and Baba Sawan Singh's (1858-1948) biographies who both lived and worked in Beas. After the departure of Baba Sawan Singh, complying to his instructions, his disciple Sant Kirpal Singh went to Delhi. When He commissioned Dr Harbhajan Singh to build Kirpal Sagar at this place, spirituality returned to Punjab.

A further part of the exhibition shows the very same car and tractor that Sant Kirpal Singh had given directly to Dr Harbhajan Singh to work with. Both were used continuously during Kirpal Sagar's initial stages.

After the reception, the opening session of the Conference started in the afternoon in the Conference Hall. Religious leaders from the Jewish, Hindu and Islamic religions held speeches. Mrs Surinder Kaur reminded all of the Conference 2007 and narrated from Dr Harbhajan Singh's life. She emphatically told that it was his dream to bring Kirpal Sagar to full bloom and emphasized that his dream is now coming true. Many songs as well as a film about Dr Harbhajan Singh and Sant Kirpal Singh rounded up the first Conference day.

On December 10, the opening ceremony of the newly designed library with its new exhibition marked the beginning of this day, Dr Harbhajan Singh's birthday. In the early morning all had gathered to attend the event. The exhibition illustrates by many pictures and photos the biographies of Sant Kirpal Singh and Dr Harbhajan Singh, and in the same way documents the history of Unity of Man with its World Conferences in 1974, 1994, and 2007. Prayers, holy hymns by the priests of different religions and a short address by Mrs Surinder Kaur staged the beginning of the festivity.

In the further course of events the Conference was continued by speeches and addresses in the Conference Hall. In the evening of December 10, Mrs. Surinder Kaur summed up and united the ideas of the speakers before her and reminded of Dr Harbhajan Singh's (Bhaji's) birthday. She said, "We have heard the precious talks of all the Sants and Mahatmas; they spoke of the inner food for our life. Bhaji, however, got the very ray of His Light and distributed it to others. What he told was very according to what he did and how he lived. Today we celebrate not only Bhaji's Birthday; in the same way it is the birthday of each one who loves Bhaji. This very day should change our lives."

When all the participants left the hall, Kirpal Sagar shone brightly, decorated and illuminated by thousands of small lights. Fireworks were the colourful conclusion of this memorable evening.

At noon on December 11,the official closing ceremony of the World Conference on Unity of Man was held in the Sarovar with a Hindu tradition fire ceremony, called the Havan Puja.

May the words of Sant Kirpal Singh, when He began this work in 1974,  be a message for ever:

"The work of the Conference will be carried on much further
each time we see that God is working through
our neighbour, our brother - through all men;
each time we resist the temptation to consider
our welfare ahead of that of our brother or sister;
when we see that every human being we meet is a child of God.
Our common aim should be to alleviate men's suffering and
reduce their separation.
In that sense this Conference will never end."
                                                                 Sant Kirpal Singh

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