The Power of Love and Kindness

On May 30 people all over the world honor Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj, the great spiritual Master and poet-saint who left the world thirty years ago in 1989. It has been thirty years since he left, but his life and example still shine brightly as a guiding star upon which we can base our own lives. Among his radiant qualities were his love and kindness.

No matter who came to him, whether stranger, family, or friend, he met each with a loving smile, a kind word, and a peaceful presence. If someone visited him in a sad state, he lifted them with joy. If someone came with a problem in dealing with someone else, he gave them a positive and nonviolent way of solving it. If someone was in pain, he soothed their heart.

Throughout his lifetime, whoever met him still recalls that encounter as being filled with more love than any they had ever experienced in their lives. Whether they were co-workers, neighbors, family, friends, or strangers, he treated all as if members of one family.

Being an award-winning poet, his spiritual poetry inspired readers to inculcate loving kindness in their lives and that by doing so, all people could be knit together in the silken bonds of godly love. He was able to do this through a life of meditation in which he discovered that the Light he found within himself was shining equally in all other people, in fact, in all creation. This high angle of vision in which he recognized God within each person was expressed in his love for all people, no matter what their backgrounds. One of his popular verses is:

               Others have disowned their kith and kin,
               But I have made even strangers my very own.

If we take this one aspect of his life and incorporate it into our own, we will find that our own lives will be joyous, and we will radiate peace and kindness wherever we go.