Mere Lalan Ki Sobha
Our Revered Moni Babaji was born at Shree Sachkhand Hazur Abchal Nagar Saheb, Nanded (Maharashtra) on 23rd December 1921 at 3:30 am (amrit vela) in a small hut where Abchal Bhawan Dharmshala stands today. It is believed, at his birth the room was aglow with an ethereal light Babaji’s mother Mata Gyan Kaur was in a meditative trance along with her three sisters with peace and tranquility all around. This coincided when doors of the Sachkhand Darbar are opened daily.
His father, Kishan Singh Rahraasiya, had just finished reciting the Nitnem when the Head Granthi (Pujari Hazura Singh) announced the child’s birth. As his father happily rushed to his house, he felt a strange sense of elation as he felt there was something special in the child which set him apart from his two elder brothers Mehtab Singh and Thakur Singh.The child was named Tek Singh, but was later renamed Joginder Singh by a pious Udasi Saint Thakurdas from Hyderabad.
When Babaji grew up, the first words he spoke were ‘Waheguru’ instead of ‘Ma’. His maternal Uncle Bhai Ladha Singh and grandfather Gaura Singh were amazed to see that the child never cried. On growing up Babaji could barely walk, he would go to the Gurudwara, sit cross-legged in a corner and meditate. There would be a saintly radiance (nam khumari) all over his face, the radiance attracting everyone’s attention. Babaji spent most of his wakeful time in the Gurudwara and his family came to accept that if they had to look for him, he would be found within the precinct of the Gurudwara. As he grew older he needed more solitude for his prayers he would seek places in the Gurudwara where he would not be easily found.
At the tender age of five years, Babaji would go to Nagina ghat and sit for hours together in meditation. Once their neighbor saw Babaji standing on one leg with folded hands towards the sky and a rope around his waist attached to the tree, to support him. The neighbor ran to Kishan Singh fearing that the child had gone crazy and was about to commit suicide.
The doting father had already realized that this child was no ordinary soul, but still out of a sense of duty, attachment and love would scold him. He compelled Babaji to join a Dharmik Khalsa Primary School on 2nd February 1926. After school, Babaji would collect all the children and tell them the stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata. Babaji was brilliant in studies and sports even at that young age. But as Babaji grew older, he was drawn more towards spiritualism and worldly education did not attract his attention. Babaji would go to Banda ghat for meditation and get lost in a trance. A Tapasthaan has been built at that location now.
