Heart to Heart

One book that Maharaj Ji has particularly close association with is Spiritual Letters, a collection of inspiring letters written by Baba Ji Maharaj to Maharaj Sawan Singh. These were the letters which the Great Master said he cherished as his only scripture. Maharaj Ji sometimes relates how the letters came into book form. A day or two before the Great Master made his will, he handed over a beautiful jewel chest lined with velvet to Maharaj Charan Singh Ji. Before parting with the box, he raised it to his forehead and kissed it with reverence.

The Great Master’s eyes were moist and he said to Maharaj Ji, “My son, this is my rarest and most precious treasure. Today I am handing it over to you – treasure it with love and care.” This casket contained the letters written by Baba Ji Maharaj to the Great Master during the days he was a disciple and are of great spiritual and historical value.

Maharaj Ji said: “I little realized at that time how precious the gift was and what a fund of esoteric knowledge of Sant Mat it contained. But as I went through the letters in later years, I was deeply impressed with their profundity and practical character and felt that this great gift must be shared with as many satsangi brothers and sisters as possible, not only in our country but also abroad.”

During the Great Master’s time, on the persuasion of Dr. Johnson and a few satsangis at the Dera, the Great Master released eleven of Baba Ji’s letters and they were printed in Punjabi and Hindi. They were also translated into English and circulated among Western satsangis. In 1952/53, Miss Louise Hilger, during her long stay at the Dera, heard about the letters and took Maharaj Ji’s permission to have them read out and translated to her. With the Master’s permission, Prof. Jagmohan Lal Bhatnagar translated the letters to Miss Hilger and she noted them down in shorthand. Later, in response to her keen desire to share the letters with the growing number of English-speaking satsangis, the Master permitted them to be printed. He also allowed them to be printed in Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, and other Indian languages.
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