Sant Nirankaris Lose Another Guru in Two Years
Rev Mata Savinder Kaur, 61, of the Sant Nirankari Mission passed away on August 5 and her youngest daughter Sudeeksha, 33, has been anointed as the sixth guru and spiritual head.
By Jawahar Malhotra
HOUSTON: It was only two years ago that she had taken over as the chief of the Sant Nirankari Mission after the unfortunate and totally unexpected death of her husband Baba Hardev Singh in a car accident in Canada in May 2016.
On Sunday, August 5, Mata Savinder Hardev, more affectionately referred to as Rev Mata by her devotees and admirers, passed away after battling cancer for many years. She was 61 and died at her home at Sant Nirankari Satsang Bhawan, Sant Nirankari Colony, in Burari in north New Delhi.
Her last rites and funeral services were held on Wednesday, August 8 and the Antim Yatra (final journey) began from Ground No.8 in Burari and reached Nigam Bodh Ghat at noon. The streets of the area were jammed with thousands of devotees who arrived from around the world and traffic was being diverted around adjacent areas.
The Rev Mata was the fifth guru of the SNM, and the first woman to head the sect which was founded by Buta Singh in 1929 and now counts 10 million followers worldwide. Hardev Singh had become the spiritual mentor of the SNM after the Spiritual Master Baba Gurbachan Singh was assassinated in 1980.
She had not been well for long and had even sent an emissary, Holy Sister Rev Mohini Ahuja to attend the Sant Nirankari Spiritual Summit that was held in Houston just 6 weeks ago on June 30 and attended by hundreds of devotees from across the US.
As her health deteriorated, on July 16 at a ceremony in Burari, her youngest daughter Sister Sudeeksha, 33, was anointed as the spiritual head and Nirankari Satguru of the Sant Nirankari Mission. Savinder Kaur has two other daughters, Samta and Renuka. Sudeeksha’s husband Avneet Setya also died in the accident that killed her father Hardev Singh.