Since time immemorial many great men have incarnated in this mortal world who have propounded for us principles that help us live life the right way. The collection of such principles came to be known as religion.
Religion in its true sense is about living its principles. When the so-called caretakers of religion, in their selfishness, incorporated complexities into religion and mislead people, to pull them out of these complexities, pretences and malpractices came into existence a philosophy called Sufism. Many great dervishes who brought with them this philosophy had to bear the tortures of the then governing regimes and some even had to sacrifice their lives. Their sacrifices kept bearing fruit from time to time and kept introducing people to the true definition of religion. Sufism is that easy path which brought relief to the society of the medieval times that was entangled in ritualistic religion. Along with protecting people from the unreasonable expenditure on rituals and teaching them true charity, these Sufi saints connected them directly with Paramatma, Allah, Waheguru, God. Interestingly, these Sufi dervishes never belonged to one particular religion or community but came from different religions. It can well be said that they believed in all religions and stressed on living the core principles of religions.
Among these dervishes, the founder of Dera Sacha Sauda, His Holiness Shah Mastana Ji Maharaj's name is taken with great respect. Honoured by his Guru, His Holiness Sawan Shah Ji Maharaj with such titles as 'The Carefree One' and 'The King of Bagarh,' Shah Mastana Ji Maharaj in his powerful yet mellifluous voice taught people who had turned away from religion and God and put them on the road to salvation while disentangling them from the web of longstanding malpractices and connecting them with the true definition of religion. In the form of Dera Sacha Sauda, he founded a spiritual college where today crores of people from different religions and communities come in great faith. Along with taking from here the goal of leading an ideal life, they receive from here the Naam (mystic words that praise and invoke God), by practicing meditation on which they experience even in this degenerate age, while living on this very earth, happiness that is perhaps greater than what is found in heaven. Until 1960, Beparwah Ji removed thousands of people from the darkness of ignorance and illuminated their lives with the light of Knowledge. In order to attract people away from their busy lives and get them to listen to him, he gave away in abundance gold, silver, currency and other such materialistic things, and he went to many a city and village and raised the voice of Truth.
In 1960, Shah Mastana Ji Maharaj transformed his body of five elements into that of His Holiness Shah Satnam Singh Ji Maharaj; or in other words the same Divine Light now began to work for the salvation of humankind in Shah Satnam Ji's body. Shah Satnam Ji - ‘Param Pitaji' to his loving disciples - fulfilled this responsibility with great faith and took good care of the garden of devotees that his Guru had planted. Under the loving care of Param Pitaji this garden flourished greatly and today it has begun to spread its fragrance to the whole of society such that that Dera Sacha Sauda has become an unerasable chapter in the book of spirituality. It is thanks to the lesson of love taught by him that today the courteous and polite conduct of his disciples has given them the status in society of being true devotees of God. It was from him that the devotees of Sacha Sauda learnt the true meaning of social service and sharing in the sorrows of people who are in misery. He taught people who had wandered away from their paths the true meaning of life and living until the year 1991.
After that, he chose His Holiness Sant Gurmeet Ram-Rahim Singh Ji ‘Insan' as his successor in order that the devotees could be served and protected; meaning to say that the Divine Spirit in the form of ‘Hazur Pitaji' again started taking care of Its souls. Today, Dera Sacha Sauda is making progress in leaps and bounds. The number of its devotees now runs in crores. Also, under the holy leadership of Sant Gurmeet Ram-Rahim Ji, Dera Sacha Sauda has become an incomparably effective social service organisation. This organisation that has transformed lakhs and lakhs of homes that had become living hells into heavens, has created many a record in the field of social service under the holy leadership of Hazur Pitaji.
Providing water, food, clothes, etc. to the needy; reconnecting with society the tribals of Rajasthan who had been cut off from it and had been living the uncivilized life of our early ancestors, adorning them with the ornament of education, and assimilating them into civilized society; teaching people who were caught in the quagmire of drugs and crime the true purpose of their lives and reabsorbing them into mainstream society; reaching out to people who had lost their everything in natural disasters, wiping their tears, and doing everything possible to rehabilitate them in spite of the dangers and discomforts involved in such relief activities; organising blood donation camps at regular intervals to supply blood to the ailing (for which the Dera holds two Guinness world records for the maximum units of blood donated in a day); organising free medical treatment camps in villages and cities from time to time; helping girls from poor families to marry; constructing houses for the homeless; and helping provide education for poor-yet-talented children are some of the many welfare activities that Dera Sacha Sauda is carrying out with untiring zeal. Shah Satnam Ji Green ‘S' Welfare Force that carries out these activities under the holy guidance of Hazur Pitaji is a peerless team of volunteers. Besides this, the kind-hearted Hazur Pitaji has established Shah Satnam Ji Asra Ashram for children who have lost their parents in early childhood and Shahi Betiyan Basera to protect society from the curse of female foeticide. Under the holy leadership of Hazur Pitaji, Dera Sacha Sauda in such a short period of time has accomplished as many tasks of human welfare as would have normally taken ages.
Dera Sacha Sauda's labour of love towards the welfare of humankind is still in progress under the holy leadership of Sant Gurmeet Ram-Rahim Singh Insan J