Konjekturales Denken

On Kirpal Singh and Sigmund Freud

Some of the narrations of Kirpal Singh’s devotees, such as found in the book ‘Das Geheimnis göttlicher Liebe’¹, are partially so heavily burdened with biased perspectives, that a biography based thereupon wouldn’t actually represent a biography of such a great man, of an Indian saint, but rather an adventurous tale of a rather strange Param Sant Satguru from Delhi.

A story proliferated groups of his devotees, stating that Kirpal Singh could walk on water after his having meditated on a boulder in the middle of the Ganges river, in danger of being engulfed by torrents.

But later on, Kirpal Singh clarified things himself by stating that the high-tide had already been declining and that he was able to cross back over to the bank where the water was only ankle-deep. Numerous such fairy tales are found in Surat Shabd Yoga. Kirpal Singh did not always deny them immediately, or sufficiently. So, some of them remain as fairy tales, as with all Gurus.

 And for an Indian, the title: Param Sant Satguru resounds holiness and greatness. To us, it sounds more like the title of: ‘Highest Chief Executive Managing Director’. But such a public career, honorary titles and outward addresses and insignia cannot be the main content of the biography of a great and intellectually outstanding person such as Kirpal Singh. It should be concerned with the kernel of his personality, with his life and wisdom. It should describe how his ‘background’ of SHINES / SPEAKS might have been in his early years, up until he developed the face and word of his master, indeed, until he became his master’s universe in continuously new SHINES / SPEAKS.

 Of course, if this is to be a biography which adheres to scientific and psychoanalytical criteria, then I would be impelled to bring Kirpal Singh slightly down from his extremely high elevation, but, undoubtedly, without damaging his grandeur. Contrarily, S. Freud always stressed, that he himself and his work were located in the bottommost regions, which is also not quite true, so that we might want to elevate him slightly. This manner brings them both together, flush with normal solid ground.

„Flectere si nequeo superos, archeronta movebo“², was Freud’s motto, though he admits in a letter to Binswanger, that, “… had I still my work life ahead of me, I would venture to also direct those highly-borns [of clergy, art and other] to a location within my lowly hut.”³ As stated just before, his hut wasn’t really that low. Freud was a professor, a renowned physician and therapist, a scientist with high social standing. Why should he not be supported in ‘alleviating’ the discord between the elevated spiritual regions and the debate concerning ‘drives’, though he himself foresaw it to be settled only “… after centuries…”⁴

And then we could locate Kirpal Singh alongside, at a nice and comfortable elevation. After all, Kirpal Singh was always proactive in supporting an understanding between East and West; towards the end of his life he even established a special platform at just this appropriate elevation – one, at which people of all walks of life can talk to each other in a caring manner⁵.

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