The first thing you may notice there is how friendly and respectful the children are. When you walk in a room they all stand up and give you a proper Fateh while looking you in the eye.
Before you get to that point, you’ll meet the admin who surely is also friendly and professional.
Before going deeper into the founding of the school, its many projects, faculties and facilities, let’s learn the legend behind this place. It’s said that Guru Gobind Singh traveled through this area while visiting the king of Nahan. When he saw this valley, he prophesied that something “Baru” or big will develop here one day.
The Walnut tree where saints sat while meditating & 20th century Sikh saints who went on to fulfill this prophecy, is preserved just outside next to the gurdwara called Kacha Kota. The very large & oldest Walnut tree died recently, and the trunk only is preserved.
Transforming a Hut into a Hub of Learning and Research
The school started in the 80’s with a Saint, a small mud hut with a makeshift metal roof and 5 students. The spiritual momentum of this lineage of saints (Sant Attar Singh, Sant Teja Singh and Baba Iqbal Singh, whose pictures are found throughout the complex. With the time more facilities have been added since then, today 2,300 students live and learn here, 5 colleges including a nursing college (all for females only) and many forward-thinking projects are on design board.
There is an onsite bakery which makes bread, biscuits and cakes, a solar panel system to reduce the immense electricity load of the budding educational city, solar heated oil which similarly reduces resource load of cooking thousands of meals every day, and a recycling facility which produces material used for making file folders for the institution and fuel logs.
Eternal University has cutting edge research facility for various PhD research needs. Students and teachers are working to test and develop organic pesticides and fertilizers, breed more nutrient rich and high yield wheat, tomatoes, cucumbers and many other foods which are grown on campus grounds. Inside the greenhouses you will find sections where PhD students are growing their own engineered crops to see if they will end up being award winning and helping area farmers.
Where Students Find Parents in Their Mentors
Back to the students, they wake up and go to the gurdwara anywhere from 12:30 midnight to 5AM to do Nitname, Asa di Vaar and Sukhmani. Panj Bania are recited 4 times, so each age group of kids will have their shift at different times. They all do five Banis before their breakfast, their Sikhi practice being earnest, along with their Bana and Dastar uniform (Kirpans accompany Amrit Dhari students). Along with the good Sikhi training they are getting a great education which meets and exceeds standard practice of Cambridge/CBSC etc.
What one will find, the youngsters are being well taken care of. The student-to-teacher ratio is maintained so there aren’t too many per teacher, they are well behaved, listen to and respect their elders. Many live and work at Baru Sahib, preferring to live a normal standard life with their family or to serve as volunteers. The environment created by this culture is unmistakably elevated. Being here, your mood can’t get too low, or one doesn’t feel loneliness.
Every day the spiritual and executive heads of the school are asked by students for advice and blessings. The boys tend to seek the company of Dr. Neelam Kaur ji, lovingly known as Mata ji, and the girls tend to seek the fatherly presence of Dr. Dalvinder Singh Ji, often referred to as Baba ji. They might cry as they open their problems and share pain with him, while he lovingly caresses their cheeks and offers advice and blessings.
This beautiful hearted man is father of the children and leader of the whole project. He says, “If we don’t take care of the children who will?”
Dr. Neelam Kaur Ji/ Mata ji has equally an important spiritual presence. She is able to love so many at once, being a strong figure who will not only make the children feel understood. But also, be provided for with her no none-sense wisdom in her soft and gentle voice.
Dr. Khem Singh Gill Akal College of Agriculture (DKSGACA)
Established at Eternal University, Baru Sahib in 2014, offers skill-based education in Agriculture and Food Technology. With undergraduate and postgraduate programs, the college emphasizes practical learning, research, and sustainability. Students are trained in diverse fields like Agronomy, Horticulture, Soil Science, Biotechnology, and Food Technology, preparing them to address global challenges such as sustainable food production and climate-resilient farming. Special focus is given to empowering girls in agriculture, encouraging their active role in shaping the future of the sector.
Wheatman, Mr. Harcharan Singh Daliwal Chairman of the “Research advisory Committee of Indian Institute of Wheat & Barley Research “
Food tech Lab.
Amino Acid Analyzer (Shimandzu N-Series XS Al-PDA NextGen UHPLC Amino Acid Analyzer).
Only Virtual Lab in North India, Akal College of Nursing, Baru Sahib
From Spiritual Growth to Martial Arts Mastery
There is no committee or bureaucracy that can match the results from this traditional model where the heads of the institute of learning are truly the mother and father of the students. The fruit, the resulting environment and culture speaks for itself. It is a sanctuary of high spirit where the youth can grow without the various assaults on their conscience that bombard the U.S. presently. Children are not allowed for hardly any time (only 30 min a day) of the brain altering addiction device known as phones, also not allowed other popular nervous and chemical assailants called coffee and chai. They are allowed to grow in the innocent and religious environment that we all should.
The physical exercise and martial arts program are also in no way lacking. Instructor Ocean Singh has stopped his constant travel and dedicated himself to training the students. Teenage girls can do 100 pushups while boys are able to do multiple hundred pushups a day. This is besides other core exercises like squats, running, Gatka, while other days training for boxing, self-defense and other martial arts (Ocean Singh is a multiple award-winning martial artist trained in Kung fu, Jeet Qun do, Brazilian jitsu, classic yoga, Shastar vidya, karate and more).
Baru Sahib—A Hidden Gem of Faith, Learning, and Nature
Students are also taught kirtan with classical (Dilruba, Tabla, Taus, Sitar, Tanpura, Sarangi, etc.) and modern (drums, guitar etc.) instruments. Students also have divinity classes where they learn Bani and Sikhi more in depth.
There is only one way that the gem of a place can exist as it does: with the blessing of Guru Gobind Singh and those humble souls who give their lives to tend to his garden. But perhaps a more appropriate description than a garden is a playground. This blossoming Sikh city of learning and Sikh lifestyle, nestling among the steep cliffs of Himachal Pradesh is the secret playground of guru Gobind Singh that had hidden until it would come to flourish in this 21st century.
The main campus with its thousands of students, devoted sevadars, caretakers and employees are the core of a sprawling and ambitious vision to reform Punjab. The vision given by Baba Iqbal Singh is to expand to 500 campuses, mostly focused on rural and forgotten places to uplift those who need it the most. The focus is on girls as he said, “girls are key to bringing the whole society up”. “Kalgidhar Trust” has recently added a new campus which now totals 130 schools in northern India. They have a product line of healthy foods too.
But there isn’t enough time to talk about all the impressive, blessed and ambitious work being done by this organization.
Better go see for yourself as soon as possible or plan a few extra days especially for Baru Sahib while visiting North India.
Enjoy nature, good weather (close to 8 degrees cooler than Chandigarh) and a clean environment. 31/2 hr. drive from Chandigarh via Solan and Rajgarh, Sirmour Distt. H
Presently Serving at Baru Sahib
