Barry Lerner received an MA in South Asian Languages and Civilizations in 1984 from the University of Chicago, where he studied Hindi, Urdu, and Persian Literature, with a concentration in literary criticism. Lerner was awarded a Hindi Language Fellowship by the American Institute of Indian Studies in New Delhi in 1980 and studied Arabic on his return from India. His translation of some Persian verses of Sa‘di was published in Ehsan Yarshater’s book Persian Literature (1988). He retired as an editor and research writer at the Law Library of Congress in 2024. Lerner received spiritual initiation from Sant Kirpal Singh in 1973 and, in 1988, was personally asked by Sant Darshan Singh to translate Sant Darshan’s poetry.

Harbans Singh Bedi, the younger brother of Urdu short story laureate Rajinder Singh Bedi, received his MA in English Literature, with minors in Persian and Urdu literature, from India’s Government College, Lahore, in 1945. He taught English at Government College, Rupar, until he entered government service, retiring in 1980 as Assistant Director General, Defense Lands and Cantonments. Bedi received spiritual initiation from Hazur Baba Sawan Singh in 1942. From 1978–89, he translated Hazur’s and Sant Kirpal Singh’s Punjabi and Hindi-Urdu spiritual discourses into English for Sat Sandesh magazine in Delhi under the direction of Sant Darshan Singh, who also requested his assistance in editing the Urdu manuscript of Matā‘-e Nūr. Bedi passed away in 2024 at the age of 101.

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