After his initiation, Jaimal Singh served in the British Indian Army as a sepoy (private) from the age of seventeen and attained the rank of havildar (sergeant).

Singh was born in July 1839 in the village of Ghuman, near Batala in Gurdaspur district, Punjab, Sikh Empire.

Singh came to the conclusion that he needed to find a master who taught the practice of the Anhad Shabad (Inner Sound).

He especially wanted a master who could explain the Guru Granth Sahib's reference to the Panch Shabd (Five Sounds).

In 1856, his travels culminated in Agra city at the feet of his master Shiv Dayal Singh who initiated him into the practice of the Five Sounds, named Surat Shabd Yoga.