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Babaji, the Yogi-Christ of Modern India
The northern Himalayan crags near Badrinarayan are still
blessed by the living presence of Babaji, guru of Lahiri Mahasaya. The
secluded master has retained his physical form for centur ies, perhaps
for millenniums. The deathless Babaji is an avatara. This Sanskrit word
means "descent"; its roots are ava, "down," and tri, "to pass." In the
Hindu scriptures, avatara signifies the descent of Divinity into flesh.
"Babaji's spiritual state is beyond human comprehension," Sri Yukteswar
explained to me. "The dwarfed vision of men cannot pierce to his
transcendental star. One attempts in vain even to picture the avatar's
attainment. It is inconceivable."
The Upanishads have minutely classified every stage of spiritual
advancement. A siddha ("perfected being") has progressed from the state
of a jivanmukta ("freed while living") to that of a paramukta
("supremely free"ófull power over death); the latter has
completely
escaped from the mayic thralldom and its reincarnational round. The
paramukta therefore seldom returns to a physical body; if he does, he
is an avatar, a divinely appointed medium of supernal blessings on the
world.
An avatar is unsubject to the universal economy; his pure body, visible
as a light image, is free from any debt to nature. The casual ga ze may
see nothing extraordinary in an avatar's form but it casts no shadow
nor makes any footprint on the ground. These are outward symbolic
proofs of an inward lack of darkness and material bondage. Such a
God-man alone knows the Truth behind the relativities of life and
death. Omar Khayyam, so grossly misunderstood, sang of this liberated
man in his immortal scripture, the Rubaiyat:
"Ah, Moon of my Delight who know'st no wane,
The Moon of Heav'n is rising once again;
How oft hereafter rising shall she look
Through this same Garden after meóin vain!"
The "Moon of Delight" is God, eternal Polaris, anachronous never. The
"Moon of Heav'n" is the outward cosmos, fettered to the law of periodic
recurrence. Its chains had been dissolved forever by the Persian seer
through his self-realization. "How oft hereafter rising shall she look
. . . after meóin vain!" What frustration of search by a frantic
un
iverse for an absolute omission!
Christ expressed his freedom in another way: "And a certain scribe
came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou
goest. And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of
the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his
head."1
Spacious with omnipresence, could Christ indeed be followed except in
the overarching Spirit?
Krishna, Rama, Buddha, and Patanjali were among the ancient Indian
avatars. A considerable poetic literature in Tamil has grown up around
Agastya, a South Indian avatar. He worked many miracles during the
centuries preceding and following the Christian era, and is credited
with retaining his physical form even to this day.
Babaji's mission in India has been to assist prophets in carrying out
their special dispensations. He thus qualifies for the scriptural
classification of Mahavatar (Great Avatar). He has state d that he gave
yoga initiation to Shankara, ancient founder of the Swami Order, and to
Kabir, famous medieval saint. His chief nineteenth-century disciple
was, as we know, Lahiri Mahasaya, revivalist of the lost Kriya art.
The Mahavatar is in constant communion with Christ; together they send
out vibrations of redemption, and have planned the spiritual technique
of salvation for this age. The work of these two fully-illumined
mastersóone with the body, and one without itóis to
inspire the nations
to forsake suicidal wars, race hatreds, religious sectarianism, and the
boomerang-evils of materialism. Babaji is well aware of the trend of
modern times, especially of the influence and complexities of Western
civilization, and realizes the necessity of spreading the
self-liberations of yoga equally in the West and in the East.
That there is no historical reference to Babaji need not surprise us.
The great guru has never openly appeared in any century; the
misinterpreting
glare of publicity has no place in his millennial plans. Like the
Creator, the sole but silent Power, Babaji works in a humble obscurity.
Great prophets like Christ and Krishna come to earth for a specific and
spectacular purpose; they depart as soon as it is accomplished. Other
avatars, like Babaji, undertake work which is concerned more with the
slow evolutionary progress of man during the centuries than with any
one outstanding event of history. Such masters always veil themselves
from the gross public gaze, and have the power to become invisible at
will. For these reasons, and because they generally instruct their
disciples to maintain silence about them, a number of towering
spiritual figures remain world-unknown. I give in these pages on Babaji
merely a hint of his lifeóonly a few facts which he deems it fit
and
helpful to be publicly imparted.
No limiting facts about Babaji's family or birthplace, dear to the
annalist's heart, have ever been discovered. His speech is generally in
Hindi, but he converses easily in any language. He has adopted the
simple name of Babaji (revered father); other titles of respect given
him by Lahiri Mahasaya's disciples are Mahamuni Babaji Maharaj (supreme
ecstatic saint), Maha Yogi (greatest of yogis), Trambak Baba and Shiva
Baba (titles of avatars of Shiva). Does it matter that we know not the
patronymic of an earth-released master?
"Whenever anyone utters with reverence the name of Babaji," Lahiri
Mahasaya said, "that devotee attracts an instant spiritual blessing."
The deathless guru bears no marks of age on his body; he appears to be
no more than a youth of twenty-five. Fair-skinned, of medium build and
height, Babaji's beautiful, strong body radiates a perceptible glow.
His eyes are dark, calm, and tender; his long, lustrous hair is
copper-colored. A very strange fact is that Babaji bears an
extraordinarily exact resemblance to his disciple Lahiri Mahasaya. The
similarity is so striking that, in his later years, Lahiri Mahasaya
might have passed as the father of the youthful-looking Babaji.
Swami Kebalananda, my saintly Sanskrit tutor, spent some time with
Babaji in the Himalayas.
"The peerless master moves with his group from place to place in the
mountains," Kebalananda told me. "His small band contains two hig hly
advanced American disciples. After Babaji has been in one locality for
some time, he says: 'Dera danda uthao.' ('Let us lift our camp and
staff.') He carries a symbolic danda (bamboo staff). His words are the
signal for moving with his group instantaneously to another place. He
does not always employ this method of astral travel; sometimes he goes
on foot from peak to peak.
"Babaji can be seen or recognized by others only when he so desires. He
is known to have appeared in many slightly different forms to various
devoteesósometimes without beard and moustache, and sometimes
with
them. As his undecaying body requires no food, the master seldom eats.
As a social courtesy to visiting disciples, he occasionally accepts
fruits, or rice cooked in milk and clarified butter.
"Two amazing incidents of Babaji's life are known to me," Kebalananda
went on. "His disciples were sitting one night around a huge fire which
was blazing for a sacred Vedic ceremony. The master suddenly seized a
burning log and lightly struck the bare shoulder of a chela who was
close to the fire.
"'Sir, how cruel!' Lahiri Mahasaya, who was present, made this
remonstrance.
"'Would you rather have seen him burned to ashes before your eyes,
according to the decree of his past karma?'
"With these words Babaji placed his healing hand on the chela's
disfigured shoulder. 'I have freed you tonight from painful death. The
karmic law has been satisfied through your slight suffering by fire.'
"On another occasion Babaji's s acred circle was disturbed by the
arrival of a stranger. He had climbed with astonishing skill to the
nearly inaccessible ledge near the camp of the master.
"'Sir, you must be the great Babaji.' The man's face was lit with
inexpressible reverence. 'For months I have pursued
a ceaseless search for you among these forbidding crags. I implore you
to accept me as a disciple.'
"When the great guru made no response, the man pointed to the rocky
chasm at his feet.
"'If you refuse me, I will jump from this mountain. Life has no further
value if I cannot win your guidance to the Divine.'
"'Jump then,' Babaji said unemotionally. 'I cannot accept you in your
present state of development.'
"The man immediately hurled himself over the cliff. Babaji instructed
the shocked disciples to fetch the strang er's body. When they returned
with the mangled form, the master placed his divine hand on the dead
man. Lo! he opened his eyes and prostrated himself humbly before the
omnipotent one.
"'You are now ready for discipleship.' Babaji beamed lovingly on his
resurrected chela. 'You have courageously passed a difficult test.
Death shall not touch you again; now you are one of our immortal
flock.' Then he spoke his usual words of departure, 'Dera danda uthao';
the whole group vanished from the mountain."
An avatar lives in the omnipresent Spirit; for him there is no distance
inverse to the square. Only one reason, therefore, can motivate Babaji
in maintaining his physical form from century to century: the desire to
furnish humanity with a concrete example of its own possibilities. Were
man never vouchsafed a glimpse of Divinity in the flesh, he would
remain oppressed by the heavy mayic delusion that he cannot transcend
his mortality.
Jesus knew from the beginning the sequence of his life; he passed
through each event not for himself, not from any karmic compulsion, but
solely for the upliftment of reflective human beings. His four
reporter-disciplesóMatthew, Mark, Luke, and Johnórecorded
the ineffable
drama for the benefit of later generations.
For Babaji, also, there is no relativity of past, present, future; from
the beginning he has known all phases of his life. Yet, accommodating
himself to the limited understanding of men, he has played many acts of
his divine life in the presence of one or more witnesses. Thus it came
about that a disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya was present when Babaji deemed
the time to be ripe for him to proclaim the possibility of bodily
immortality. He uttered this promise before Ram Gopal Muzumdar, that it
might finally become known for the inspiration of other seeking hearts.
The great ones speak their words and participate in the seemingly
natural course of events, solely for the good of man, even as Christ
said: "Father . . . I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of
the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou
hast sent me."2
During my visit at Ranbajpur with Ram Gopal, "the sleepless saint,"3 he
related the wondrous story of his firs t meeting with Babaji.
"I sometimes left my isolated cave to sit at Lahiri Mahasaya's feet in
Benares," Ram Gopal told me. "One midnight as I was silently meditating
in a group of his disciples, the master made a surprising request.
"'Ram Gopal,' he said, 'go at once to the Dasasamedh bathing ghat.'
"I soon reached the secluded spot. The night was bright with moonlight
and the glittering stars. After I had sat in patient silence for
awhile, my attention was drawn to a huge stone slab near my feet. It
rose gradually, revealing an underground cave. As the stone remained
balanced in some unknown manner, the draped form of a young and
surpassingly lovely woman was levitated from the cave high into the
air. Surrounded by a soft halo, she slowly descended in front of me and
stood motionless, steeped in an inner state of ecstasy. She finally
stirred, and spoke gently.
"'I am Mataji,4 the sister of Babaji. I have asked hi m and also Lahiri
Mahasaya to come to my cave tonight to discuss a matter of great
importance.'
"A nebulous light was rapidly floating over the Ganges; the strange
luminescence was reflected in the opaque waters. It approached nearer
and nearer until, with a blinding flash, it appeared by the side of
Mataji and condensed itself instantly into the human form of Lahiri
Mahasaya. He bowed humbly at the feet of the woman saint.
"Before I had recovered from my bewilderment, I was further
wonder-struck to behold a circling mass of mystical light traveling in
the sky. Descending swiftly, the flaming whirlpool neared our group and
materialized itself into the body of a beautiful youth who, I
understood at once, was Babaji. He looked like Lahiri Mahasaya, the
only difference being that Babaji appeared much younger, and had long,
bright hair.
"Lahiri Mahasaya, Mataji, and myself knelt at the guru's feet. An
ethereal sensation of beatific glory thrilled every fiber of my being
as I touched his divine flesh.
"'Blessed sister,' Babaji said, 'I am intending to shed my form and
plunge into the Infinite Current.'
"'I have already glimpsed your plan, beloved master. I wanted to
discuss it with you tonight. Why should you leave your body?' The
glorious woman looked at him beseechingly.
"'What is the difference if I wear a visible or invisible wave on the
ocean of my Spirit?'
"Mataji replied with a quaint flash of wit. 'Deathless guru, if it
makes no difference, then please do not ever relinquish your form.'5
"'Be it so,' Babaji said solemnly. 'I will never leave my physical
body. It will always remain visible to at least a small number of
people on this earth. The Lord has spoken His own wish through your
lips.'
" As I listened in awe to the conversation between these exalted
beings, the great guru turned to me with a benign gesture.
"'Fear not, Ram Gopal,' he said, 'you are blessed to be a witness at
the scene of this immortal promise.'
"As the sweet melody of Babaji's voice faded away, his form and that of
Lahiri Mahasaya slowly levitated and moved backward over the Ganges. An
aureole of dazzling light templed their bodies as they vanished into
the night sky. Mataji's form floated to the cave and descended; the
stone slab closed of itself, as if working on an invisible leverage.
"Infinitely inspired, I wended my way back to Lahiri Mahasaya's place.
As I bowed before him in the early dawn, my guru smiled at me
understandingly.
"'I am happy for you, Ram Gopal,' he said. 'The desire of meeting
Babaji and Mataji, which you have often expressed to me, has found at
last a sacred fulfillment.'
"My fellow disciples informed me that Lahiri Mahasaya had not moved
from his dais since early the preceding evening.
"'He gave a wonderful discourse on immortality after you had left for
the Dasasamedh ghat,' one of the chelas told me. For the first time I
fully realized the truth in the scriptural verses which state that a
man of self-realization can appear at different places in two or more
bodies at the same time.
"Lahiri Ma hasaya later explained to me many metaphysical points
concerning the hidden divine plan for this earth," Ram Gopal concluded.
"Babaji has been chosen by God to remain in his body for the duration
of this particular world cycle. Ages shall come and goóstill the
deathless master,6 beholding the drama of the centuries, shall be
present on this stage terrestrial."
Ý
Ý
1 Matthew 8:19-20.
Back to text
2 John 11:41-42.
Back to text
3 The omnipresent yogi who observed that I failed to bow before the
Tarakeswar shrine (chapter 13).
4 "Holy Mother." Mataji also has lived through the centuries; she is
almost as far advanced spiritually as her brother. She remains in
ecstasy in a hidden underground cave near the Dasasamedh ghat.
Back to text
5 This incident reminds one of Thales. The great Greek philosopher
taught that there was no difference between life and death. "Why,
then," inquired a critic, "do you not die?" "Because," answered Thales,
"it makes no difference."
Back to text
6 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying (remain
unbrokenly in the Christ Consciousness), he shall never see
death."-John 8:51.
Ý
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