Mahavatar Babaji is the Guru of all the Gurus on Earth, The Teacher of Teachers.
“The Divine Himalayan Yogi”
Mahavatar Babaji Maharaj is both ageless and eternally young. Sometimes he is formless, while at other times, he appears before his disciples in any form he wishes to liberate humanity from its worldly fetters.
He was born in the year 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, Chola Kingdom. Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.
MAHAVATAR BABAJI were told by local people. Some suggest he had perfect control over the five elements (tanmatras), which he proved by sitting in fire, merging with water, flying in the sky and appearing and disappearing at will (as told by Sri Bhola Datt Pande). In Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the mastery over the five elements results in various siddhis, yogic powers (vibbhuti) or “psychic powers.” Those manifest as abilities beyond easy explanation, or scientific research.
The process that leads to those powers requires intense and uninterrupted concentration and sharp focus, also known as samyama. Samyama includes a rapid application of the three internal stages of yogic concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and superconsciousness trance (samadhi). “The Samyam is not complete unless there is a fusion of these three processes of concentration.”
CHILDHOOD
Babaji was given the name “Nagaraj,” which means “serpent king,” referring to “kundalini,” our great divine potential power and consciousness. He was born on the 30th day of November 203 A.D., in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, in Tamil Nadu, India, near where the Cauvery River flows into the Indian Ocean. His birth coincided with the ascendancy (Nakshatra) of the star of Rohini, under which Krishna was also born. The birth took place during the celebration of Kartikai Deepam, the Festival of Lights, the night before the new moon during the Tamil month of Kartikai. His parents were Nambudri Brahmins who had immigrated there from the Malabar coast on the western side of south India. His father was the priest in the Shiva temple of this village, which is today a temple dedicated to Muruga, Shiva’s son.
At the age of 5, Nagaraj was kidnapped by a trader and taken as a slave to what is today Calcutta. A rich merchant purchased him, only to give him his freedom. He joined a small band of wandering monks, and with them became learned in the sacred religious and philosophical literature of India.
However, he was not satisfied. Hearing of the existence of a great siddha, or perfected master, named Agastyar, in the south.
According to Marshall Govindan’s book, at the age of eleven, he made a pilgrimage to the sacred temple of Katirgama & difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka (near the southern most tip of Ceylon) the large island just south of peninsular India.
There he met a disciple of Agastyar, Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. He studied “dhyana,” or meditation, intensively and “Siddhantham,” the philosophy of the Siddhas, with Boganathar for four years. He experienced “savikalpa samadhi,” or cognitive absorption, and had the vision of Lord Muruga, the deity of the Katirgama temple. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya.
BABAJI Self-realization
At the age of 15, Boganathar sent him to his own guru, the legendary Agastyar, who was know to be living near to Courtrallam, in Tamil Nadu. After performing intensive yogic practices at Courtrallam for 48 days, Agastyar revealed himself, and initiated him into Kriya Kundalini Pranayama, a powerful breathing technique.He joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita and practiced deep meditation
He directed the boy Nagaraj to go to Badrinath, high in the Himalayas, and to practice all that he had learned, intensively, to become a “siddha.” Over the next 18 months, Nagaraj lived alone in a cave practicing the yogic techniques which Boganathar and Agastyar has taught him. In so doing, he surrendered his ego, all the way down to the level of the cells in his body, to the Divine, which descended into him. He became a siddha, one who has surrendered to the power and consciousness of the Divine! His body was no longer subject to the ravages of disease and death. Transformed, as a Mah or great siddha, he dedicated himself to the upliftment of suffering humanity.
BABAJI’S LONGEVITY
Since that time, over the centuries, Babaji has continued to guide and inspire some of history`s greatest saints and many spiritual teachers, in the fulfillment of their mission. These include Adi Shankaracharya, the great 9th century A.D. reformer of Hinduism, and Kabir, the 15th century saint beloved by both the Hindus and Muslims. Both are said to have been personally initiated by Babaji, and refer to him in their writings. He has maintained the remarkable appearance of a youth of about 16 years of age. During the 19th century Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society, identified him as the Maitreya, the living Buddha, or World Teacher for the coming era, described in C.W. Leadbetter’s “Masters and the Path.”
Although Babaji prefers to remain obscure and invisible to others, he does on occasion gradually reveals himself to his devotees and disciples, capturing their hearts in various types of personal devotional relationships in which he guides them in their development. His relationship with each of us is unique and according to our individual needs and nature. He is our personal Guru. As our hearts expand our communion with Him culminates with the “universal vision of love,” wherein one witnesses Babaji in everything.
Mahavatar Babaji: Himalayan yogi who is living from over 2000 years and Still Alive
Adoringly addressed by various names, such as Mahamuni, Tryambaka Baba, Shiva Baba, and Badua Baba, Babaji Maharaj cannot be described with any historical or scriptural certainty. His works are divine, shrouded in a mystery that eludes precise detail. Time has failed to reveal the facts about his birth, identity, and life. He is primordial, mahakal, and immortal, not remaining captive to the bounds of time and space. He is supreme and unparalleled among all saints and sages. He assumes an all-compassionate, beautiful, luminous form to provide an experience of new life to confused, grieving, fearful, despondent, and doubtful people, showing them the highway to God-realization.
Babaji Maharaj remains engrossed in deep meditation in the dense forests, caves, and snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas, at the same time keeping a watchful gaze on earnest seekers on their paths to the Ultimate.
His divine play of miraculous appearance and disappearance, as narrated by his disciples Lahiri Mahasaya, Swami Pranavananda, Swami Shriyukteshwar, Hamsa Swami Kevalananda. Paramahamsa Yogananda, and Paramahamsa Hariharananda, is his unique way of guiding disciples on the path of divinity toward rapid liberation.
Babaji and his sister Mataji!
“‘I am Mataji, the sister of Babaji. I have asked him 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. I understood at once that he was Babaji. He looked like Lahiri Mahasaya; though Babaji appeared much younger than his disciple, and had long, bright hair.
“Lahiri Mahasaya, Mataji, and I knelt at the great 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 an 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.’
“‘Be it so,’ Babaji said solemnly. ‘I shall 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.’
There is a scintillating account of his propping up Lahiri Mahasaya from infancy to ascension to godhood, like a bird shelters its offspring under protective wings. He initiated Lahiri Mahasaya into the liberating and sacrosanct techniques of Kriya Yoga. By Mahavatar Babaji’s limitless divine power, Lahiri Mahasaya entered the deepest level of God-realization, the state of nirvikalpa samadhi. Crossing the successive stages of Self-knowledge, he remained anchored for seven days in the deathless realm of brahma loka.
The compassionate Babaji Maharaj instructed him to go back to the world and perform his worldly duties as an ideal yogi householder, blazing the path of liberation for worldly people and sannyasis alike who earnestly sought God-realization. In this way Babaji taught that liberation was no longer the monopoly of a few select sannyasis, and that worldly people could attain godhood without abandoning their duties. By seeking the soul at every moment during all activities, we can achieve God-realization.
Babaji Maharaj tested the depth of love and determination of an American devotee who was searching for him along the inaccessible crags of the Himalayas. Glimpsing Babaji Maharaj, the devotee’s face lit up with joy, and tears streamed down his face. The devotee implored Babaji Maharaj to accept him as his disciple. Babaji Maharaj sternly declined, and the American devotee suddenly jumped from the cliff into a rocky chasm below the ledge. Babaji Maharaj instructed his disciples to collect the corpse. With Babaji’s divine touch, the American devotee came back to life and was accorded the rare privilege of being Babaji Maharaj’s disciple.
Like a director who remains in the background instructing the actors, Shri Babaji Maharaj oversees the worldly stage, appearing only rarely. At Kumbha Mela, he addressed Priyanath (Swami Shriyukteshwar), the dear and close disciple of Lahiri Mahasaya, as “Swamiji,” to Priyanath’s utter astonishment. He instructed Priyanath to write a book combining the essence of Indian metaphysics with that of the West, promising to meet him the day it was finished. True to his word, Babaji Maharaj visited him on the day the assigned work was completed, as Priyanath exited his bath in the Ganga at Shri Rampur.
Lahiri Mahasaya, Babaji Maharaj, and his sister, Mataji, appeared from a flash of light at the Dasahwamedha bathing ghat to Ramgopal, who had been told go there by his guru, Lahiri Mahasaya. When Babaji Maharaj desired to shed his body, his sister Mataji said, “As there is no difference between being ensconced in Brahma and the deathless form, pledge before me that you will never relinquish your body form for the liberation of the entire human race.” Listening to her prayer, as a hallmark of his great compassion, he promised it would be so.
Babaji Maharaj’s divine majesties and the cosmic enactment of his dream are endless. He roams forever in the vast ethereal canvas of divinity, transcending limitations of worldly distinctions such as caste, class, religion, culture, history, and geography. He brought the message of Kriya Yoga to the West through Paramahamsa Yogananda and Paramahamsa Hariharananda, who were brought by his direction into close contact with Swami Shriyukteshwar for spiritual grooming and stewardship. He appeared before Paramahamsa Yogananda before Yoganandaji’s voyage to the West.
Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples, who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda’s own meeting with the yogi. Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science. According to Sri M’s autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.
In 1946, Paramahansa Yogananda, one of modern India’s greatest yogis, revealed in his classic “Autobiography of a Yogi,” the existence of a Christ-like saint, an immortal yogi, Mahavatar Babaji. According to Yogananda’s autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others. The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.
Babaji was a great siddha, one who had overcome ordinary human limitations, and who worked silently, behind the scenes for the spiritual evolution of all humanity. Paramahansa Yogananda also revealed that it was Babaji who taught a powerful series of yogic techniques, know as “Kriya Yoga,” to Lahiri Mahasaya, around 1861, and who subsequently initiated many others, including Yogananda`s own Christ-like guru, Sri Yukteswar, some thirty years later. Yogananda spent 10 years with his guru before Babaji himself appeared to him, and directed him to bring the sacred science of Kriya to the West.
Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: “Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West.”
Yogananda fulfilled this sacred mission from 1920 to 1952, when he left his body and attained the yogic state of mahasamadhi.
As a final tribute to the efficacy of Kriya Yoga and the blessings of his lineage, the body of Yogananda did not deteriorate during the 21 days it lay exposed, before being interred in a crypt in Los Angeles. March 7, 2002 marked the 50th anniversary of Yogananda’s remarkable passing. When his remains were transferred to a permanent “samadhi” shrine in March 2002, millions around the world remembered with gratitude what Yogananda’s legacy has given to them.
The earnest prayer of Brahmachari Rabinarayan (Paramahamsa Hariharananda) to glimpse Mahavatar Babaji’s form was benignly answered when Babaji appeared to him in Puri Karar Ashram in 1949. Pleased with Paramahamsa Hariharanandaji’s high spiritual attainment, Babaji Maharaj inspired him to visit the West in order to propagate Kriya Yoga.