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.

KRIYA BABAJI REVEALS HIMSELF

In South India, Babaji had been preparing, since 1942, two other souls for the task of disseminating his Kriya Yoga: S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together in order to work for his Mission. In 1952 and 1953 Babaji dictated three books to V.T.Neelakantan: “The Voice of Babaji and Mysticism Unlocked,” “Babaji’s Masterkey to All Ills,” and “Babaji’s Death of Death.” Babaji revealed to them his origins, his tradition, and his Kriya Yoga. They founded on October 17, 1952, at the request of Babaji, a new organization, “Kriya Babaji Sangah,” dedicated to the teaching of Babaji’s Kriya Yoga. The books created a sensation at the time of their publication and distribution throughout India. The SRF (Self Realization Fellowship) attempted to have them and the Kriya Babaji Sangah suppressed, and it took the intervention of the then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Nehru, who was a friend of V.T. Neelakantan, to end their efforts. In 2003, Babaji’s Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas reprinted these three books in one volume called “The Voice of Babaji.”

It is in the “Masterkey of All Ills,” that Babaji reveals his answer to the question “Who Am I”. In essence, this reveals, that when we know ultimately who we are, we will know who Babaji is. That is, Babaji does not identify with a limited human personality, or series of life events, or even his divinely transformed body. However, in writings he also revealed for the first time a number of precious details about his life story, in order to outline for us a path to Self-realization, which anyone may aspire to. These details have been subsequently documented in the book “Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga Tradition.”

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.

Quest for 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 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.

BABAJI’S REVIVAL OF KRIYA YOGA / Tamil (VASI YOGA)

Babaji revives Kriya Yoga, which Siddha Patanjali refers to in his famous “Yoga-Sutras.” Patanjali wrote his classic text of yoga about the 3rd century A.D. In it he defines Kriya Yoga in II.1 as “constant practice (particularly by the cultivation of detachment), self-study and devotion to the Lord.” However, along with what Patanjali described as Kriya Yoga, Babaji added the teachings of the tantra, which includes the cultivation of “kundalini,” the great potential power and consciousness, through the use of breathing, mantras and devotional practices. His modern synthesis of “Kriya Yoga,” includes a rich variety of techniques. It was in 1861 that Babaji initiated Lahiri Mahasaya into his powerful Kriya Yoga system.

OTHER TECHNIQUES OF KRIYA YOGA ARE REVEALED BY BABAJI

During a six month period in 1954, at his ashram near Badrinath, in the Garwhal Himalayas, Babaji initiated a great devotee, S.A.A. Ramaiah into a complete system of 144 Kriyas, or practical techniques, involving postures, breathing, meditation, mantras and devotional techniques. The latter blossomed as a yogi, and began a mission to bring this system, referred to as “Babaji`s Kriya Yoga” to thousands of aspirants ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

Fortunately, Babaji comes out from behind the veils of anonymity which he finds so useful for his work. Babaji has appeared to Swami Satyeswarananda in the Kumaon Hills of the Himalayas, in the early 1970`s and given him the assignment of translating and publishing the writings of Lahiri Mahasaya. This he has done in a series, the “Sanskrit Classics,” from his home in San Diego, California. Babaji gave his “darshan” on the vital plane to the author, M. Govindan, in October 1999, on two occasions. This occurred 30 kilometers north of Badrinath, at an altitude of nearly 5,000 meters, at the source of the Alakananda River. During these visitations, Babaji appeared as a radiant youth, with copper colored hair, clad in a simple white “dhoti” or waist cloth, and allowed Govindan to touch his feet.

BABAJI’S ATTAINMENT

One cannot really know who Babaji is, or even begin to conceive of his grandeur, without appreciating the culture of the Siddhas from which he has emerged. Rather than seeking an other worldly escape in some heaven, after realising the presence of the Divine within, the Siddhas sought to surrender their entire being to It, and to allow It to manifest at all levels. They sought a complete transformation of our human nature.

“Thirumandiram,” by the Siddha Thirumoolar, written in the 2nd to 4th century A.D. in 3,000 gem like verses, reveals the breath and depth of the Siddhas attainments. Our research has revealed that Thirumoolar was a brother disciple of Boganathar, Babaji’s guru, and of Patanjali, one of the most well known sources of Yoga. While most of the Siddha’s literature has not been translated outside of their native language of Tamil and Sanskrit, there exist a few good studies, most notably Dr. Kamil Zvelibil’s “Poets of the Powers,” and Professor David Gordon White’s “The Alchemical Body.” Both of these academic works demonstrate at length the remarkable attainments of the Siddhas, and reveal that Babaji was not some unique extraterrestrial. He manifests what Sri Aurobindo referred to and aspired to for all humanity: “the supramental transformation” of our human nature, perhaps the next step in our evolutionary process. As such, he is not our savior. Nor is he the founder of some religion. He does not seek our adulation or even our recognition. Like all of the Siddhas, he has surrendered completely to the Supreme Being, the Supreme Abstraction, and as a divine instrument, brings down into this murky world the clear light of consciousness, unconditional joy and supreme peace. May everyone achieve this greatest human potential.

OTHER NAME OF BABAJI

Hariakhan Baba, is also known as Babaji Maharaji, Mahamunindra, Sri Sadguru, Sri Sadashiva, Mahavatar, Trayambak Baba, Hariakhan Maharaji, Mahaprabhu Ramlal etc. As per oral tradition of Kumaon division of lower Himalayas, Babaji Mahraji is said to come from Nepal, where he has a permanent place in the caves of unknown location. In Kurmachala area (the lower mountains of Himalayas) which includes the districts of Almora, Nainital and Garhwal, he is well known by the name of Hariakhan Baba. He was a teacher of yoga tradition who taught throughout northern India near the Himalayas between 1861 and 1924. His last known personal appearance is recorded to be in 1952–53.

Babaji Maharaji, as he is referred to, is discussed in the book Hariakhan Baba: Known and Unknown by Baba Hari Dass. That collection of personal stories told by local people also recounts the last known appearance of Hariakhan Baba in 1952–53.

Several earlier accounts were also written by an Indian holy man named Sri Mahendra Baba (born in Bihar) — a long term disciple of Maharaji, who identified him as being the same person as Mahavatar Babaji, the immortal master who initiated Lahiri Mahasaya into Kriya Yoga in 1861.

Historical Background

Hairakhan Babaji first appeared in hariakhan village near the year 1890. He is said to be the great yogi who appeared in many human forms at the same time through his yogic powers of kaya nirmana as described in yoga philosophy of Patanjali. According to one account he was the guru of mahayogi Gorakhnath, then named Yogi Matsyendranath. He was the Mahavatar Baba who initiated Yogi Lahiri Mahashay in almora, whose tradition still goes by the name of kriya yoga of Yogada Society. Hariakhan Babaji’s another physical form was by the name of Mahaprabhu Ramlal ji maharaj who lived in a cave in sawai village near Agra, India in year 1911. Mahaprabhuji initiated Yogiraj Chandramohan ji to his tradition of Siddhayoga. Bhagwan Nityanand of Ganeshpuri is said to be the another physical body of Hariakhan Babaji who initiated Swami Muktanand.

SOURCES OF RESEARCH

Local tradition in Kurmachala (Kumoan)

In Kurmachala area, which includes Almora district, Nainital and Garwhal (the lower Himalayas) he is well known as Hariakhan Baba. In 1890 he appeared in a cave in the Hariakhan jungle. From 1890 until 1920, he was seen in different places in Kurmachala. After that several people saw him in visions. When the dam of Lake Bhim Tal was constructed he appeared dressed as a laborer. That difficult construction was successfully completed with his assistance but he disappeared when people guessed he was not an ordinary person. “He was tall and slim-bodied, with long arms reaching to the knees and a fair complexion. He would walk very fast. His eyes were brown, and his eye-brows would move up and down which indicates that some mantra was being repeated continuously inside him. He would not sleep at all…he had great strength in his body, people would see him lifting huge rocks.”

During the summers, near Gautam Ganga River, Babaji Maharaj would perform Panchagni Sevan (an austerity of Five Fires). In it, the yogi sits in the middle and gazes at the bright sun with his eyes open and does japa. Observers would notice Babaji Maharaj completely enveloped by the flames. Upon completion of that practice they saw a huge lion would come walk around Babaji, bow to his feet and then leave. Babaji explained to fearful villages that the lion would not harm anyone; that he only came to pay his respect to him.

The British commissioner Henry Ramsay (Indian Army officer) of Nainital District in 1856–1884 met Babaji Maharaj near Katgharia. The commissioner after that meeting made a tax-free grant of land in Babaji’s name. In that place devotees built a temple. In Feb 24th 1958, after Sri Mahendra Brahmachari built an ashram there, a huge opening ceremony was held, including visitors from Western countries. At 11 o’clock, when yajna was going on, there appeared a light in a human form. Several people who recognized it as Hariakhan Maharaji, danced with great joy, or fainted in ecstasy.

Yogic Powers, or Siddhis

Many similar stories about Babaji Maharaj 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.”

Swami Satyeswarananda Giri and his views

Swami Satyeswarananda Giri and several disciples of “The Original Kriya Discipline”, describe Hariakhan Baba as “The Divine Himalayan Yogi” and “an enigma to many people”. Hariakhan Babaji, was also called Trambak Baba, Siva Baba, Maheswar Baba, Pahari Baba, Munindra Baba, Govinda Bhagavan, Gopichand Baba, or the Divine Himalayan Yogi, etc. His preferred places were Vaisnabi Sakti Pith — Dunagiri Hill, and Badrinath Dham or Badrinarayan, in the Himalayas.

According to his principal disciple in Kriya Yoga tradition, Yogiraj Sri Shyama Charan Lahiri Mahasay, nobody knows his real name but Hariakhan Babaji is the spirit of Lord Krisna, “the incarnation of Lord Visnu (as per an entry of Lahiri Mahasay’s diary: Buddha Baba ohi Kisun, ‘The old Father! He is Krisna’)”. Hariakhan Babaji “is NOT an Avatar..”, but can be called “a great silent sage”, or Mahamuni Babaji. His wandering lifestyle is meant to serve the spiritual beings of the world and the interplanetary systems, he loves to make visits and stayed often for a while in places in the Himalayas.

According to other descriptions Mahavatar Babaji is yet another name given to Hariakhan Baba, “The Divine Himalayan Yogi”, by an Indian saint Shyāma Charan Lahirī Mahasay and several of his disciples who met Mahavatar Babaji between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including Yogananda’s own meeting with Mahavatar Babaji. In this context, there exist apparent and substantial difference with the views supported by Swami Satyeswarananda Giri and his school of Kriya Yoga tradition. Hariakhan Babaji was “Not an Avatar,” out of the Ten Avatars of Vishnu (Dashavatara), but was rather “the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.”

Sri Mahendra Brahmachari — research

Born in Bihar in a Brahmin family, he was well learned in scriptures as well as in Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, and Gujarati. In 1949, at Siddashram, he had a vision of Babaji Maharaj. He collected information from the old people in Ranikhet area and proved that Hariakhan Mahraji and Babaji Mahraji, guru of Lahiri Mahasaya, were one and the same person. In the book Blessings and Precepts he wrote, “In the autumn of 1861 Sri Lahiri Mahasaya got the first darshan of Sri Sri Baba (Hariakhan Baba). This place is situated 14 miles away from Ranikhet on a high peak of Dronagiri at the foot of Nanda Devi (the source of the Ganges)..” This author concludes that from the description of Babaji Maharaj in Autobiography of a Yogi, from existing portraits of him, from the bust cast of him by Niels Olft Cressander, and from other visual evidence it is possible to conclusively say that it is one and the same person.

Baba Hari Dass — experience

Baba Hari Dass was born in 1923 in Almora and grew in the region where appearances of Hariakhan Baba took place. He was well aware of the oral tradition regarding that legendary yogi. His personal interest and extensive knowledge of the region is an important contribution in the research about Hariakhan Baba. He visited several places where Hariakhan Baba and other siddha saints lived and collected stories about them.

Babaji Maharaji, as he is referred to, is discussed in his book Hariakhan Baba: Known and Unknown (1975). That collection of personal accounts of witnesses includes stories that were told based on experience of Hariakhan Baba. He also recounts his own experience of 1952–53. When he lived in a cave in a burial place called Ghati, during a wintertime, he had a fire going inside. In meditation, “I fainted and fell down to my left side. The fire was burning, and I was very close to it. I saw Hariakhan Maharaji come into the room and bend over me.., removing my left arm from the fire pit… I stood up and came out to bow to his feet, but he had disappeared.” That date might be the last known account of Hariakhan Baba in person.

LINEAGE (DESCENT)