One story that Maharaji told was about an old pujari, an old temple priest, who left a young boy in charge of his temple when he went away. The way it happens is that you bring food and you offer it to the murti and the pujari takes it in behind the curtain, he draws the curtain, and he offers it to Hanuman. Then usually what the pujari does is he takes a little of the food and he keeps it to distribute to the poor and the rest he gives back as Prasad that comes from the murti. Everybody does it at different levels, some think it’s a game and some accept it as the living prasad.

This young boy didn’t know what the routine was behind the curtain because he had never been behind the curtain. So when the first food was brought he went behind and offered it to Hanuman and Hanuman didn’t take it. The boy got freaked since he didn’t want to take the offering back to the people unaccepted, so he took a stick and threatened Hanuman and said, “You have to take this!” So Hanuman took the whole thing, everything on the plate disappeared. He went out and told the family that Hanuman took the whole thing and they beat him, thinking he had stolen it. When the old pujari came back and heard the story he said, “All my life I have been waiting for this to happen, but I was never pure enough for Hanuman to do it for me.”

Original Article

Talking about Maharaji, I get speechless. On the physical plane he is a jungle sadhu who in recent years has started to spend more time in temples around northern India that devotees have built in order to try to capture him, or hold onto a little bit of that light. And he appears in one, and stays for a little while, and then just when they get all their rituals in order to hang onto him forever, he’s hone. In the middle of the night he just disappears again – I mean, not in any astral sense, he just gets someone with a car to take him off somewhere, and nobody knows where he’s gone, and then he turns up somewhere else. And he floats around in that way, so that nobody can really control that kind of light in him.

When you’re with him, when I’m with him, I experience many levels. At the personality social level, he’s often infuriating and frustrating and Mickey Mouse and repetitive and childlike and stubborn and willful and playful and funny and an old man and a little child and very concerned and very indifferent, and that’s one level.

At another level, when I’m in his presence, I experience ecstasy and bliss from the depth of the love that our relationship has for me. And that’s the drunken kind of love where I often find myself just dissolved into tears because I’ve just never experienced such profound love from any being. And often just when I’m going into that he will interrupt it with some question like “How much money does Stephen make?” or something like that just to bring me back to the plane. He keeps me very firmly down on the physical plane until my work is done. He doesn’t allow me to just float around in bliss very much when I’m around him.

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Then there’s a deeper level, like when I first met him he asked me why I’d come back and I told him it was to purify myself more. He said “I am always in communion with you.” And I have more and more deeply understood that to be the case, and in fact that’s now who he is for me. He is a being who is with me always, and sometimes he’s with me so closely that I am him - I’m saying things to people or I’m acting a certain way towards people and I look at their reaction and I see that they’re not reacting to me, they’re reacting to him. That is him just coming through me completely. And at that point I don’t feel his presence because in some sense I am his presence. And then the rest of the time I just feel like I am constantly hanging out with him at a very subtle plane. And at this plane I just feel him as this gentle, firm guide, who’s slowly drawing me towards himself, just pulling me ever so gently. And there’s no rest, it’s a continuous process. And I take almost everything that happens to me as a part of his teachings to me, I take everything if I can remember. If I get uptight about wanting to do good about something, I see him saying to me “Well, you’re still caught, aren’t you? You really still care, don’t you?” And I can just constantly talk with him all the time at that level.

~Ram Dass, 1973

Original Article

The following is an excerpt from a Ram Dass lecture from Listening Heart, Relationships, & Appreciating the Beloved from the Summer of 1989. It is his response to a question from an audience member “What did Maharaji say about love?”

Maharaji on Christ:

“Christ said love all beings as children of God, serve them. Give everything to the poor, even your clothing. Give it all away. Jesus gave it all away including his body.”

How did Christ meditate, Maharaji? He was lost in love. He was one with all beings and he had great love for all in the world. He was crucified so that his spirit could spread throughout the world. He was one with God. He sacrificed his body for the dharma. He never died. He never died. He is atman living in the hearts of all. See all beings as the reflection of Christ.

Maharaji, what can I do to gain pure love for Ram? You will get pure love for Ram by the blessings of Christ. Hanuman and Christ are one. They are the same.

What is the best method of meditation? Do as Jesus did and see god in everyone. Take pity on all and love all as God. When Jesus was crucified he felt only love.

Maharaji, who are you? Everyone is a reflection of my face.

Original Article

In 1949 Baba travelled from Nainital to Kashipur via Haldwani with nine devotees. When they arrived in Kashipur, they stayed in the house of Kishan Chaube, who extended great hospitality to them. Throughout the day all the devotees in Kashipur came with offerings of food and milk for Baba. Baba ate many platefuls of food that day and drank milk in large quantities. Before evening, however, he said he was hungry. He sent his devotee Pooran Chandra Joshi to a nearby lane saying, “A woman is waiting there. She has prepared roti for me. Go and bring it.” Joshi went into that narrow lane and saw an old woman sitting in an open doorway. As soon as he spoke Baba’s name, she happily disappeared inside and returned bringing a thick roti and some green vegetables. At that moment Baba himself arrived and taking the roti in his hand, ate it with great relish.

Baba and the group of devotees returned to Haldwani by train from Kashipur. Chaube had purchased a second-class ticket for Baba. By mistake he bought only eight third-class tickets for the nine devotees who accompanied him and gave the tickets to one of them. All of them sat in the second-class compartment with Baba except for a pandit (religious scholar), who travelled in the third-class compartment of the train. Suddenly Baba asked the devotees, “How many tickets are there?” A devotee replied that Chaube bought tickets for all. Baba sternly asked, “Where is Pandit’s ticket?” They counted them again and realized the mistake.

Baba took all the tickets from them and threw them out of the window of the moving train, making all of them ticketless travelers. A special checking squad was checking the train that day, and the eight devotees sitting with Baba were government servants. They worried about losing their jobs if they were caught traveling without tickets. At the next station Baba got out of the train and went to sit with Pandit in the third-class compartment, as did the devotees. Just then Baba put nine third-class tickets into the hands of a devotee.

The train arrived at the Lalkuan station late at night, after the connecting train to Haldwani had already left. There was no other train for Haldwani nor was a bus available, so they thought they would have to spend the night at the station. However, as Baba got down onto the platform, a Muslim truck driver standing nearby noticed him, wrapped in his blanket. He stared at Baba with great curiosity. Baba also looked at him and said, “Your wife is ill? You are sad? You have taken her to Bareilly, Agra, and other places and still there is no improvement? Do not worry, she will be alright.” He listened to Baba in quiet amazement and then humbly asked him, “Baba, where do you want to go? My truck is standing outside. If you will allow me, I will take you wherever you like.” He then took everyone to Haldwani in his truck.

Excerpt from The Divine Reality of Sri Baba Neeb Karori Ji Maharaj by Ravi Prakash Pande “Rajida”

Original Article

In 1967 R.P. Vaish, a devotee of Baba’s, came to Kainchi to see Baba. He was being transferred to Delhi, and he told Baba that he wanted to tour Kashmir before taking up his post. When Vaish was leaving, Baba gave him an umbrella and said, “Keep it with you. It rains heavily there.” Vaish hesitated to accept the umbrella and said, “I have an umbrella at home. This one will serve many people here at the ashram.” Baba did not listen to him and again asked him to keep it with him. During his stay in Kashmir, Vaish went about holding the umbrella. On his return to Delhi, he again went to Kainchi for Baba’s darshan and to return the umbrella. On seeing him, Baba said, “You have come to return the umbrella?” Baba then said, “Keep it with you. It will be a protective umbrella over you.” Vaish did not understand what Baba meant, but he went back to Delhi, taking the umbrella with him.

In 1978, five years after Baba’s Mahasamadhi, Vaish was transferred to Lucknow and left his extra luggage, including the umbrella, at his house in Delhi. In Lucknow he started suffering from heart, liver and spleen trouble. A check-up at Balrampur Hospital revealed that his spleen was enlarged by thirteen centimeters, but the doctors did not advise an operation due to his heart trouble. As no other treatment option was available to him in Lucknow, he and his wife went to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi. Back in Delhi, Vaish was getting ready to go from his house to the hospital when his wife noticed the umbrella lying there. The idea came to her that by not keeping the umbrella gifted to him by Maharaj with him always, he might have been deprived of Baba’s protection. In the hot month of June, Shrimati Vaish escorted her husband to the hospital and hid the umbrella under his pillow.

Vaish was examined thoroughly once again. His spleen was still enlarged by thirteen centimeters. The doctors told him that he would have to stay in the hospital for six months and agreed that it was not advisable to operate on the spleen in his condition. They would have to rely on the medicines to affect a cure. They told him that he would have to take a special tablet once a month that would reduce his spleen by two and a half centimeters over thirty days. He took the first tablet that same day. The next morning he felt so much better that he asked the doctor to get his spleen examined again. Saying encouraging words to him, the doctor explained that the process of measuring would be repeated after six months, not every day. Vaish was not satisfied with this and sent his wife to the chief medical superintendent with a request to get his spleen examined again as a special case. The superintendent ordered it to be re-measured, and the results showed that his spleen had indeed reduced in size by thirteen centimeters. Since the tablet was not that effective, the doctors were all amazed at the sudden change. When they expressed their surprise to Vaish, he pulled out the umbrella and said, “By its grace.”

Excerpt from The Divine Reality of Sri Baba Neeb Karori Ji Maharaj by Ravi Prakash Pande “Rajida”

Original Article

Baba’s devotee Dr. Naval Kishore was the gynecologist at Agra Medical College until he received a post at Ramsay Hospital in Nainital. Some time after he arrived, Baba asked him to treat the hill women at Hanumangarh, which he did daily from 10am until 4pm. One day Naval Kishore could not go to work. Baba had been away from Nainital but returned to Hanumangarh that day. He asked the reason for the doctor’s absence, but nobody could tell him. That evening, while walking around with some devotees, Baba stopped near the Empire Hotel and asked, “Where does the doctor live?” When a devotee pointed to the hotel, Baba sent someone inside to call the doctor. He came out, and Baba said to him, “You are ill?” When the doctor said no, he then said, “You have a cold?” The doctor replied, “Just an ordinary cold.” Baba immediately called a dandi and told the doctor to get himself admitted to Ramsay Hospital. The doctor did not feel it necessary, but Baba insisted and sent him to the hospital with some devotees.

From there Maharaji went with Devi Dutt Joshi, Pooran Chandra Joshi, and some other devotees to a washerman’s house, where the puja of Sri Satyanarayan (Vishnu) was being performed. At about 7:30pm, the doctor’s brother came to see Baba to tell him that his brother’s condition was serious. He has suffered a heart attack and was having difficulty breathing. Baba said, “What can I do? You go.” Baba sent the devotees with the doctor’s brother to the hospital.

Later, on their return from the hospital, the devotees saw Baba walking toward Kelakhan. Baba told them that he was worried about the doctor and his family, and he continued down the slope to Kelakhan, where he went to Mohan Baba’s* hut. Mohan Baba, who was also known as Telephone Baba, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu, and Maharaji asked him to ring up the Lord and tell him about the doctor. Mohan Baba gave an imaginary phone call to Narada, saying that Baba wanted to talk to Vishnu. Narada replied that Lord Vishnu was not available, for he was talking to Goddess Laxmi. After some time Maharaji asked Mohan Baba to ring again. This time Mohan Baba did not hear whatever Narada said clearly and went on shouting into his mystical telephone in vain. All of a sudden Maharaji got up and picked Mohan Baba up by the hair. He then dropped him on the ground and cried aloud, “He is saved now! He is saved now!” and left. The two devotees also left and returned to Nainital where they received good news about the doctor’s condition.

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*Mohan Baba was a well-loved holy man of the Kumaon hills. He was known as Telephone Baba because although he could truly communicate with God, at times he used gestures as if he were talking to him on the telephone. Like many Indian saints, he did all sorts of lila to hide his mystical powers. He was a very innocent, childlike being, and his prophecies proved to be true. 

Excerpt from The Divine Reality of Sri Baba Neeb Karori Ji Maharaj by Ravi Prakash Pande “Rajida”

Original Article