Yogiji Maharaj

Yogiji Maharaj

PramukhSwami Maharaj

PramukhSwami Maharaj

Lahiri Mahasaya

Lahiri Mahasaya

 

On September 30, 1828, on the auspicious seventh bright moon day of dasahara, while the villagers of Ghurani in the holy land of Nadia, in West Bengal, were ecstatically immersed in the worship of Divine Mother Durga, Lord Shiva blessed Gourmohan and Muktakeshi with a divine child. In ancient scripture and Vedic literature, Rajarshi Janaka was legendary for his extraordinary ability to remain spiritually pure while living the majestic life of a king, but Shyamacharan Lahiri went a step further, living as a liberated soul while leading a worldly life in modern society.

Shyamacharan Lahiri was ordained by Babaji Maharaj to liberate both saints and householders through the easy and simple techniques of Kriya Yoga. Under the able guidance of his erudite father, pious mother, and the watchful eye of Babaji Maharaj, he matured into a Self-realized divine being, established in sthitaprajna and wisdom. His interpretation and analysis of Indian and Western scriptures was based on his personal realization of their essence, rather than intellectual analysis.

Lahiri Mahasaya tied the nuptial knot with Kashimoni, the daughter of Mahamahopadhyaya Pundit Devanarayan, a reputed scholar of Kashi. Their marriage was a splendid divine play of the Almighty ­— the great union of Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga. Lahiri Mahasaya braved all worldly woes with a sense of inner detachment and equanimity. When Kashimoni tried to bring these to his notice, his usual refrain was, “Surely Lord Vishwanath who sustains the universe can maintain a small family.” He remained unruffled during an ordeal of acute financial hardship he endured while working in the public works department of military engineering. Detachment from wealth and property was the hallmark of his unostentatious life.

Lahiri Mahasaya’s spiritual quest reached its peak when he was transferred to the Himalayas. It was there, in Ranikhet, that he met his deathless guru, Babaji Maharaj. Materializing a magnificent golden palace studded with countless dazzling jewels and gems of all varieties, Babaji Maharaj initiated Lahiri Mahasaya into all the sacred and secret techniques of Kriya Yoga. Lahiri Mahasaya was highly gratified to attain such an inconceivable stage of God-realization. As instructed by Babaji Maharaj, he returned home to perform the worldly duties of an ideal householder. He became a perfectly realized yogi, able to show the path of liberation to householders, brahmacharis, and yogis alike. Word of his spiritual attainment spread, drawing devotees and seekers from all walks of life towards him.

Siddhi yogi Lahiri Mahasaya's divine play of miracles was without end. Though he had a physical body, he was also formless. Materializing in more than one place at the same time, he accomplished his work. Kind-hearted and generous, he miraculously saved the lives of many disciples and drew true seekers to him like a sweet and fragrant flower bewitches bees. His state of wisdom and his perfect balance were displayed when he continued a discourse on the Bhagavad Gita, unperturbed, while his family members mourned his daughter’s death.

Lahiri Mahasaya's mahasamadhi took place on September 26, 1895, the day of mahastami worship of Mother Durga. As he entered into the eternal abode of God, he said: "Those who practice this immortal Kriya Yoga shall never perish and become orphans. Obtaining this great and immortal Kriya Yoga from Babaji Maharaj, I resuscitated it in this world. In the future, it will spread to every house, and man will gradually move ahead on this path to the ultimate liberation. The path of salvation shall always remain open to mankind. The time has come for my departure. Even this gross body is destroyed and the ever-existent guru is always with you." Lahiri Mahasaya's diaries, interpretations, discourses, and exemplary life remain as testimony to his fathomless state of wisdom and spiritual attainment.

Mahavatar Babaji

Mahavatar Babaji

About Mahavatar Babaji

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mahavatar Babaji is our true Self which is ever awakened, enlightened and complete!

Babaji can't be associated or linked to any sort of conditioning of physical world i.e. to any region, religion, guru lineage, country, culture, race or sex. In fact, He is the perfect blend of all energies, and its very hard for the ego to put him (or IT) in one box or the other. Because of this characteristic Babaji has guided humanity since the creation started. Babaji was when the creation started, he is very much present now as we talk and will be their till the end of this world cycle.

The Oneness of Babaji !

Babaji has revealed himself to this seeker in various forms, shapes and names. The oneness of Babaji is the oneness of our being. Oneness, which radiates all the colors of the creation, and yet is colorless its self. Every master, religion, path, technique comes from Babaji, it is Babaji and vanishes in the unmanifested Babaji.