WHO IS BABAJI?
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. Yogananda
related how Babaji had for centuries lived in the Himalayas guiding
many spiritual teachers at a distance, usually without their even
knowing it. 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. 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."
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, he made a pilgrimage to the sacred temple of Katirgama,
near the southern most tip of Ceylon, the large island just south
of peninsular India. There he met a disciple of Agastyar, whose
name was Boganathar. He studied "dhyana," or meditation,
intensively and "Siddhantham," the philosophy of the
Siddhas, with Boganathar for four years. He experienced "sarvihelpa
samadhi," or cognitive absorption, and had the vision of
Lord Muruga, the deity of the Katirgama temple.
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 uplift-ment 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 Matreiya, 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 occassion
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
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 Satyaswarananda
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 Alakananta 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
realizing 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 gemlike 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.
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