I am Harmony

"Everyone saw that Shri G.N. Joshi had come alive and was looking around in total surprise. Practically everyone had heard that Baba Haidakhan was God incarnate, but now they had actually witnessed it.

"Now Babaji ordered them to take Joshiji into the house; but superstitions are hard to get over and even now everyone was afraid to lift the body back into the house, for fear that this ghostly spirit might take possession of them should they touch the body.

"Babaji once again smiled and said, 'Don't worry. This man is alive and not dead, as you think. Take him inside; nothing will go wrong.'

"Shri G.N. Joshi was subsequently taken to his bed in the house where slowly but surely he began to recover. By and by he started drinking milk and taking food, etc.

"Babaji left thereafter, but came back to the house after eight days and told the family members to take Shri G.N . Joshi to the nearby river (Ramganga). There the Lord took a few dips in the river Himself and asked people to give a few dips to Shri G.N. Joshi, also. After that, He asked them to lay him on his stomach and cover him with a blanket. After half an hour or so, people saw that a lot of filthy, foul-smelling water ran out of Joshi's nose.

"The Lord then asked Joshi to accompany Him and, to and behold!, Joshiji got up and walked up the hill for a distance of two and a half miles, quite comfortably, back to the house.

"This happened in 1910 or 1911 and after being given this fresh lease on life he eventually died in 1950 or 1951, a 40-year lease renewal."33

* * * * * * * *

There are many stories of Shri Babaji raising people from the dead. There are even a few examples of the following variant of the resurrection story. This story is written by Shri Giridhari Lal Mishra.

"Once Haidakhan Baba was traveling with a devotee (Jeevanchand Joshi) to Badrinath [a religious pilgrim center in the Indian Himalayas]. En route, the devotee was struck by cholera. After a violent but short period of vomiting and profuse dysentery, he was very close to breathing his last.

"Babaji, compassionate as ever, felt sorry for him and said, 'I shall leave My body instead of you, as there is no one to mourn My loss.' The attack of cholera subsided immediately, as far as the devotee was concerned, but Babaji, on the other hand, was hit by the same disease very quickly and He told the devotee, 'When I leave My body, consign the lifeless form to the flames and the ashes to the Gan­ga.' Shortly afterwards, He left the human body. The devotee, grief-stricken though he was, did as he had been instructed by Babaji.

"Shortly thereafter, the devotee returned to his home town of Almora. On arrival at his house, he was informed that Shri Babaji was staying, for the last few days, at another devotee's house. It was impossible to believe that this could be true, as he had himself done the last rites. Nevertheless, he hastened to this devotee's house. Lo and behold! Babaji was sitting there in person! He did not even believe his eyes until he had felt Babaji's body.

"The entire episode so shocked the devotee that he was practically insane for about six months."34

* * * * * * * *

Shri Mahendra Baba spent many years looking for Babaji. Just before he found Babaji, Mahendra Baba met an old man named Shiromani Pathak in a small village named Sheetlakhet, in the Almora District of Uttar Pradesh. Shiromani had known 'Old Haidakhan Baba' (Babaji had left the scene over twenty-five years before Mahendra Baba met Shiromani) and had helped create the Siddhashram for Babaji, just outside of Sheetlakhet. The old man took a great liking to Mahendra Baba and the two sat and talked for hours through the night about Babaji. Whenever Mahendra Baba asked Shiromani about Babaji, Shiromani would burst into tears and Mahendra Baba would wait for him to get quiet again. Mahendra finally got this story of Babaji from Shiromani.

"An hour before my uncle died, he said, 'Just see how gracious He is! Give Him something to sit on. Worship Him!' Those present around him thought he was delirious, but, actually, Shri Sadashiv was giving him liberation by showing Himself to him in His glorious body. From that very moment [Shiromani] said, he, too, felt a great desire to obtain a sight of Him. It be­came an over-whelming wish, but how to meet Him? He had heard tales of His wonderful appearance, but had never been blessed by a sight of His form.

"One day, unexpectedly, 200 to 250 men came to his house, and with them were some palanquins. In one beautiful palanquin, ceremoniously surrounded by many rich and respectful people with folded hands, was a great and merciful Sage, wearing a shirt and cap, and with a loving smile on His face, shedding grace on all animate and inanimate things around Him. Shiromanji, at that time, was suffering from a very septic wound. As soon as he heard of Shri Bhagwan's arrival, he ran toward Him with joy. He slipped on the wooden steps and a splinter of wood pricked his foot, and he fell down in a faint. The people surrounding him were anxious about him, but Shiromanji was lying with his head resting on the merciful Master's lap in a trance which would put to shame the trance of great Brahma Rishis, and was experiencing a nectar-like peace, fully gratified.

"After resting at this place for some time, Shri Maharaj, with all His worshippers, whose number had swelled to thousands within a short time, left to proceed onwards.

"There was no fixed programme for Shri Maharaj; wherever He went, there, without any effort or call, thousands of men and women collected. Hearing of His coming, there was seldom anyone who could stay at home. There were no questions and answers, but people experienced peace at the mere sight of His presence.

"Many learned Sanskrit scholars, ministers, social reformers and social workers, and rajas and nawabs came to see Him. In the presence of this Great One - the final goal of all teachings, the solution of the existence of the Self - the natural practice of mutual intercourse and the tranquility of those who realized Brahman was available to all in equal measure.

"Always of sweet countenance, compassion­ate eyes, benevolent behaviour, slender of body, with child-like gestures, dressed only in shirt (kurta) and cap - these physical features were a source of super­natural attraction for all. Of food, He took very little; He drank a lot of buttermilk. When He opened His palms, the group of devotees around Him got intoxicated with their divine fragrance. His hair never grew longer. He never slept. Shiromanji lived with Him for six months but he never saw Him sleep. If someone clothed Him, He allowed Himself to be clothed, but He never asked for clothes and, even if there were clothes available, He never used them. His devotees presented Him with costly clothes, gold coins and many precious things, but He did not even glance at these uninteresting things. Yes, to entertain His devotees, He some­times used to play with the things, like a child, for ten or fifteen minutes; then anything could happen - any­one could take the things; He made no arrangements about their disposal. To Him, dust and precious things were all alike. To Him, friend and foe, detractor and admirer, sinner and saint, in His compassionate sight, all had rights to His mercy.

"[Shiromani] recounted to me great, wonderful, and unheard-of stories of His supernatural acts, seen by himself. Due to my doubtful nature, sometimes I used to wonder at his stories and then Shiromanji used to swear on his faith, his own self, his son, and on everything, that whatever he told me was perfectly true.

"At that time, even though my heart had not much faith, I was forced to believe in these supernatural happenings. We talked together for hours. At that time I also thought to myself that though I had no inclination for prayers, repetitions of religious verses, and discourses on religious subjects, yet how interesting I found these talks! They drew me forcibly. The whole purport of [Shiromani's] talk was that Shri Haidakhan Baba was Ishwara Himself! This personification of God was extraordinary!

"[Shiromani] had seen many instances with his own eyes when the dead were made alive, when the illiterate were given instant eloquence to compose, the childless were given sons, those with financial troubles were given the boon of patrons. Devotees in search of divine qualities had all their desires fulfilled and gained power over occult phenomena. Those in search of salvation, not only from India but from Europe, and the holy men from Tibet, by taking refuge under His fearless and generous protection, gained illumination. People of diverse views and religions and great devotees had their hopes fulfilled by coming to the feet of the Lord. The long and the short of Shiromanji's good company and talk was to prove this. He swore repeatedly under oath, and greatly agitated, about these phenomena."35

* * * * * * * *

In 1921 or 1922, Shri Babaji made some preparations for ending the incarnation. Gangotri Baba, who became a widely-known saint, was then about fifty years old; he had retired from his profession as a school teacher. On his return from a pilgrimage to the Tibetan Mount Kailash, Gangotri Baba met Sombhari Baba in the town of Haldwani. Sombhari Baba (a great siddha yogi) told Gangotri Baba that Haidakhan Baba wanted to see him in His ashram at Kathgharia, about three miles outside of Haldwani.

Gangotri Baba went straight to the Kathgharia Ashram and sat with Haidakhan Baba. Haidakhan Baba said that He was about to leave the material world and go to the astral plane to do other work. He told Gangotri Baba to take up the work He was leaving behind. Haidakhan Baba instructed Gangotri Baba to go to live near the mountain village of Gangotri, from which he later received his name. Babaji also instructed Gangotri Baba to take special care of Dr. Hem Chand Joshi, the linguist, and his wife, Durga Devi. Then Babaji handed to Gangotri Baba a tulsi mala (a necklace or rosary made of tulsi wood beads) in a cotton mala bag and told him to keep it safely, saying, "I will take it back when I come next time."36

In the autumn of 1922, Haidakhan Baba traveled again to Tibet and ended this trip with a stop in the town of Ashkot, just inside the Indian border with western Nepal. Babaji stayed in Ashkot for a few days as a guest of the local rajah (king). When Babaji left the town, the rajah himself helped carry the palanquin in which Shri Babaji sat. A few miles out of Ashkot, Babaji sent the rajah back to Ashkot and continued His journey with some devotees and some of the rajah's attendants.

When the party came to the junction of the Kali and Gori Rivers, Shri Babaji told the party that He would return again for the benefit of all human beings. Then He stepped onto the waters of the river, which is deep and swift at that point, walked to the center of the river and sat yogi-fashion and changed into Light and disappeared.37

"Whenever there is a decline of righteousness in the world, Then Thou comest in the world to save righteousness; O Destroyer of sins, cleanse us of all our defects! Hail, hail, O King of Sages, Remover of the pain of Thy devotees." From the Haidakhan Aarati

CHAPTER III

PREDICTIONS AND PREPARATIONS FOR BABAJI'S RETURN:

MAHENDRA MAHARAJ AND VISHNU DUTT MISHRA

Mahendra Baba finds Babaji

During the years of Shri Babaji's physical absence, from 1922 to 1970, a great siddha yogi38 came on the scene to tell people about Babaji and to foretell and prepare for His return.

The man who became known as Mahendra Baba, or Mahendra Maharaj, was born on March 4, 1908, in the home of his maternal grandfather in a village called Manika, near Mithila, Bihar. Mithila is the reputed birthplace of Lord Ram's wife, Sita. His childhood and boyhood were spent in this grandfather's home.

Mahendra's grandfather was a staunch devotee of the Goddess Durga - one of the names and aspects of The Divine Mother, the Creatrix and Nurturer. The family was well-to-do and well-educated. Mahendra attended the local school and when he came home from school he was taught Sanskrit by learned teachers. He also studied several other languages, including English.

The grandfather was learned in Sanskrit, astrology, and the ritualistic worship of God. He had a room separate from the rest of the household where he could do his pujas (ritual worship). He also read Durga Saptshati ("Seventy Verses in Praise of Goddess Durga") in Sanskrit several times a day. Young Mahendra soon learned to read it, too.39

In his childhood and youth, Mahendra had several experiences of Babaji. He said that, as a very young child, he was healed of a near-fatal illness by a vision of Babaji and the Divine Mother, Goddess Durga. On his fifth birthday, Mahendra went to a sweet shop to buy candy and was given sweets by Shri Babaji. A man in Bombay, whom Mahendra Baba insisted on treating as a friend, rather than as a devotee, says that Mahendra Baba told him that when he graduated from high school, Mahendra went to buy sweets to celebrate the event and that, at the sweet shop, he was embarrassed by the stare of a tall, old saint. When Mahendra received his sweets, he offered some to this saint. The saint refused the sweets but said he wanted to go to Mahendra's home. Mahendra led the saint to his home and for the next six days and nights the saint taught Mahendra yogic knowledge. Then the saint walked out of the house and did not return. Mahendra had asked this guru where he came from (he replied that he had come from the Himalayas), but he had not asked his name. It is customary to call religious men "Baba" or "Maharaj," so Mahendra had needed no other name in his conversations with the saint.

Mahendra told other devotees that as soon as he reached boyhood he developed a desire to go to Vrindaban and meditate; he had a great love and respect for Lord Krishna. One day, when still a young boy, he asked his mother's permission to go to Vrindaban and repeat Krishna's name and 'find God.' His mother wept and begged him not to go until he had more education and understood spirituality better.

Mahendra went to college in Patna, Bihar. He told his friend in Bombay that while he was in Patna he saw his saintly teacher again. On a cold December day, Mahendra and a number of other college students saw and were intrigued by a 'mahatma' (great soul) and followed him through the city streets. The mahatma went to the bank of the Ganges River, threw off his outer clothes, waded out to an island in the river, and sat yogi-fashion. As he sat, the whole area around him became warm; the boys on the river bank took off their winter wraps as they stood and watched the saint. The saint shouted out to them, "Do not try to test a yogi's powers!" and the boys quickly left the area.

Mahendra capped his formal education with a Master of Arts degree in philosophy from Bhagalpur University in Bihar. His writings indicate a high degree of learning; they are so full of Sanskrit quotations and allusions to scriptural and literary incidents that they often make heavy reading for educated readers and they are extremely difficult to translate. Mahendra Maharaj told people that after he completed his education, he took part in Mahatma Gandhi's political movement for a while and visited many cities while involved in this work.

Mahendra said he decided to leave his home in 1928. One day, while out for a walk, he decided to go to Benares, so he just kept on walking - a distance of at least two hundred miles from his home. He spent some time in the Vishwanath Temple in Benares and then started a school. After a few days, his grandfather, learning where Mahendra was, sent him some money and said he would come to see Mahendra. On hearing this, Mahendra used the money his grand­father sent to move on to Vrindaban, where he "fell at the feet of Mother Radhaji."40

He settled down for a long stay for 'sadhana' (religious practices for spiritual growth) in the village of Lohban, some miles from Vrindaban and close to Mathura, where Lord Krishna was born. His stay there lasted about twenty years, during which time he traveled a good deal and spent much time also in the Datta District of Gujarat, near the town of Ambaji, an area closely associated with the Divine Mother Amba. He never again visited his family in Bihar. While in Lohban, Mahendra Baba organized sessions for japa (repetition of God's names), for singing devotional songs, and for reading of scriptures like the Ramanaya. Many people came to him and were benefited by their association with him.41 He is still well remembered in Lohban. In 1984, the people of the village gave land and began collecting funds to build a temple and a small ashram in honor of Mahendra Maharaj and Shri Haidakhan Baba.

Though Mahendra Baba went to Vrindaban and Lohban to be with Lord Krishna and Mother Radha, he did not forget his great desire to find his guru. He walked through the Himalayas - in India, Nepal, and Tibet - searching for the guru who had come from the Himalayas to teach him yogic knowledge. It is said of Mahendra Baba that he never begged for food or other things - as most religious wanderers do - and that he often went hungry and in want, though usually people brought him food and gave him things he needed, without his asking. He spent much time in long fasts and meditated for long periods, wearing little, eating little, and speaking little. He was known for his severe penance. His growing number of devotees, including the rajah (king) of the Datta area, used to offer him food and sweets to ease his penance and preserve his health, but he rarely accepted these things.

For years, Mahendra Baba prayed that he might find his guru from the Himalayas, but he continued to be in ignorance of who he was. We are told that in 1949 Mahendra Baba had a vision at the Ambaji Temple in Datta in which the Goddess Durga came to him and told Mahendra Baba to go to the Almora District of Uttar Pradesh to look for his guru. His search in the Almora District is the first major theme in Mahendra Baba's book, "Anupam Kripa."

Early in the summer of 1949, he went to a temple in the town of Almora and stayed there for three or four days, but since he did not find his guru there he became restless and walked to Kosi, five or six miles away The next day he walked to a Surya Devi temple a mile above Kosi. In the evening, a villager offered to lead Mahendra Baba to another temple farther into the mountains. In the dark of early night, they walked along a path about a foot wide, high above a stream. Tired and hungry though Mahendra Baba was, there was no room to sit on the path and rest. After two hours, the villager pointed out the path to the temple and disappeared into the darkness to go home to his sick son. Mahendra Baba groped his way to a tiny village, but was stopped by barking dogs. He called out names of God and was heard by some women in the village temple, who sent a man to help him. The man offered to feed him, but Mahendra Maharaj asked only that he be led to the Shatrudra temple and, after midnight, they reached the Shiva Bolenath temple at Shatrudra.

As soon as Mahendra Maharaj drank the water of the stream that flows near the temple, his hunger and thirst vanished and he went to sleep on the porch of the temple. Very soon he was awakened by the priest of the temple, who, in great agitation, said, "Maharaj, tell me quickly what food I should bring for you. Tell me quickly, for the Lord Himself has told me sternly that an ascetic is hungry, and I am to feed him. See how, even now, my heart is beating!" Mahendra Baba protested he wanted nothing and he was so obviously tired that the priest told him to go to sleep. As Mahendra Baba settled down to sleep again, the priest went into the temple and stumbled against a bundle in the darkness. It contained flour, so he insisted on making bread and a vegetable in great quantities and fed Mahendra Maharaj well.

From place to place, like this, for eleven days, Mahendra Baba was led across the Almora District to Sheetlakhet where he met Shiromani Pathak, who, after an all-night talk42, sent Mahendra Maharaj on to the Siddhashram, just half a mile or so below Sheetlakhet.

"I came to the Ashram with [its] priest. Even a poet would be unable to describe the beauty of the place. In the Ashram is a bungalow type of travelers' rest house, a Laxmi Devi temple, with a stream constantly flowing by, and a hermitage. On the highest point is another hut from which one gets a view of the snow-covered peaks of Nandakot, Badrinarayan, Nilkanth, and many others.

"At some distance from the hut there are two deodar trees known by the names of 'Nar' and 'Narayan.' The priest told me to seat myself there - though neither any sadhu nor pilgrim usually is allowed to stay in this hut. In it are kept only Shri Maharaj's pictures, His mala [rosary], some books on Durga, Vishnu, the Gita, and certain other things pertaining to religious observances. No one has any right to use it. But, by the Lord's Grace, the priest opened the lock as soon as we reached the hut.

"I saluted the pictures and made obeisance [pranam]. My mind became exhilarated at once. What was this? These pictures were of my Gurudev43 who had long ago made me His own when I was a student!"44

Immediately, Mahendra Maharaj was overwhelmed with doubt, confusion, and conflict. Joy and the pains of doubt chased each other through his mind. He thought of fasting, but when he slept, the Goddess Mother appeared in his dreams and said, "Brother, I am hungry." He woke up crying and offered food and sweets to the goddess, and then ate from the offerings. He could not concentrate on jap (repetition of God's names) or meditation.

For three days Mahendra Baba lived in this inner confusion.

"I used to ask myself, 'What is the use of passing my time this way? Even after meeting Him, He forgets me; I cannot live without Him. Oh, mind of mine!, either forget Him completely and get immersed in worldly wealth and ease, or, by the might of your soul-force, lay your head at your Beloved's feet.' I made up my mind that I would fast unto death from the following day or until Shri Maharaj would root out this doubt of mine...

"Due to the cold, I had a late bath, and said my prayers, did my meditation and jap, and read a part of the scriptures; then I closed my door carefully from the inside and chained it. There was a small window on one side of the room, but it was closed with an iron grille; even so, I closed the shutters carefully and pushed the bolt shut... Making my obeisance to Shri Maharaj, I intended to sleep, never expecting that His Grace would descend so soon on me.

"In Shri Bhagwat I had read of Dhruva and had also read the lives of modern saints, such as Narasingh Mehta and others. These great rishis had attained salvation after great trials borne with strength and devotion. I was inexperienced, not a devotee, with neither faith nor love, and did not expect to meet the Lord so soon - though I knew His Grace would descend on me, for, if He did not intend to bestow it on me, why should He have called me to His holy temple? I knew for a certainty that He would pour His Grace on me. Such thoughts ran through my mind for some time; then I felt sleepy, for I was not afflicted with such great love for Him as to drive away sleep. I did not want to eat or drink, my mind was not directed toward ceremonies or singing sacred verses, so I decided to pass my time in sleep.

"Unthinkingly, whilst going to sleep, I looked toward the door while stretching out my legs - and I saw Shri Bhagwan standing there! From where He had come, and when, these things are unknown. Due to lack of space, the suddenness of His appearance, overwhelming reverence, and weakness of body and mind, I could not get up, but sat up and put both my weak and sinful hands on His holy feet - speechless; I was struck dumb!

"Even though my eyes were directed at His holy feet, I tried to catch a glimpse of His lotus-like face. For some time, He kept looking at me affectionately, as if making me His own by His Grace. I was oblivious of all external things. I was not aware of anything, except the intoxicating nectar of His Presence. Only that day did I realize my complete merging in Him - a true state of oneness with Lord Shiva Himself.