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.
In
South India, Babaji had been preparing, since 1942, two
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 upliftment of suffering humanity.
Since
that time, 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." In 1861, Babaji revived Kriya Yoga,
which Patanjali refers to in his famous "Yoga-Sutras."
Patanjali wrote this 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.
During
a six month period in 1954, at his ashram near Badrinath,
in the Garwhal Himalayas, Babaji initiated 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 worldwide mission to bring this system, referred
to as "Babaji`s Kriya Yoga" to thousands of
aspirants. In 1970 to 1971 he initiated the author, M.
Govindan, into all 144 Kriyas. M. Govindan practiced these
intensively on the average for eight hours per day for
18 years under Yogi Ramaiah's guidance in India, the USA
and Canada. In 1983, Yogi Ramaiah gave him rigorous conditions
to fulfill to begin initiating others. After fulfilling
these, Babaji himself appeared to Govindan in 1988 and
directed him to go and teach His Kriya Yoga to others.
Babaji
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.
Fortunately,
Babaji has at times come 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. Shibendu Lahiri, one of the great-grandsons
of Lahiri Mahasaya, also claims to have been visited by
Babaji, at his home, in the late 1980's. Babaji is said
to have blessed him in his efforts to teach Kriya Yoga
all over the world. 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.
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.
