There is one more Ascended Being who is physically incarnated on planet earth, of actual extraordinary proportion, that I would be remiss if I didn’t mention. This, of course, is the deathless Avatar, Babaji.
The Babaji I refer to is the great and noble being who started the spiritual lineage of Paramahansa Yogananda, Sri Yukteswar, and Lahiri Mahasaya, of Self Realization Fellowship renown.
Babaji has also been called Mahaavatar Babaji, Shiva Babaji, Mahamuni Babaji, and Kriya Babaji Nagaraj. His physical body remains at the deathless age of 16 years old. It is interesting that those who have personal contact with our Planetary Logos, Sanat Kumara, see Him also as very youthful, in this manner.
Babaji has lived for centuries in the Himalayan mountains, appearing only to a small group of disciples. He is able to materialize and dematerialize His body at will and does so frequently. Babaji was born on November 30th 203, in India. His name as a child was "Nagaraj" which means king of the serpents, which honors the primordial force of the Kundalini shakti. He was apparently born under a similar star configuration as that under which the Lord Krishna (the Lord Maitreya) was born.
In Babaji’s early quest for self realization He finally found His guru, the great Siddha Yoga Master Boganathar, and became His disciple. After intensive yoga practice, Boganatha inspired Babaji to seek Kriya Kundalini Pranayama from the legendary Siddha Master "Agastyar". Agastyar was hard to find and extremely selective about the disciples He would take on. Babaji traveled to Southern India and made a solemn vow to the Divine Mother that He would not leave the spot He was sitting in to meditate until Agastyar would initiate Him into the secrets of yoga.
Babaji began to pray, and meditate unceasingly. It would rain, then it would get hot, insects would assault Him, but he would not move. As doubts assaulted Him, He would pray even harder. His physical body became emaciated, and pilgrims recognizing the nobility of His quest, would occasionally feed Him. Babaji was prepared to die to His physical body, if necessary, for he felt his life was over any way if He didn’t get initiated by Agastyar.
After 48 days of unceasing prayer and meditation, and being close to death, He repeated the name "Agastyar" over and over again. Suddenly Agastyar appeared out of the forest and gave Babaji food and drink and initiated Him in the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama Yoga. After intensive training, Agastyar directed Babaji to go into the upper ranges of the Himalayan mountains and become the greatest Siddha (Perfect Master) the world had ever known.
Babaji spent 18 months practicing the Kriya Yoga techniques by Himself. After 18 months He entered a state of "Soruba Samadhi" and/or ascension and physical immortality. Since that time over 1700 years ago it has been Babaji’s mission to assist humanity in their quest for God realization.
It was Babaji who initiated Shankaracharya, Kabir, and Lahiri Mahasaya, that started the Self Realization Fellowship lineage. Babaji has rekindled the science of Kriya yoga and brought it to the world after it had died out. Babaji has said that Krishna taught Arjuna Kriya Yoga, and that Patanjali and Jesus Christ knew of it. It was taught to St. John, St. Paul and other disciples. His great disciple, Paramahansa Yogananda, in my opinion, is one of the greatest God realized beings of our century, trained over 100,000 people in this Kriya Yoga science, including Mahatma Ghandi, Luther Burbank, and many others.
Babaji began other spiritual lineages in India with which we, of the West, are less familiar. Babaji also started another organization in the West called "The Teachings of the Inner Christ", with which I have been involved. It is a wonderful organization that was started by a woman by the name of Ann Meyer. Babaji materialized Himself in a business suit rather than His normal Indian looking appearance. He became her Spiritual Teacher and her life totally transformed.
This organization called "The Teachings of the Inner Christ", is a combination of science of mind types of training, along with inner sensitivity training to channel the Masters and I AM Presence, directly. It is a different kind of training from the Eastern Kriya Yoga path, but one of the most profound I have ever studied. I have also been initiated by Self Realization Fellowship into the advanced Kriya techniques so I have great familiarity with Babaji’s teachings which I will share with you at the end of this chapter.
Babaji has had a dynamic influence on this planet and its inhabitants, far beyond the little bit that has been written about Him. His mission has been to assist the prophets, saints, and Spiritual Masters in carrying out Their special missions. Babaji has also been very interested in spreading His teachings to the East and West.
It was Babaji who told Paramahansa Yogananda to leave India and teach Kriya Yoga in the West. The interesting thing about Babaji, is that His mission is different from some one like Sai Baba, for He has never appeared openly in any century. He works more behind the scenes with a small number of selected disciples, in humble obscurity. Even though this is the case, his affect on this planet has been incredibly profound. Many of the great Spiritual Masters and Teachers of our time have come from His teachings and guidance.
Lahiri Mayasaya, the great Spiritual Master and Self Realized Being, said that any devotee who utters, with reverence, Babaji’s name will attract an instant blessing. Paramahansa Yogananda says that when Babaji has appeared to Him, he appeared no older than 25 with no mark of age on His body. His immortal body requires no food. One very interesting story was told by one of His disciples by the name of Swami Kebalananda. One evening Babaji and His disciples were sitting around a huge campfire, for some sacred Vedic ceremony. Babaji suddenly seized a burning piece of wood and lightly struck the bare shoulder of fellow disciple. Lahiri Mahasaya was horrified. Babaji explained to his disciples that this disciple was about to incur some serious past life karma and would have been burnt to a cinder had not Babaji intervened. Babaji instantly placed His hand on the wound and miraculously healed the disciple, explaining to him that He had saved him from death.
On another occasion their sacred circle was interrupted by a man who has been searching the Himalayas for Babaji. Upon finding Him he begged to become His disciple. Babaji didn’t respond and the man threatened to jump off the cliff for life had no further meaning without his perceived guru. Babaji said to jump for He couldn’t accept him in his present state of development.
The man threw himself off the cliff. Babaji told His disciples to get the dead and mangled body. Babaji resurrected Him from the dead, and as the man’s eyes opened, He told him that He was "now ready for discipleship". The whole group then dematerialized from the mountain.
One other interesting story has to do with Babaji’s God realized sister, "Mataji". One night Lahiri Mahasaya, a disciple by the name Ram Gopal, Mataji, and Babaji were all sitting in a particular cave in India. Babaji proceeded to tell his sister, Mataji, that He was intending to shed His physical body. I share with you Mataji’s response from the great Paramahansa Yogananda’s book, "Autobiography of a Yogi". Mataji replied with a quaint flash of wit, "Deathless guru, if it makes no difference, then please do not ever relinquish your form." "Be it so", Babaji said solemnly. "I shall never leave my physical body, it will always remain visible to at least a small number of people on earth. The lord has spoken His own wish through your lips." …."Fear not, Ram Gopal", He said, "You are blessed to be a witness at the scene of this immortal promise."
To my way of thinking, this is incredibly profound. I am not sure there is another being on planet earth who has made this commitment other than Sanat Kumara, who is incarnated into the physical body of the entire earth itself. We are greatly blessed to have such a great one as Babaji still here with us on planet earth. What a great and noble sacrifice He has made out of His great love for mankind. Lahiri Mahasya later explained that Babaji will be here for the entire manvantara, or world cycle. In other words, for the completion of the evolution of the seven root races, and for the completion of the in-breath and out-breath of Brahma, for planet earth. Quite profound! ! !
One other fascinating story has to do with Lahiri Mahasaya’s initiation into Kriya Yoga by Babaji on his 33rd birthday. Lahiri Mahasaya had been Babaji’s disciple in a previous life. Upon finding His deathless guru again, it was planned that the following night he would be reinitiated. At midnight he was guided through a forest area in the Himalayas, where all of a sudden there before him was a magnificent golden palace that had been materialized by Babaji for His beloved disciple. Babaji told him that in a past life he had once expressed a desire to enjoy the beauties of a palace such as this and Babaji was fulfilling that desire which was Lahiri Mahasaya’s last bond of karma that needed to be cleared before his initiation. Upon receiving his initiation from Babaji, the palace instantly disappeared right before his eyes.
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