The Life and Teachings of Himalayan Mahayogi Baba Lokenath
A note from Sri Sri Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari: I would like to share with you that Baba Lokenath appeared before me in a vision in October 1978 and commanded me to ‘Spread Out’. He is the living presence, beyond time and space. Like Maha-Avatar Baba of Himalayas, Baba Lokenath manifests even today in gross physical form to those who passionately long to see him, talk to him, and seek Spiritual Light. Even today Baba grants the wishes of the seekers, appearing in visions, healing the incurable. These are commonplace incidences of his perennial Divine Play with millions of trans-religious followers across the world.
As we travel in the path of life, in our youthful days it is the physical that draws most of our energy and interest. But as we move further we start gathering experiences, which naturally drive us from the physical to the seeking of love that transcends into the realm of Inner Calm and peace. We look around for support on this new dimension of life and we seek persons and scriptures and literatures that can guide us to charter this unknown path. Baba Lokenath’s life and teachings would bring that light to your heart. Baba Lokenath lived a long span of 160 years (1730 to 1890) in his physical body.
Born in 1730 in a hamlet about 20 miles north of the city of Calcutta, his incredible life, the level of his mastery, his teachings, and the magnitude and depth of his compassion for all humanity are as relevant to us today as they were to those in his lifetime.
Baba made astounding assurances to all in his promises to anyone who calls on him in a time of trouble.
Baba’s Promises: “Whenever you are in danger, whether in war, forest, ocean or jungle, remember Me. I shall save you.
“You may not know me. You may not realize who I am. Just pray to me with a little touch of your heart, and I shall free you from gripping sorrows and miseries.
“I willingly revel myself to you so that you can reach me. Otherwise it would be impossible.
“No power on heaven or earth can damage the devotees who take shelter under me, for there is no one greater than I who can touch you.
“I can do whatever I like. It is only your lack of trust, your non-belief that keeps your desires unfulfilled.
“For those who with love and devotion surrender to me, if they are in trouble, my heart melts. This is my compassion. And with my compassion, my power flows out to them, freeing them from miseries and unhappiness.
“I am Eternal. I am Deathless. I AM.”
Who is Baba Lokenath to make such promises?In West Bengal and Bangladesh, where Baba spent the last 26 years of his life dispensing his grace and infinite compassion, millions revere Baba to this day. Any devotee who has invoked Baba’s promises will attest to how immediately any call for help is answered. As one devotee recently said to a U.S. visitor to Kolkata, “Baba is as real to us as you are standing here talking to me.”
A Life Dedicated to the Divine from Birth Baba is one of those rare souls whose entire life was dedicated to the Divine. His parents offered their newborn son to God with their promise to raise him to become a sannyasin (Hindu Monk). At the tender age of eleven, he left home to fulfill that destiny, accompanied by his boyhood friend Benimadhav and his beloved master, Bhagwan Ganguly, a renowned Vedic scholar of the time.
Most yogis focus on a particular yogic path, that of Jnana (discriminating knowledge), Karma (selfless action), Bhakti (devotional surrender) or Ashtanga (Patanjali’s) Yoga to lead them to Ultimate Reality. Baba, however, diligently practiced and integrated all four under the loving tutelage of his master.
After 80 years of inconceivably intense austerities, prolonged fasting that lasted years as part of his highly advanced hatha yoga practice and mastering Raja Yoga in the jungles of the plains and in the Himalayas, Baba attained enlightenment of the highest order. He was 90 and his master was 150. Baba’s mastery was at every level of being and form. Attaining total Divinity in human form, which the name Lokenath (master of the worlds) denotes, he became the living synthesis of yoga and the essence of the universal religion of Divine Love, the Sanatana Dharma.
Bridging the Divide Between Religions As with all true Masters, Baba’s life is a consciously embodied teaching of the great, eternal truths. One key dimension of his mission was to bridge the gap between Hindus and Muslims and to counter the conflicts arising from rampant religious dogmatism. So, after attaining enlightenment, Baba, Benimadhav and Guru Bhagwan set out on foot for Kabul, Mecca and Medina from India walking hundreds of miles. They lived and studied the Koran for several years in Kabul with Mullasadi, a renowned poet and writer of commentaries on the Koran. This is unheard of in the lives of yogis of India.
Large numbers of Islamic seekers were naturally drawn to Lokenath by his strong spiritual presence and by his subtle mastery and knowledge of the Koran. They came to him as a Realized Master, surrendering to his spiritual guidance through their own path of Islam. It gratified and amazed them to see a Hindu yogi from the Himalayas who had such profound wisdom and command of the deepest secrets of Islam. Local Islamic religious teachers, won over by his childlike innocence, his sublime love and wisdom, gave him their love and support as well.
At Baradi, Islamic and Hindu devotees have always come together as a congenial spiritual family, unified through Baba’s encompassing example and love. That continues to this day, as millions of all faiths come together at Baba’s ashram each year, offering a living example of what is possible for the rest of the world.
Walking the EarthAfter his beloved master’s passing, Baba had a deep urge to explore the farthest reaches of the Earth. Over the next 30 to 40 years, he literally walked the earth with Benimadhav and the famed Trailanga Swami from Varanasi. Personally and physically blessing the endless array of the Earth’s manifestations of the Divine with his is pure and unified consciousness, Baba traveled extensively in Arabia, Palestine, Persia and Europe. Traveling into the deep north, passing through Siberia and northern Russia into the “Land of No-Sun,” they then spent 20 years meditating in the ice and snow.
The Mission at Baradi Returning from his amazing travels, he finally came to a village called Baradi, in Bangladesh, and gradually revealed his Compassion and love for all. The ashram, his hermitage, became the holy pilgrim of Hindus and Muslims, Christians and Sikhs, nay of all faith traditions of the world.
To the legions of his householder followers Baba said, “For more than a hundred years, I have traveled through the hills and mountains and have amassed spiritual treasures. You shall sit at home and enjoy the fruits of my austerities.” This is the height of compassion for all beyond the lines of religious barriers.
Whenever anyone asked Baba for a boon, whether spiritual or material, it was granted. To the seeker of wealth, Baba gave wealth. To seekers of spirituality, he gave spiritual inspiration and guidance. The hungry received food; the homeless received shelter. Evildoers were transformed into devout seekers and saints. Countless infertile women became mothers through his grace, while those who could not suckle their children were miraculously enabled to do so. Those suffering from incurable and terminal diseases who took refuge under his benign influence found themselves healed.
“When I see that the pains of your suffering have become almost intolerable for you,” Baba said, “I cannot bear to see you suffering any longer…. I cannot remain indifferent…. Who else but me will cure you of your painful diseases?”
Baba did not advise those living in the world to abandon their responsibilities to pursue the spiritual path. He recognized and taught the impracticality of giving up worldly senses prematurely. As he said to one devotee, “I have asked you to finish up your karma through enjoyment… You can attain peace through pleasure with a sense of control and respect for scriptural injunctions…. If you do this, the prarabdha, the tendencies with which you were born, will be burned away.”
To another devotee, he said, ”When you have deep-seated desires in your mind, even if you take sannyas and live under the trees, you will not attain sanyas. (a state of equanimity and God vision)” This only shows the practicality of his teachings relevant to the modern times.
During the day, Baba would sit in the ashram with the doors of his thatched cottage open, welcoming the multitudes with all their mundane problems and showering them with blessings. No one went away empty handed.
Baba had conquered sleep. He once told one of his close disciples, “I don’t allow sleep to come to me, if I allow, this body will fall (die), as I am living beyond the threshold of prarabdha (destined time of life). Nobody ever saw Baba sleeping; he had no bed other than a small plank of flat wooden board, which Baba used occasionally to recline. At night, the doors of his cottage was closed to the householders or visitors, for then he played the role of Master to the highly evolved yogis of the Himalayas and Tibet who would come to him in their astral bodies to take lessons in advanced yoga leaving their bodies in the caves. Thus, he became known as the Yogi of Yogis, the Yogeshwara.
Baba’s compassion for humanity, whatever their state of spiritual attainment, is inexhaustible. “Ask what you want,” Baba often tells devotees, even today, when he appears to them, “I am Kalpataru, the Wish Fulfilling Tree. Whatever you ask for will be given.”
Baba’s Love of Animals Human beings were not the only recipients of Baba’s boundless love and compassion. To Baba, each and every creation is itself the very manifestation of Divinity. Nothing was unworthy of his enlightened, loving attention.
On his way to Baradi from the northern regions, Baba spent months caring for the cubs of a distressed tigress. He absolutely delighted in personally feeding the ants at the ashram and called them “my family.” And when he ate, he would call to the birds to come and sit in his matted hair or on his lap to be fed. He once called a king cobra into the ashram to feed it milk, and then offered the remainder to devotees as Prasad (holy food). On another occasion, he stopped a tiger pursuing a gang of young men who had come to the ashram to do him harm, converting them into devotees by quietly instructing the tiger to never come back to the ashram. It quietly retreated into the forest. Baba almost knew the language of all animals!!
Teachings Baba’s teachings always emphasized devotion and trust in one’s Guru, (Teacher) and the power of Guru Kripa (Grace of the Master) As a truly surrendered disciple who grasped the gift of the Satguru in his own life, Baba cried like a child whenever he spoke of his Guru and the sacrifices that Guru Ganguly had made to bring him to enlightenment.
Baba taught in simple words “ Always remember the command of your Guru. The instruction is the Guru himself”. He emphasized continual vigilance of one’s own mind, that through continual self-assessment and the grace of the Guru, one is brought to innate, pure intelligence, to conscious connection and harmony with the subtlest aspects of Cosmic Design.
Quotes from Baba Lokenath “The essence of yoga lies in your feeling for the Divine. The deeper the feeling, the more you are brought to a state of Oneness with the Beloved, who gradually manifests in your heart as the sole Doer of all your activities. Then you will realize that you have become the Gita (Spiritual Scripture).”
“Divine Grace has such a natural transforming influence that the devotee need not renounce anything forcibly.”
“To the true devotee of the Lord, love and devotion are all important. Immersed in love, the true devotee is always flooded with Divine ecstasy, and material trifles lose their power and significance.”
“I cannot find fault with anyone. Whatever I see, good or bad, it is all Divine.”
“Whenever people come to me with depressed hearts, full of misery and anguish, I see the Beloved in them. I lose myself, entranced with the Divine. In the meantime, the Lord fulfills the desires of the devotees. The devotees see me and think of me as the doer, but I know that He alone is the Doer, the One bestowing all mercy and Grace.”
“The One is everywhere. There is no second. Who will show kindness to whom? Have you ever seen a person in this world who is unkind to himself? I do not find the existence of anything other than Me in this entire creation.”
Lokenath’s Eternal Presence Even today, almost a hundred twenty years after Baba Lokenath’s Mahasamadhi, seekers of Truth on the path of Yoga receive Divine visions of Baba and are blessed with his instructions for their spiritual advancement. If you wish to have Baba’s darshan and the ray of his unlimited mercy, you can receive it by praying to him with trust and devotion. You can invoke his promises for protection and guidance regarding any need or crisis, physical or spiritual.
Baba’s presence is eternal. He is as fully alive and available to us today as he ever was. His final words before his Mahasamadhi are for all devotees, at all times, of all faiths.
“I shall always be available to you. Have trust in my presence. You will always receive my grace. Where can I go? In the very Existence, I AM . Those who will feel a deep urge for me and to receive my Grace will always receive my Grace. I Am Eternal. I Am Deathless.”
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For more on Baba Lokenath, read Sri Shuddhaanandaa Brahmachari ‘s The Incredible Life of a Himalayan Yogi or visit www.babalokenath.org.
