Part One
Babaji's physique testified to tremendous strength and endurance. However, the extreme climate of Sapta Shringh, together with the former years of wandering and tapasya and having been often without adequate food, had taken a heavy toll on his body. A heart condition, high blood pressure, cataracts, and diabetes were only part of the price he paid. It was due mostly to this physical condition that, after 27 years at Sapta Shringh the time finally came for him to leave.
The way in which Babaji finally left Sapta Shringh is interesting. Mr. and Mrs. Khalker had been devotees for some years and had built a bungalow next to the Muktidham, a large temple complex in Nasik about 40 miles south of Sapta Shringh. The bungalow was built partitioned into two. Two rooms for the Khalkers and two for Babaji which he occasionally used. In honor of Babaji's blessing on them it was called "Sadgurukrupa" (blessing of the sadguru).
By the end of 1979, Babaji's health had deterior hadly. This included the complaints already mentioned above. However, it was for cataracts that he went to Bombay to have an operation at the beginning of 1980. While in Bombay recuperating bad news came from Nasik concerning Mrs. Khalker. Apparently, she was wearing a nylon sari that somehow caught fire while she was cooking. Badly burned, she was now in a hospital. Soon after hearing this news, Babaji was resting on his bed when he felt two invisible hands grasp his feet in a gesture of complete surrender. Almost immediately further news arrived. Mrs. Khalker had died of her burns. Babaji left Bombay and proceeded directly to Nasik. This event was to mark a major transition in his life - the transition from the sublime mountaintop dwelling-place of the Mother to the town, the dwelling-place of Her noisy, rebellious children. He was to remain there until his death.
He now handed the ashram into the care of Om Baba, his disciple since 1955; thereafter, Babaji visited it only on special occasions. It was not an easy transition. People now came in droves like bees to honey to the Khalker's bungalow where he lived. The result was an immediate intensification of Babaji's health crisis. Soaring blood pressure now became his constant companion. Added to this, he went for weeks on a potentially catastrophic fast of black tea and wafer biscuits. This alarming crisis went on until one day he returned from Bombay and announced, 'I think Mrs. Khalker is all right now.'
Something extraordinary had occurred. It appeared that Ms. Khalker's karma, even in death, had at last been burned away on account of Babaji having taken it upon himself. A message also came from Baba Muktananda, then in America, that he should start eating properly. Finally, he resumed a proper diet, to the intense relief of those around him.
This is a good example of the extraordinary relationship betweem guru and disciple which extends even beyond death. Here, Babaji’s commitment to his disciple overrides his own personal health even his life.
Daily Life
Babaji's own daily life reflected his wish to spread his guru's message. He would rise at about 3:30 a.m. and take a brief shower, ladling water out of a simple metal bucket. He then spent quite a time in his room in meditation. Visitors would themselves often experience profound meditation states at this time.
If I don't remember God myself and repeat his name, what will I give the people who come here every day?
Afterward, at about 5:30 a.m., he would sit in his reception room to listen to the tape of his guru singing the Guru Gita, an ancient hymn of praise to the guru principle. Anyone who wished to join him was welcome. He had breakfast at 7:00 a.m. Babaji was famous for his love of feeding people and often at "Sadgurukrupa" he would go into the adjoining room where he had his bed and a tiny electric cooker. With a hand inspired by love he would produce wonderful, simple breakfasts for everyone in the room, followed always by hot tea. It was a unique privilege to be present at these occasions. However, Babaji's mood around food was often explosive as he regarded it as a form of God - “Annapurna Brahma”, or Food is God. For him, taking food had to be done with the same respect as formal worship and he insisted on absolute reverence toward it. After breakfast he would take a rest in his room and finally emerge at about 10:00 a.m., when people started to arrive to see him. This included the postman who arrived in the morning with letters that were often from abroad, to which he replied as necessary.
The number of people visiting Babaji daily could be sixty or more. These included businessmen, policemen, politicians, farmers, hotel keepers, foreigners of every conceivable nationality, rich and poor. In short, a veritable kaleidoscope of visitors came for advice, spiritual solace, blessings and to hear his stories. Babaji's repertoire of stories seemed limitless and he told them to suit the occasion and the needs of his listeners. With Babaji everything unfolded by the will of God.
There were no lectures or speeches but rather a spontaneous daily unfolding which was entirely unpredictable except for a general timetable. He took his lunch just after 12:00p.m. and then rested until 3:00 p.m. For anyone staying with him in the bungalow, often one or two disciples, it was the tradition and sought-after privilege to massage Babaji's legs in his bedroom; this in itself was a profound experience. Babaji's bedroom possessed a deep silence and purity and anyone entering it did well to leave ‘his little self outside. The massage itself was accepted if it was accompanied by real devotion and respect, not necessarily to Babaji as a personality but to the indwelling presence of God. On one occasion an English disciple was massaging him, thinking how special he must be to have this privilege, when one of Babaji's feet whistled through the air missing the Englishman's nose by a fraction of an inch. This happened twice. Finally, the lesson got through. Being a close disciple required continuous alertness and sincerity. Babaji's temperament was unpredictable and sometimes explosive, though always his love and atma-jnan were behind every action and gesture. This fire was the purifying agent which burned away impurities of mind and heart. He often used to say that a disciple should ask the guru for nothing except his abuse as this is what transformed him.
You may wonder why I often abuse those around me! There's a certain insect which, when caught by the wasp and put into the wasp's nest, continually meditates on the sound of the wasp and its sting until finally it becomes a wasp. Similarly, if the guru abuses the disciple, the disciple becomes like his guru by constantly meditating on him.
At 2:30 p.m. Babaji took his tea. Visiting hours were from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. At about 5:00 p.m. there would be a "prasad” of a tidbit or sweet to the local children. The last program of the day would be the Shiva Mahimna (hymn to Shiva) at about 7:00 p.m. At about 7:50 p.m. the doors would close and Babaji would often relax listening to the BBC in English, which he said was the only reliable source of news! He loved to lie prone on the floor on one side with head propped up on a cupped hand, listening to it, though how much he understood was never clear. This would be a time of great intimacy and peace. Finally, at 9:00p.m. he would retire to his room for the night.
How much he slept is uncertain, but usually to sleep in his vicinity was to be kept in a virtually conscious state all night. The power he manifested was tangible and unmistakable. He once said, “Over there the Muktidham, over here the Shaktidham.” He was referring to the large temple complex situated about 100 yards from the bungalow called Muktidham, comparing it to his tiny bungalow which he called Shaktidham (abode of Shakti). Babaji had a three and-one-half foot marble statue of the eighteen-armed Sapta Shringh Devi installed in the tiny room where he met visitors. His important spiritual links were to the Divine Mother in the form of Sapta Shringh, to Dattatreya, and to his guru. On occasions he mentioned that he invoked them in his daily meditations. It is interesting that he kept various articles given to him by his devotees under the mattress of his bed. This was clearly symbolic of his protection and prayers for them.
Babaji's work now consisted almost entirely of seeing people. This included Westerners from Ganeshpuri, most of whom had met Babaji on his visits there. It was in the encounters between him and visitors that most of the teachings and stories which appear later are largely gleaned. However, the real teaching was always nonverbal, a subtle communication which took place from heart to heart.
Mahasamadhi of Baba Muktananda
On the morning of October 3, 1982, there was an urgent knock on Babaji's door at about 3:45 a.m. and a voice of foreboding said, “We have an urgent message from Ganeshpuri.” Two men entered the little room and announced, “Big Maharaj took samadhi (passed away) last night." The news that his guru had died of a heart attack during the previous night evoked no dramatic response. On being questioned on his apparent lack of reaction, Babaji replied with intense emotion, “How do you know what is in my heart at this moment?" Babaji quietly packed a bag. By 5:30 a.m. he had left for Ganeshpuri. Later on, seeing his beloved guru's body, he wept, but then exclaimed ecstatically, “Baba hasn't left us. He's here." Baba Muktananda's final teaching, even in death, was the same message Babaji never tired of proclaiming the guru is not the body. Now that the tremendous power, the Guru Principle, which had animated Baba's body had returned to its universal aspect, the inert lifeless body was taken in procession, displayed for all to see. It was Muktananda's last sacrifice and lesson to his devotees. Babaji was later to say:
We think we are here for ourselves but so do the sheep or goats that the shepherd keeps. But the shepherd feeds them for his sake, not for theirs. In the same way, we are here for God's pleasure not for ours. We all have to go sometime, Rama went, Krishna went. No matter how great a siddha a person is, he has to go. A body that eats and defecates—is that the guru? Look at Baba (Muktananda). He had so many disciples around him, but he was alone when he died. Nothing could save him either. However, when the Guru Principle speaks through a mahatma, it can be taken as God's word. Therefore, the path shown by such a mahatma is eternal. Baba Muktananda was a great being and his path was great and his message true. His disciples should meditate on his teaching and spread it.
Health Crisis
In February 1983 an important transition took place. Shortly after his arrival in Nasik, Babaji had visited Rajhans Hospital and was examined by Dr. Mohan Rao, the owner of the hospital. The doctor was astonished to find that Babaji's blood pressure was over 200 and yet he was apparently unaffected. After treating him the doctor refused payment but asked for a picture of Babaji's guru instead. “This picture takes a lot of looking after," warned Babi solemnly. It was the beginning of a profound relationship between the two. Soon afterward the doctor was forced into a life or death emergency operation which he had never performed before and he had hastily consulted Babaji, who said to go ahead. To the doctor's astonishment a pair of hands manifested on the operating table guiding him precisely in the operation. It succeeded and the doctor's journey as a devotee began in earnest.
In March 1983 Babaji went on a long pilgrimage north to Rishikesh, Allahabad, Kanpur, Ayodhya, and Delhi. Two days after his return to Nasik he fell so severely ill that he was admitted to Rajhans Hospital. For two days his life seemed to hang on a thread and he instructed that his "close people” should be told of his condition. They came from far and wide. Indeed, even Swami Pranavananda, who was spending the summer months near Dehra Dun, drove four days through temperatures of more than 100 degrees to tend to Babaji. From morning to evening Pranavanandaji looked after him tirelessly and devotedly and gradually Babaji's condition improved. "Certainly I was to have gone, but the Lord has recalled my ticket,” he laughed. “It seems that because I am ready for death every moment, he (death) is avoiding me.” He added that he had come so close to death that he had the direct experience of seeing the cosmic cycle of souls "lined up” to be born as well as seeing them come out of embodied existence.
It was in 1983 that on the invitation of the doctor and his wife that Babaji moved into a room adjoining the hospital. His health had reached a point where it required constant monitoring and this the doctor and his wife, who was also a doctor, did with tremendous dedication, on occasion staying up all night with Babaji.
This was the beginning of the final stage of Babaji's life. Apart from occasional visits, such as to Swami Pranavananda's ashram and day trips to Sapta Shringh, he rarely left the three-room apartment adjoining the hospital. However, there was one pleasant and delightful interlude which came at the end of 1984.
Australia
For some years there had been standing offers for Babaji to go abroad. These especially came from Dr. Gabriel Cousens in America and from Mrs. Joan Halpern of Perth, Australia. Finally, in December of 1984, he agreed to visit Perth, where he spent six weeks as Mrs. Halpern's guest, accompanied by three others, including Dr. Mohan Rao. He made several conditions: no advertising of his presence and no lectures. However, his simplicity, love, and presence did not take long to make themselves felt. Soon a good number of people came morning and afternoon to breathe the rarefied air of a great man of God. It was a quiet, gentle visit which Babaji seemed to enjoy. A preliminary hitch to the visit had been Babaji's passport application in which he had written the name of his father as Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa. This had been queried. "If they don't want to give me the passport, that's fine. A sadhu's father is his guru, he has no other,” he said.
After the return from Australia, Babaji's movements grew very restricted and he became more confined to his rooms adjoining Rajhans Hospital. He now rarely traveled.
His timetable, however, continued as before. He rose at 3:30 a.m. and the day consisted of the Guru Gita programs followed by visiting hours in the morning and afternoon. Around 5:00 p.m. there was a children's program attended by up to fifty children from the locality. The bhajan was led by Dr. Mohan Rao and prasad and sometimes clothing was handed out by Babaji.
A great and special joy was when Swami Pranavananda invited him to his ashram on special festival occasions. Since arriving in Patana, Swamiji had transformed the isolated Devi temple into a place of devotion where, on occasions, thousands of devotees gathered. By 1987, Pranavandandaji’s reputation had spread all over India and his devotees included many high-ranking officials.
Perhaps the most special occasion was when the Palki. A statue of the Sapta Shring Devi, was brought in procession to meet her sister Devi at Patana, in a social palanquin. This took tow or three days on foot and when at last on the great day the palanquin arrived at Patana, Babaji and Swami Pranavananda would meet it. It was a very touching and moving moment. The meeting of the two “sisters” was made even more poignant by the presence of the two great swamis who had surrendered everything to the Divine Mother. There was a delightful equality and love between the two which was unmistakable, and Babaji clearly approved of Pranavanandaji as a beloved son who had won the keys to his fathers house.
The palki’s arrival in Patana was accomplished by exuberance and celebrations on a lavish scale. Literally thousands of people were fed from open-air kitchens producing mountains of rice and other edibles.
